Volume 23, Number 10 • October 2014 A PUBLICATION OF THE AFFILIATED CONSTRUCTION TRADES A Division of the WV State Building Trades, AFL-CIO | Bill Hutchinson, President | Dave Efaw, Secretary-Treasurer | Steve White, Director Trades Candidates Vie for House of Delegates Seats Five members of the Trades are on culture and Health Committees. cant position in 2007 and has since Delegates because they understand the ballot for this year’s election all Diserio was appointed to a vacat- won re-election three times. important issues that other occupa- seeking to be members of the House ed position, in early 2012, and then Dave Walker (D-Clay), a retired tions don’t,” said Steve White, ACT of Delegates. elected in 2012 in a close election. member of Operating Engineers Director and a lobbyist for the Trades Th ree are already serving and two Dan Poling (D-Wood) is Business Local 132, for more than 20 years. hope to join them. Manager of Painters District Coun- served on Gary McCallister is also working Phil Diserio (D-Brooke) is Presi- cil 53 hav- the union’s hard to win election to one of two dent of ing been a executive House seats from the 22nd district Electricians painter and board and which cov- Local 246 member for as a steward ers most of based in 40 years. for many Lincoln and Steuben- In the years. parts of Put- ville. Dise- legislature Walker nam, Boone rio has been he repre- represents and Logan an IBEW sents Wood the 33rd Counties. member County Dave Walker District which McCal- since 1979. residents includes Calhoun and parts of Clay lister has In the Dan Poling and serves in and Gilmer Counties. previously Phil Diserio legislature he a number of positions. He is Chair of the Agriculture been elect- represents Brooke and part of Ohio Poling is Chairman of the House Committee and serves on the House Gary McCallister ed to the Lin- County and serves as Vice-Chair of Energy, Industry and Labor Com- Education, Labor, Energy and Trans- coln County Board of Education and the House Industry and Labor Com- mittee and a member of the House portation Committees. is a member of the Carpenters and mittee as well as on the House Gov- Finance Committee. “It is important to have represen- works as a service representative for ernment Organization, Energy, Agri- Poling was fi rst appointed to a va- tatives of the Trades in the House of Continued on p. 3>> $308 Million Project in Grant County Proposed Wind Turbine Development Sold Developers of the AES New Creek Th e developers had entered into Th e project had been delayed be- Additional benefi ts to the com- project slated for Grant County have a memorandum agreement with the cause of issues relating to airline traf- munity such as related jobs, payroll sold their interest in the project to North Central WV Building Trades fi c. taxes and corporate taxes also ex- EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc. Council and the WV State Building It also is important for projects ceeded $10 million. Total business AES New Creek had received ap- Trades Council that committed the like these, which do not sell to the sales in West Virginia were estimated proval to build the project from the project to use local union construc- general public, have a power pur- at around $60 million. West Virginia Public Service Com- tion workers. chase deal is in place before a project EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc. mission on September 30, 2009. Th e changes in ownership will can move forward. is headquartered in Pittsburgh with Th e project involves 66 turbines not change the agreement terms with Initial project estimates had 120 offi ces in NY and OH. Th ey have op- that could produce up to 160 mega- the Trades as the new owners have workers building the project over an erational projects in IL, PA, NY and watts of power. At the time the total agreed to accept all terms and condi- 11 month period with a payroll ex- CA. Th ey are a division of European project estimate was $308 million. tions of the AES application. ceeding $10 million. private equity fi rm Terra Firma. 2 October 2014 WVU President Gordon Gee Speaks State Building Trades Conference Held WVU President Gordon Gee was Williams expressed his apprecia- other factors still need to be put in Junkins, Acting Commissioner of the keynote speaker at the WV State tion for the work done by the Up- place before construction can begin Labor, Josh Sword, Secretary-Trea- Building and Construction Trades per Ohio Valley Building Trades and hopefully sometime in 2015. surer of the WV AFL-CIO and Sam conference held in September. Project BEST to support the com- Moundsville Power has signed White, Assistant Professor at WVU Gee talked about his vision for pany in getting needed property tax a Memorandum Agreement with Institute for Labor Studies. growing the university and about the agreements with Marshall County the Building Trades to ensure any Around 85 delegates and guests many challenges we all face. for the project. contractors selected will work out a attended the conference including Gee also spoke about the great He explained Moundsville Power project labor agreement using local representatives from the Ohio and relationship he developed with the is getting close to selecting a contrac- union labor to build the project. Pennsylvania State Building Trades Ohio State Building Trades Council tor and that a number of permits and Other speakers included John Councils and ACT-Ohio. before taking his position at WVU. Dennis Duff y, President of the Ohio State Building Trades was on hand to confi rm the positive rela- tionship. Gee expressed his willingness to work with the trades to build a simi- lar positive relationship as both par- ties enjoyed in Ohio. “We enjoyed President Gee’s com- ments and look forward to working with him to build a better univer- sity and provide more work oppor- tunities for our members,” said Bill Hutchinson, President of the WV State Building Trades. Also speaking was Jon Williams, a member of Moundsville Power LLC, the developers of a $615 million gas-fi red electric generating plant in WVU President Gordon Gee is fl anked by Dennis Duff y (left) President of the Ohio State Building Trades and Matt Szollosi, Executive Marshall County. Director of ACT-Ohio, as he talks to the WV State Building and Construction Trades annual convention. $90,000 Raised for Mesothelioma Research Th e Breath of Life Foundation sociation. Together, these organiza- raised approximately $90,000 this tions created a fundraising eff ort for year at their 6th annual Mesothelio- Mesothelioma research. ma Charity Golf Tournament. Th e Breath of Life Foundation’s Th e event was held on September mission is to prevent and cure meso- 8 at the Griffi n Gate Marriott in Lex- thelioma and other asbestos related ington, KY. diseases by providing critical fund- According to Insulators Local 80 ing, monitoring, early detection and Business Manager Steve Keller, 144 cutting-edge research. golfers representing contractors, la- From its inception in 2009 until bor and major construction users 2012, the Breath of Life Foundation participated. made donations to the Karmanos “I want to thank all those who Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michi- participated and our offi ce manager gan, to support Dr. Michael Harbut’s Tina Jordan who worked tirelessly work in mesothelioma research. to make this event a success,” said In 2013, Dr. Harbut moved his Keller. research eff orts to St. John Provi- Th e Breath of Life Foundation was dence Health System in Southfi eld, formed through a partnership be- MI. Now, 100% of Breath of Life tween the Central States Conference Foundations proceeds are donated to Tom Dyl, (from left) Rand Environmental Services, Inc.; Bud Turner, Prime Insulation; and the Central States Insulation As- these eff orts. Rob Osborne and Tom Householder, AEP at tournament. Volume 23, Number 10 3 2014 State Building Control of WV House at Issue Trades Endorsement Voter Turnout Will U.S. Senate 25th Linda Goode Phillips Natalie Tennant 26th Clif Moore Decide Election 27th Carol B. Bailey Non-presidential election cycles “But the facts are the cost of school U. S. House of Representatives 28th James “Jim” Brown historically have a low voter turnout. construction never goes down when David McKinley – 1st District 29th Ricky Moye Add in attack ads, robo-polls and workers’ wages are cut, you can look Nick Casey – 2nd District 30th Mick Bates millions of dollars and it’s not hard at other states to compare. Nick J. Rahall II – 3rd District 31st Clyde D. McKnight Jr to understand why many voters just “Instead contractor profi ts go up, 32nd Dave Perry, want the elections benefi ts, safety State Senate Margaret Anne Staggers, to be over. and training pro- 1st Rocky Fitzsimmons John Pino But because of “We could be look- grams suff er and 2nd Larry Edgell 33rd David A. Walker the low numbers the public is left 3rd Robert “Robin” Wilson Jr. 34th Brent Boggs those who do go ing at serious wage with the same per 5th Mike Woelfel 35th “Bobbie” Hatfi eld, to the polls will square foot cost.” 6th Truman Chafi n Andrew D. Byrd, have more pow- cuts through leg- Members of the 7th Ron Stollings Sherri Wong, erful votes than Building Trades 8th Erik Wells Th ornton Cooper islation that would ever. along with other 9th Mike Green 36th Nancy Guthrie, Danny Wells, “A ft er the unions have been 10th Ronald “Ron” Miller Larry Rowe e r a s e o u r b a r g a i n e d smoke clears this working hard to 11th Gregory A.