Momentum Builds behind Mechanical Allied Crafts Alliance.WASHINGTON Washington, town, England Washington, town (1991 pop. 48,856), Sunderland metropolitan district, NE England. Washington was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in the Tyneside-Wearside area. -- It's an ambitious undertaking to say the least. The six presidents of the international unions affiliated with the Mechanical Allied Crafts, or MAC, have finished dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" on official documents and procedures designed to promote job site harmony and make their craftsmen the first choice of the customer. The MAC unions have adopted a "Jurisdictional Warranty," which includes a Memorandum of Understanding A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action and may not imply a legal commitment. , Work Assignment Procedures, and a No Work Disruption disruption /dis·rup·tion/ (dis-rup´shun) a morphologic defect resulting from the extrinsic breakdown of, or interference with, a developmental process. Warranty, which will ensure the success of any project by virtually eliminating any disputes arising over job jurisdiction. "It's now down on paper in black and white and there's no turning back," said Bill Hite, General President of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters & Sprinklerfitters, and President of the MAC Council. "We are serious about providing a framework that demonstrates to any customer our skilled craftsmen and women will complete their job on time, on or under budget, while providing a pleasant construction experience," Hite said. The unions affiliated with MAC are The Electrical Workers, The Elevator elevator, in machinery elevator, in machinery, device for transporting people or goods from one level to another. The term is applied to the enclosed structures as well as the open platforms used to provide vertical transportation in buildings, large ships, Constructors, The Insulators & Asbestos asbestos, mineral asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. Workers, The Ironworkers, The Sheet Metal Workers, and The Plumbers, Pipefitters & Sprinklerfitters. Incorporated into the language regarding work assignment procedures are pre-bid and pre-job meetings between the contractor and labor where work assignments are decided. Work assignments will be the sole responsibility of the contractor, but if any disagreement between crafts involving work arises, there is now a mandated mediation mediation, in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, and arbitration arbitration Process of resolving a dispute or a grievance outside a court system by presenting it for decision to an impartial third party. Both sides in the dispute usually must agree in advance to the choice of arbitrator and certify that they will abide by the process to resolve the issue in three days, not weeks. "Our MAC Councils on the local level 'get it' where satisfying the customer is concerned, and we aim to make these types of problems a rarity," Hite said. "But if a dispute happens, we now have a mechanism in place to solve it quickly, hopefully away from the owner, and to move on." Likewise, the presidents signed off on an agreement that will eliminate strikes, picketing picketing, act of patrolling a place of work affected by a strike in order to discourage its patronage, to make public the workers' grievances, and in some cases to prevent strikebreakers from taking the strikers' jobs. Picketing may be by individuals or by groups. , work stoppages and slowdowns. Violators will be fined at the very serious rate of $50,000 per shift that any such action is allowed to continue. Respected industry expert Tom Pagan has been hired by MAC to serve as the permanent Arbitrator arbitrator n. one who conducts an arbitration, and serves as a judge who conducts a "mini-trial," somewhat less formally than a court trial. In most cases the arbitraror is an attorney, either alone or as part of a panel. . "The fact is any sort of job action is extremely rare in today's environment," Hite explained. "But at the same time, if this is a step we can take to increase the comfort level of those who would like to hire a work force with the skill only our men and women can deliver, we want to give them that level of confidence," the MAC president continued. Hite said the creation of the MAC initiative is to signal a "new era of customer commitment" within the mechanical industry. Local MAC councils are in the formation process around the country, Hite said, and the early returns from the customer community are "both exciting and very encouraging." |
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