Primary election endorsements made

Michigan voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 6 to vote in local primary elections.

A short list of endorsed candidates by the Greater Detroit Building and Construction Trades Council’s Political Action Committee appears below. Please vote for candidates who support organized labor.

Livonia Mayor: Maureen Brosnan
Livonia City Council: Brandon McCollough
St. Clair Shores City Council: Pete Accica
Warren City Clerk: Andrey Duzyj
Warren City Treasurer: Lorie Barnwell
Warren City Council (District 1): Melody Magee
Warren City Council (at large): Connor Berdy, Diane Young


Schiffer removes Capitol graffiti

LANSING - A tip of the trowel to the folks at Schiffer Masonry, who removed graffiti from the state Capitol Building, and didn't charge the state for doing so.

According to an account provided by the news service Michigan Information & Research Service Inc. (MIRS,), someone spray-painted "Stop ICE" on the masonry exterior of the building using black spray paint early July 4. Robert Blackshaw, the director of operations for the Michigan State Capitol Commission, said Schiffer Masonry personnel came to the Capitol building over the holiday weekend, no less, and removed the graffiti for free.

The Schiffer employees "really love this building and they consider themselves stewards of the building just like the rest of us," Blackshaw told MIRS. "It was about a $1,100 bill. We asked that they send us the bill, but they insisted that since they are stewards of the building that they wanted to take it off at their own cost. I thought that was worthy of mentioning because those are the kind of business partners we want moving forward," he said. "They did a great job."

The security camera's lighting system was being replaced at the time, and the spray painter has not been caught. "I guess we care more about things than money sometimes. We wanted it off the building as much as anybody," said Mike Ellsworth, president at Schiffer Masonry in Holt, to MIRS. Schiffer is a signatory contractor with Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 2. "We have done quite a few projects around there from helping with monuments to cleaning some graffiti here and there. That's not how we stay in business, cleaning graffiti. We stay in business building buildings."


Jobless numbers remain steady

WASHINGTON (PAI)— Another sign of stability in the U.S. economy came from Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released July 5, which showed the U.S. unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent in June to 3.7 percent.

The number of jobless rose by 87,000 to 5.975 million and the number of employed people – including part-timers and those with two or more jobs – rose by 247,000 to 157.005 million.

Factories (+17,000) and construction (+21,000) added jobs in June, companies claimed in a separate survey.