Laborers expand training center
The Michigan Laborers District Council is getting more room to train.

Representatives from Laborers locals from across the state attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 17 to mark the expansion project. The job involves completely refurbishing the existing site and more than doubling its current size of 20,000 square-feet.

"Our facility will help us continue to meet the growing demand for highly skilled construction craft laborers," said Paul Gassel, director of the Michigan Laborers Training and Apprenticeship Institute. "We hope that more young people will realize that today's construction industry offers rewarding and challenging careers with great pay and excellent benefits. The construction industry is rapidly changing and our training utilizes the newest technology while placing a high priority on safety."

The current site in Perry has three classrooms and a 6,000-square-foot sand bay for hands-on training. Added to the site will be four classrooms, a sand training bay, office area and lunch room. The Michigan Laborers also operate training centers in Iron Mountain and Wayne.

Gassel said the Laborers apprenticeship program requires 4,000 hours of diversified, on-the-job training and 332 hours of classroom instruction.

Since 1971, the Michigan Laborers' Training and Apprenticeship Institute has trained more than 17,000 laborers, who work on the highways, underground, hazardous material abatement, excavation and mason tending.

Website devoted to construction safety
Construction workers have a new safety net on the Internet.

A new website devoted to construction safety and health was launched last month by the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. The Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Health will provide materials on a wide range of safety and health topics.

"For too long, construction has killed more workers in this country each year than any other industry," said Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan. "We hope resources like this will enable us to turn the corner."

Look for the web site at www.cdc.gov/niosh/elcosh.

Actors who support their union
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The West Wing's Martin Sheen, ER's Noah Wyle and Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarek were among the actors who joined a picket line outside of Hollywood's Universal Studios to show support for the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The unions have been embroiled in a bitter strike against the advertising industry since last spring. They picketed outside Universal Studios because a Visa commercial was being shot on the premises.

Sheen told The Hollywood Reporter, "I'm here for all of the people who don't have hit shows, who make their living primarily doing commercials. I do commercials, too. It's the old adage: If we can't do it ourselves, we have to do it together. That's what a union is."