Welcome to e-Connections, the weekly AFS email newsletter. In this Feb. 10, 2009, edition:

• Union Members Deliver Card Check Signatures to Capital Hill, AFS Calls for Action
• Metalcasting Solutions Seminar Coming to Northwest Regional
• Nine Metalcasting Facilities Earn Millionaires Safety Award
• MetalcastingDesign.com Publishes First in Series of Online Articles
• Attendee, Exhibitor Registrations Open for 113^th Congress

Union Members Deliver Card Check Signatures to Capital Hill, AFS Calls for Action
On Wed., Feb. 4, thousands of union members flooded Capitol Hill, where they delivered 1.5 million signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). If the union members’ efforts are proven successful, the EFCA will make it easier for workers to form unions by essentially eliminating a requirement that unions be launched via a secret ballot vote.

Specifically, it would give union organizers free rein to pressure workers into signing authorization cards. Once enough workers are persuaded to sign, the union would automatically be certified, and it would be illegal for workers to have a secret ballot election. The bill then would implement a compressed schedule for employers to bargain with their new union.

While no card check legislation has been officially introduced in either the House or Senate, Rep. Miller (D-CA), Chairman of the House Education & Labor Committee, has been soliciting cosponsors. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he hopes the Senate will debate a card check bill in either May or June of this year.

With the unions out in full force, AFS is requesting that its members fax or email letters opposing the EFCA to the House and Senate staff. If you do not have contact information for representatives in either of these offices, visit www.congress.org or click here. For more information, contact Stephanie Salmon, AFS Washington Office, at 202/842-4864 or ssalmon@afsinc.org.

Metalcasting Solutions Seminar Coming to Northwest Regional
The next AFS Metalcasting Solutions Seminar will take place March 19, just before the start of the AFS Northwest Regional Conference. Both events will take place at the Red Lion Hotel, Seattle.

The Metalcasting Solutions Seminar is intended to give casting buyers and designers an opportunity to discuss casting processes, review various alloy families and learn about technological advancements in metalcasting. AFS corporate metalcasters will have the opportunity to exhibit.

For more information on attending the Metalcasting Solutions Seminar, contact AFS customer service at 800/537-4237. To exhibit, contact Leo Baran, AFS director of membership services, at 800/537-4237 x 201 or lbaran@afsinc.org.

Nine Metalcasting Facilities Earn Millionaires Safety Award
AFS has announced the winners of the 2008 Millionaires Safety Award. This annual award recognizes facilities that reach million marks of consecutive man-hours worked without incurring an occupational injury or illness that results in days away from work. The 2008 winners include:

• Grede Foundries Inc., Greenwood Foundry, Greenwood, S.C., 7 million man-hours;
• John Deere Foundry, Waterloo, Iowa, 6 million man-hours;
• Intermet Corp./New River Foundry, Radford, Va., 3 million man-hours;
• Lufkin Industries, Foundry Div., Lufkin, Texas, 2 million man-hours;
• ATI Casting Service, La Porte, Ind., 1 million man-hours;
• Grede Foundries Inc., Iron Mountain Foundry, Kingsford, Mich., 1 million man-hours;
• Grede Foundries Inc., Reedsburg Foundry, Reedsburg, Wisc., 1 million man-hours;
• Grede Foundries Inc., St. Cloud Foundry, St. Cloud, Minn., 1 million man-hours;
• Sivyer Steel Corp., Bettendorf, Iowa, 1 million man-hours.

The metalcasting industry as a whole recorded its third consecutive decrease in recordable injury and illness cases in 2007 according to the results of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration study.

The Millionaires Safety Awards will be presented at the 2009 Metalcasting Congress President's Luncheon, scheduled for Friday, April 10, at the 113^th Metalcasting Congress in Las Vegas. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2008 Millionaires Safety Award. For more information, contact Fred Kohloff, AFS director of environmental, health and safety, at fhk@afsinc.org or 800/537-4237.

MetalcastingDesign.com Publishes First in Series of Online Articles
The largest single source of metal casting design and purchasing articles on the internet is growing.
On Feb. 9, www.metalcastingdesign.com published the first in a semi-weekly series of design and purchasing articles that will be available only online.

The first of the series of articles, “Identifying a Candidate for Conversion to Casting,” by Michael Gwyn, can be found under the “How to Design” heading on the MetalcastingDesign.com main menu, as well as in the “What’s New Online” section of the homepage. The article will be followed two weeks later by a purchasing article that will appear under the main menu heading “How to Buy.” Articles will continue to appear every two weeks thereafter.

The series of articles is intended to grow indefinitely the compendium of information already available at www.metalcastingdesign.com Check it out, and grow your knowledge of design and purchasing, as well.