Northwest labor press., July 19, 2019, Page 7, Image 7

NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 19, 2019 | PAGE 7
From Page 6
TEAMWORK Elevator constructors work in pairs and communicate via
walkie talkie. For the last few months, Corey Hanley, right, has worked at
the new Hyatt Regency convention center hotel, where his counterpart is
Justas Porta, left. Typically elevator constructors work four 10-hour shifts
a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. But in boom times they can work as
much as 20 hours a week overtime, paid at double-time under the union
contract. Below, Hanley takes a look at an escalator at the Hyatt. Escalator
work is considered more dangerous, but Hanley says a vigilant safety cul-
ture keeps workers safe: “In the 12 years I’ve been in the trade at Otis, we
haven’t had any major accidents where people were out of work.”
medes who invented the eleva-
tor, not Elisha Otis. What Otis
invented was a mechanical
safety feature. Before then, el-
evators were considered too
dangerous for routine use
transporting people: If a rope
were to break, a lift would
come crashing down, killing
its occupants. Otis invented a
system based on speed and
centrifugal force: If an elevator
starts to fall faster than a given
speed, a mechanical safety ap-
plies friction clamps to the
guide rails, which stops the car.
As much as steel girders, it
was Otis’ invention that made
skyscrapers feasible.
Just as safety is important,
the perception of safety is im-
portant too. That’s one reason
elevator constructors pay ex-
treme attention to detail. A lot
of care is taken to keep eleva-
tors quiet. Passengers don’t
like to hear noises. It makes
them nervous.
“It’s the little tiny details,”
Hanley says. “When you’re
putting the elevator in, if a sin-
gle rail joint is out of plumb,
you’re going to feel that in the
car every time it goes by. It’s
going to make a little bump.
And the little bump is going to
lead to a tick, and the tick is
going to lead to a major knock.
And noises in elevators freak
THE BRAINS OF THE OPERATION An elevator machine room, a room the
public doesn’t know exists, is where today’s elevators’ smart controllers talk
to each other. Hanley and Porter, above, helped set up the one at the Hyatt.
people out.”
Hanley says his co-workers
and he strive to build elevators
to within a 64th of an inch of
specifications. They do that us-
ing laser measuring tools,
measuring tape, and plumb
bobs.
“I think being a little OCD
is a good thing for an elevator
constructor,” Hanley said.
“You miss one little thing, it’s
going to make a noise.”
Or say an elevator service
person sweeps out things that
have fallen into the pit, and
forgets to turn off the light.
Most people look down when
they get on an elevator. That
light will make it possible for
passengers to see into the
shaft. Some passengers, afraid
of heights, won’t get on the el-
evator.
Knowing what they know,
elevator constructors have to
groan when Hollywood de-
cides a movie plot needs an el-
evator scene.
“The number one thing that
movies always get wrong is
you can’t open the doors,”
Hanley said. “If you’re stuck
in an elevator, you can’t just
pop the doors open and get out
and climb up to the other door.
Those doors are specifically
designed so that you can’t get
out of them. In actuality you’d
be much safer staying in the el-
evator until somebody comes
to rescue you than trying to get
out.”
“It’s the perfect job for me,”
Hanley said. “You get to build
things, wire things, and trou-
bleshoot, then step back, walk
away, and say, ‘I built that.’”
... Federal judge springs ‘Scabby the Rat’
From Page 3
Court’s five-man GOP-named
majority said, violates dissent-
ing workers’ free speech rights.
Trapping the rat, Garaufis
said, violates union workers’
free speech rights. “As a thresh-
old matter, the court notes Local
79’s peaceful use of stationary,
inflatable rats and a cockroach
to publicize a labor protest is
protected by the First Amend-
ment,” Garaufis wrote.
Appealing his ruling “would
raise serious constitutional con-
cerns” the judge warned the
Board.
NLRB General Counsel Peter
Robb, a Trumpite, has been
leading the charge to try to ban
the rat for interfering with busi-
ness. That’s no surprise. Robb
first came to right-wing notice
when, as a young Justice De-
partment attorney, he wrote the
legal justification for Ronald
Reagan’s firing of the Air Traf-
fic Controllers (PATCO) in
1981.
The NLRB had no immediate
comment on the ruling.