The North Georgia Building Trades Council raised $35, 506.62 in 2007 for the Diabetes Research Institute with our annual Dollars Against Diabetes (DAD's) campaign. With union members seeking donations on street corners and in front of retail establishments and the Building Trades Council's DAD's Day golf tournament, another sucessful year was acheived which should keep Atlanta in the top ten cities in the US for raising money for DAD's. Thank you to all who gave, supported, sponsored and played in our golf tounament and a big thank you to all the volunteers who shook buckets and helped put on the golf tournament.

The golf tournament is scheduled for June 4, 2008 at The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm. Sign up today. If you want to get involved with this years event call the Councils office.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a top priority of  organized labor to level the playing field for workers trying to exercise their constitutional right to associate freely with groups and individuals of their choice. Employers routinely deny their employees this right and do everything in there power to discourage their employees from associating with each other and organizations whose purpose is to help workers better their conditions of labor. They intimidate, threaten and fire employees who would dare to exercise these rights granted them under the Constitution.  Click on the link below to here one workers story of  courage as he seeks  justice and freedom from the tyranny of his employer. Call your congressman and ask him to support The Employee Free Choice Act.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK4rsq5nPRA

 "Everyone is angry here. No one will work," said Khalid Farouk, 39, a laborer with Al Naboodah. Other workers said their leaders were asking for pay raises: skilled carpenters on the site earned $7.60 per day ($0.95/hr), with laborers getting $4 per day ($0.50/hr).

 ...laborers were also asking Al Naboodah, one of the Emirates' biggest construction conglomerates, for overtime pay, better medical care and humane treatment by foremen.

"They are asking for small things," said Al Jumairi, the labor investigator. "I promised them I would sit with them until everything is settled."

 The protesting workers are among almost 1 million migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and elsewhere who have poured into Dubai to provide the low-wage muscle behind one of the world's great building booms. In five decades, Dubai has grown from a primitive town of 20,000 to a gridlocked metropolis of 1.5 million. 

 Link to full story: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/22/D8GGPJJG3.html

 25 Complete OSHA 500 Training.

Building trades members complete OSHA 500 train the trainer course. These individuals will be able to teach OSHA 10 and 30 hour construction safety classes. The class was taught by JJ Johnson and Laurie Shadrick, both members of the United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters. The class was underwritten by the Center to Protect Workers Rights (CPWR). See the photo gallery for more pictures.