Feb 20, 2016 | Community Service, Departments, Home |
Roses are red,
Violets are Blue,
Valentine’s Day is this week,
And why is finding volunteers so hard?
Happy Valentine’s Day Week! We hope that everyone in your committee is spending some quality time with the people that you love most (next to family, of course) … your volunteers.
Here are three quick tips to help your committee find and keep the volunteers that you need so much:
Look Everywhere
Think your kids are too young? They may not be. Kids love filling envelopes and passing out refreshments. They are great technical experts, as well, so don’t automatically assume that your teenage daughter would be bored to death at your event. She probably knows more about social media and smart phones than most of the adults will, so think about asking her to staff a tech support desk, or work as a photographer.
On the other end of the age spectrum, retirees are also wonderful volunteers. In fact, the experience and interest level of retirees is unbeatable. Retirees often love interacting with old friends, and knowing that they are still valued and important. Always keep retirees in mind when you are trying to find someone with a little free time and lots of expert knowledge.
Remember: you have to actually ask for volunteers! This is probably the most important part of searching for help. Maybe the worst mistake you can make when you are asking for volunteers is thinking that you already did. Ask again.
Communicate Clearly
Make sure that everyone knows exactly what will be expected of them. Volunteers will quickly lose interest if they are not sure what they are doing at your event. Don’t let them drift around – make sure that they are doing something that keeps their interest and that they find rewarding. Make sure they know exactly when they need to be there, who they need to talk to, and how long they will be needed.
Stick to the Plan
Make sure that you respect your volunteers time. If they needed to leave the event at 3:00, don’t ask them to help clean up until 4:00. Stick to the agreed-upon schedules, and make sure that any deviations from the plan are changes that everyone will be happy with.
Volunteers love to understand everything that they will be involved in. They love knowing exactly where to go when they arrive, and exactly what they will be doing.
To try and make the work of finding volunteer leads a little easier, the District 141 Community Service Department is building a nationwide registry of potential volunteers. We are asking anyone interested in volunteer work at their local lodge to sign up, so that we can help connect them to their local committees.
We hope it helps!
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Hope your week is an excellent one!
TTYL ?
Jan 13, 2016 | Departments, Home, Safety
Just last year, twelve members from IAM District Lodge 141, ten from Local Lodge 1487 Chicago O’Hare and two from Local Lodge 1351 Seattle working at United Airlines, completed the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 40-Hour Hazardous Material Instructor Train-The-Trainer Course held at Local Lodge 1487 located in Chicago, Illinois.
The Train-The-Trainer course was developed by IAM CREST in cooperation with IAM IAM District Lodge 141 and United Airlines specifically to enhance the required dangerous goods training provided by United Airlines. After successfully completing the course these IAM CREST DOT Associate Instructors will be authorized to deliver Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Awareness Training Course to workers who handle dangerous goods by air.
Training of DOT HMAT Associate Instructors and workers who handle hazardous materials is funded under a grant by the DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration.
Mar 7, 2015 | Organizing |
Only 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws that ban discrimination in the workplace because of a person’s sexual orientation. Only eight of those states and the District of Columbia ban discrimination in the workplace because of a person’s gender identity. Because there is no federal law prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, working people in 33 states are being denied employment on the basis of something that has no relationship to their ability to perform their work.
The states with laws that prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation are California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Washington also forbid gender identity discrimination.
Also, 131 cities have laws banning workplace discrimination because of sexual orientation. Fifty-seven of those cities extend protections to include gender identity.
Congress is considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would prohibit discrimination in hiring, firing, promotions, compensation and other employment practices because of a person’s sexual orientation. For more information about ENDA, see:
The work issues pages at the Human Rights Campaign site.
The non-discrimination law page at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force site.
The following site also can provide information about discrimination:
Federal Office of Personnel Management memo on the rights of federal employees regarding sexual orientation discrimination.
Mar 7, 2015 | Organizing |
Religious freedom is one of the principles on which America was founded, and one of the basic rights we value most.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion by a private employer, state or local government or educational institution with 15 or more employees for 20 or more weeks a year.
If you think you have been discriminated against because of your religion, you can file a complaint on a form with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that works to protect you from discrimination based on age, sex, race, color, national origin, religion or disability. You can file a charge by calling 800-669-4000 for more information (800-669-6820 for the hearing impaired). All charges must include:
- Your name, address and telephone number.
- Your job title.
- A brief description of the problem.
- When the incident(s) occurred.
- The type of discrimination you encountered.
In addition to your denomination’s website, the following sites also can provide information about discrimination:
For more information, visit the EEOC question-and-answer page about discrimination.
