All's well for IAM Local 1516 members Bill Kuslitz,
Jr., left, and Steve Thurk, right, after Kuslitz
donated a kidney to save the life of his  fellow
union member.

Kidney disease strikes thousands of Americans each year. Many face a shortened lifetime of complicated medical procedures while hoping for a replacement organ from a suitable donor.

For IAM Local 1516 President Steve Thurk, fourteen years of living with the disease ended happily when his co-worker and Shop Committee Chairman Bill Kuslitz, Jr. stepped forward with the extraordinary offer of one of his own kidneys.

Kuslitz’s decision to become a living donor drew surprise and praise from doctors and staffers at Madison University Hospital in Madison WI, who completed the four-hour transplant operation last October. Most kidney donors are recently deceased organ donors or closely related to the recipient.

“Well, I guess we’re related now,” said Kuslitz, who doesn’t consider himself to be a hero. He encourages others to become living donors. “Most people don’t realize you can live an active, normal life with only one kidney.”

More than 80,000 Americans are currently on lists for every type of life-saving organ transplant and 17 die each day while waiting.

For more information about becoming an organ donor or a living donor, contact the National Kidney Foundation: www.kidney.org.

Bronze giants surround a steel tower honoring union labor on the banks of the Missouri River. The sculpture is the second largest labor monument in the U.S.

Omaha Sculpture Honors Labor
Two hundred-fifty tons of cement and 39,000 pounds of steel were used to create a towering monument to union labor that overlooks the city of Omaha on the banks of the Missouri River.

The $600,000 sculpture titled “Labor” features workers cast in bronze who represent the diverse legions of union laborers who helped build the riverfront city.

“Since it’s beginning, Omaha has been a working person’s town,” said Terry Moore, president of the Omaha Federation of Labor. “This is a monument to their legacy.”

The three-story sculpture anchors a riverfront park that includes a pedestrian walkway. The IAM is prominently featured among more than a dozen steel plaques honoring Omaha’s unions.



IAM District 751 is looking for any information about these Boeing workers.
Front row, left to right, Katie Jeffries, Althea Skelton, Ella Mae (last name unknown) and Mary Johnson. Back Row, left to right, Louise Williams,
France (last name unknown), Velma Glass Johnson and Florence Thomas.

Searching For a Part of History
During World War II thousands of women found jobs in American factories and shipyards. At Boeing, their efforts helped boost production from 60 planes per month in 1942 to an astounding 362 planes per month by March 1944. This photo of eight African-American “Rosie the Riveters” surfaced when workers tore down a building on Boeing property. The women are standing in front of a Boeing B-29 at the Renton plant near Seattle, WA. IAM District 751 is trying to find these women or members of their families as part of a Labor History Project. Contact Ron McGaha, District 751 administrative assistant at 206-764-0304 if you have any information