EAST CHICAGO MARINA WORKERS SAVE MAN'S LIFE
Labor Desk
September 01, 2005
Man Resuscitated by CPR-Trained Teamsters A man, who was out on Lake Michigan for a leisurely fishing trip, is alive today, thanks to a group of Teamsters in East Chicago, Indiana.
Local 142 member Higenio "Beto" Martinez was just pulling a boat out of the water at the East Chicago Marina, where he and his fellow Teamsters work. He saw the man fall over the side of his boat headfirst into the lake. Martinez acted quickly and pulled the man, who was suffering from a heart attack, out of the water and onto the pier. With the help of coworkers Paul Jacquez and Remigio "Hetio" Nava, and a marina security guard, Martinez resuscitated the man, using a defibrillator. An ambulance arrived moments later and transported the man to a local hospital for further treatment.
"It happened so fast, but thanks to the training we had, nobody panicked," Martinez said. "We were able to keep the situation under control and went through the proper procedures to resuscitate the man."
Just two weeks prior to the incident, the workers at the East Chicago Marina underwent extensive CPR training. The city of East Chicago had also purchased the defibrillator used to save the man's life. The Teamsters' names were put in a Congressional record in recognition of their efforts.
Formerly known as the Pastrick Marina, the East Chicago Marina is located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Lake County, Indiana, just miles from Chicago and accessible from major highways and the Skyway.
"The marina is one of the city's best-kept secrets," Nava said. "It's a small marina where everyone knows one another."
The Teamsters at the marina are heavy equipment operators who launch and haul out watercraft with special equipment and boat-handling skills.
"These Teamster members provide a very unique service," said Ted Bilski, a business agent for Local 142, based in Gary, Indiana. "They conduct boat operations that no other city provides. It's like a valet service for boats."
The workers care for the boats from the moment of delivery through winter storage. It is the attention to detail and careful handling that keeps the customers coming back every year.
"We handle these watercraft as though they were ours," said Jacquez, who is also a Local 142 steward. "Some of these boats are worth at least $65,000. You have to be extremely careful when setting these boats down on the dry stack or you will damage them."
The equipment operators use 15,000- to 20,000-pound forklift trucks and a 50-ton marine Travelift, which hauls boats up to 100,000 pounds. They also pressure-wash the watercrafts at the end of the summer season as an additional service to marina customers.
"This job requires an operator to have an excellent depth of perception and alertness," Nava said. "We are hauling more than a thousand boats a year into storage. We have to be very precise so we don't put boats into the dry stack too low. The fiberglass bottom of a boat can easily be damaged if an operator is careless."
Nava added that additional damage, such as stress cracks in the boat, can develop if the operators do not lift the craft at the right points.
At the end of the season, the workers winterize the boats and take them out of the housing area. In the spring, the heavy equipment operators pick up the boats and put them back into dry dock storage. Martinez, Jacquez and Nava have been with the Teamsters for more than four years. They all agree that life is better at the marina with the union backing them up.
"We were underpaid and underappreciated. This was a job that no one wanted before the union came in," Jacquez said.
"This job used to start at $6.50, and when we got the first Teamster contract, the wages jumped. We are now making $16 an hour. I'm sure people can understand why we love the Teamsters just for that reason alone."
Throughout the years at the marina, the men have developed a solid working relationship and have avoided injuries and accidents in their work.
Source: Teamsters
Local 142 member Higenio "Beto" Martinez was just pulling a boat out of the water at the East Chicago Marina, where he and his fellow Teamsters work. He saw the man fall over the side of his boat headfirst into the lake. Martinez acted quickly and pulled the man, who was suffering from a heart attack, out of the water and onto the pier. With the help of coworkers Paul Jacquez and Remigio "Hetio" Nava, and a marina security guard, Martinez resuscitated the man, using a defibrillator. An ambulance arrived moments later and transported the man to a local hospital for further treatment.
"It happened so fast, but thanks to the training we had, nobody panicked," Martinez said. "We were able to keep the situation under control and went through the proper procedures to resuscitate the man."
Just two weeks prior to the incident, the workers at the East Chicago Marina underwent extensive CPR training. The city of East Chicago had also purchased the defibrillator used to save the man's life. The Teamsters' names were put in a Congressional record in recognition of their efforts.
Formerly known as the Pastrick Marina, the East Chicago Marina is located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Lake County, Indiana, just miles from Chicago and accessible from major highways and the Skyway.
"The marina is one of the city's best-kept secrets," Nava said. "It's a small marina where everyone knows one another."
The Teamsters at the marina are heavy equipment operators who launch and haul out watercraft with special equipment and boat-handling skills.
"These Teamster members provide a very unique service," said Ted Bilski, a business agent for Local 142, based in Gary, Indiana. "They conduct boat operations that no other city provides. It's like a valet service for boats."
The workers care for the boats from the moment of delivery through winter storage. It is the attention to detail and careful handling that keeps the customers coming back every year.
"We handle these watercraft as though they were ours," said Jacquez, who is also a Local 142 steward. "Some of these boats are worth at least $65,000. You have to be extremely careful when setting these boats down on the dry stack or you will damage them."
The equipment operators use 15,000- to 20,000-pound forklift trucks and a 50-ton marine Travelift, which hauls boats up to 100,000 pounds. They also pressure-wash the watercrafts at the end of the summer season as an additional service to marina customers.
"This job requires an operator to have an excellent depth of perception and alertness," Nava said. "We are hauling more than a thousand boats a year into storage. We have to be very precise so we don't put boats into the dry stack too low. The fiberglass bottom of a boat can easily be damaged if an operator is careless."
Nava added that additional damage, such as stress cracks in the boat, can develop if the operators do not lift the craft at the right points.
At the end of the season, the workers winterize the boats and take them out of the housing area. In the spring, the heavy equipment operators pick up the boats and put them back into dry dock storage. Martinez, Jacquez and Nava have been with the Teamsters for more than four years. They all agree that life is better at the marina with the union backing them up.
"We were underpaid and underappreciated. This was a job that no one wanted before the union came in," Jacquez said.
"This job used to start at $6.50, and when we got the first Teamster contract, the wages jumped. We are now making $16 an hour. I'm sure people can understand why we love the Teamsters just for that reason alone."
Throughout the years at the marina, the men have developed a solid working relationship and have avoided injuries and accidents in their work.
Source: Teamsters
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