BREAKING NEWS

GAWDA Members Mine for Gold in Chicago

(from left) Kenneth Thompson Jr. of Thompson Group, Don Mottigner of Superior Products and Ken Tidwell of WDPG/The Horton Group at the President’s Reception on Sunday

Despite tough economic times, GAWDA members met in Chicago at the association's first Spring Management Conference of 2009. 330 members came to the Windy City to meet with industry colleagues, business experts and others to discuss best practices for doing business in this economic downturn. No one was disappointed.

Executive Director Kent Van Amburg pointed out to attendees that GAWDA was the only association holding a conference at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel since the start of 2009 to meet its room requirement, thus avoiding a penalty.

Thomas Smith (l), president of DeLille Oxygen Company (Columbus, OH), and Dan McCall of FIBA Technologies

In his opening address to attendees, GAWDA President N. Britt Lovin explained the association's "belt tightening," which has resulted in a savings of $210,000 and additional revenue of $200,000 over 2008. Folllowing the address, members attended several sessions dedicated to helping them run their businesses better. Deb Best from AWESCO (Albany, NY), a member of GAWDA's Human Resources Committee, explained effective wage and hour management. Conference attendees received a copy of the HR Committee's work on a USB drive.

Saf T Cart's Jimmy Walker Sr. (l) and Mark Davidson of Best Welders Supply (Tulsa, OK)

Mark Hunter taught attendees how to sell a price increase and provided tips for better negotiating. GAWDA Consultant Tap Resources, represented by Paul Matlock and Al Coulter, explained lean operations.

On Monday afternoon, distributors had the opportunity to meet with 80 suppliers at the Contact Booth Program. A highlight of every conference, this year's exhibitors acknowledged the dedication and commitment of distributors who came to the event to learn about new products and solutions.

David Day, CEO of American Standard Manufacturing, points out his company's product during the Contact Booth Program.

Also on Monday, Judy Flanagan, president of Data Key Communications and publisher of Welding & Gases Today, introduced GAWDA's newest member benefit—GAWDAwiki (see story below).

If you were unable to attend the Chicago Spring Management Conference, you still have an opportunity to meet with like-minded individuals searching for a way to survive and thrive in 2009. Register for the Spring Management Conference to be held on April 21-24 in Asheville, NC, home to GAWDA's president N. Britt Lovin and Andy Oxy Company. Read more here.

Don't miss this opportunity to network with colleagues, learn best practices and determine ways to make it through these tough times. You'll be glad you did.

GAWDA Introduces New Member Benefit

Members descended on the GAWDAwiki booth to learn about this newest member benefit.

At a time when many associations are cutting back services, programs and meetings, GAWDA has introduced a new benefit for members. GAWDAwiki was introduced to members on Monday. GAWDAwiki is the industry resource for all things related to gases and welding and includes industry terminology, video product demonstrations, informative white papers and spec sheets, a searchable buyers directory, and industry news updated every weekday. Also found on the GAWDAwiki site is a detailed map of the U.S. and Canada that includes detailed information about every member branch location linked to their Web site. View this new benefit of membership at www.gawdawiki.org.

Lincoln Electric's Jim Appledorn (l) and Chuck Allard of Toll Company (Plymouth, MN) check out www.gawdawiki.org.

Members had a chance to see GAWDAwiki at the Contact Booth Program. Dave Nangle, president and CEO, Harris Products Group, says, "This is the best thing that has happened to this industry in years. We will use this all the time."

Immediately after hearing a lunchtime presentation about GAWDAwiki, Patty Davidson, sales rep at Best Welders Supply (Tulsa, OK), called her company's inside salesperson, who doubles as the IT person, and asked him to check out the site. She describes his reaction: “Can you believe this? It gives me all the information I need to do my job."

Reaction among members to GAWDA's newest benefit of membership was clear: GAWDA is here to help its members. Check out GAWDAwiki at www.gawdawiki.org.

Obama Proposes LIFO Repeal

In President Obama's budget, LIFO repeal is included as a revenue raiser. The LIFO repeal proposal provides for $61.2 billion in revenue over 10 years starting in 2012. However, when Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel called for full LIFO repeal in October 2007, the revenue score for full repeal over 10 years was $105 billion.

There is no language in the budget to explain how the $61.2 billion score was determined; it simply appears as one line in a revenue table. We may not know the details of the Obama repeal proposal for several weeks.

The LIFO Coalition Steering Committee (of which GAWDA is a member) met on March 5 to discuss this new legislative threat, determine how the Coalition should respond and plan for continued Coalition growth. The Steering Committee reaffirmed the Coalition’s mission, specifically that:

• LIFO is the right means of inventory evaluation to accurately reflect taxable earnings for those companies that choose to use it.
• The Coalition will fully and actively oppose repeal in any form, even if it were to apply only to specific industries or company sizes.
• Compromise is not an option, since repeal in any form would be based on the false premise that use of LIFO is inappropriate and its elimination would eventually apply to all companies.

Card Check: Labor Bill Faces Threat in Senate

The Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as "Card Check" legislation, has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate. The bill is expected to pass the House easily, but it is questionable whether supporters will be able to garner the 60 votes necessary to pass it in the Senate—key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause.

This legislation would require employers to recognize and bargain with a union if 50% or more of their employees sign cards indicating they desire union representation—no secret ballot election would be necessary. Moreover, if the parties cannot reach agreement on a collective bargaining agreement within 120 days, an arbitrator (an employee of the federal government) will be able to impose a labor agreement on the parties for a period of 2 years. 

There is no minimum number of employees required to be subject to this legislation, so virtually all GAWDA members would be affected if this bill is enacted into law. Now is the time to write your senators to oppose this legislation. You can do so by visiting NAW’s Web site.

IRS Guidance on COBRA Continuation Coverage

The new COBRA subsidy requirements went into effect March 1. For guidance from the IRS, visit this page. For answers to frequently asked questions, visit this page. Note that both IRS pages include a link to helpful information made available by the U.S. Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

Welding & Gases Today: Your Economic Survival Guide

Curious to know how other GAWDA members are handling the economy? Take a look at Welding & Gases Today's 2nd Quarter 2009 issue. Read distributors' ideas for beating the slump, get advice on how to sell prices in a soft economy, learn how to market on a budget and see how others have prospered during a crisis. SMC attendees can find out about exhibiting companies with the Contact Booth Program Exhibitor Guide. All this and more available now in the 2nd Quarter 2009 issue of Welding and Gases Today, available in print and online at www.weldingandgasestoday.org.

SAFETY & COMPLIANCE NEWS

GAWDA Files Comments With PHMSA • GAWDA has filed comments with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) supporting federal preemption of state tort claims involving cylinders that are manufactured to DOT specifications. The proceeding arose from a case where a DOT-39 cylinder ruptured, causing injury; a federal bankruptcy judge questioned whether the fact that the cylinder met DOT specifications when manufactured precluded a tort claim for defective manufacturing or notice. PHMSA had requested public comments on the legal implications of complying with the regulations. GAWDA argued that the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act and the need for nationwide uniformity preclude a plaintiff from claiming that differing state tort law standards may be applied to cylinders that met federal standards when they were manufactured. GAWDA’s comments can be read here.

NEW MEMBERS

GAWDA welcomes new Distributor Members ArcSource, Inc. of Seabrook, NH, Comercial de Gases Industriales (OXIPLUS) of Mexico, and Excel Welding Supply Inc., of Philadelphia, PA.

INDUSTRY BEAT
(what people are talking about)

Margaret Hamburg

Margaret Hamburg Named FDA Head (Silver Spring, MD) • President Obama named former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret "Peggy" Hamburg to head the Food and Drug Administration. Hamburg, 53, is an expert in community health and bio-defense. Since 2001, she's served as the vice president for biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation dedicated to reducing the threat to public safety from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Hamburg has also held positions as assistant secretary for policy and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as assistant director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Mike Sdao

Ourco Hires CWI (Houston, TX) • Ourco Welding & Industrial Supplies hired Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) Mike Sdao. With 10 years of experience as a CWI, Sdao offers customers advice regarding welding procedures. "Before we had Mike on staff, our customers had to find a CWI themselves if they wanted someone to look at their welding procedures," explains President Robert Lantrip. "By offering his services, we’re more of a one-stop shop."

Praxair and Linde Receive Intel Award (Santa Clara, CA) • Praxair Electronics and Linde Electronics were 2 of 26 companies to receive Intel Corporation’s Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award. To qualify for PQS status, suppliers must score 80% on a report card that assesses performance and ability to meet cost, quality, availability, delivery, technology and responsiveness goals. Praxair supplies Intel with electronic process and bulk gases, sputtering targets and spare parts management, and Linde supplies Intel with ultra-high purity gases and chemicals and on-site services.

Carl Austin

Darla Lacey

Staff Changes at Jackson Welding (Rochester, NY) • Carl Austin was promoted to branch manager of Jackson Welding Supply Company’s Rochester location. Formerly a salesperson, Austin has been with the company for 14 months and will oversee the Rochester location’s sales team. Darla Lacey joined the company as controller. With over 10 years of finance experience, she is responsible for creating and overseeing the company’s budget.

Andy Butcher

Luxfer U.S.A. Names President (Riverside, CA) • Andy Butcher was named president of Luxfer Gas Cylinders U.S.A. A Luxfer employee since 1991, Butcher was previously executive vice president. As president, he has general management and administrative responsibilities for manufacturing facilities in Riverside, CA, and Graham, NC, as well as a global sales and distribution network.

GAWDA NEWS

GAWDA Joins Coalition Against Limiting Tort Preemption • GAWDA has joined a coalition formed by the Institute for Legal Reform at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose trial lawyers' efforts to rescind or limit federal law preemption of state tort claims. Plaintiffs’ lawyers have approached the Obama administration and Congress to roll back federal limits on state tort claims in a number of different statutory schemes, which would open up the courts to more lawsuits (and more attorneys' fees) for a variety of industries. The coalition will cooperate to identify threats to federal preemption and further opportunities to streamline the tort process.

GAWDA/AWS Discount Program • The American Welding Society (AWS) officially launched its new Welder Membership, offering benefits to help welders tackle issues that affect them every day. To entice welders to join, the AWS benefits package features a discount program offered by participating GAWDA distributors on products they sell. GAWDA Members who choose to participate in this program will offer AWS Members a discount, to be determined by the distributor and to be applied toward whatever products the individual distributor deems appropriate, i.e., personal protective equipment, welding equipment, hard goods, etc. This discount program will be extended to all 56,000+ active AWS Members, including new Welder Members, as a value-added benefit designed to drive more business to participating GAWDA distributors. To date, approximately 195 distributor locations have signed up to participate in the discount program.

AWS will actively promote distributor participation in the program by listing distributors on a dedicated GAWDA/AWS Discount Program Web page accessible on the AWS Web site, which receives 120,000 visitors a month. AWS will also promote participating distributors in an annual ad in Welding Journal and will provide distributorships with counter-top displays, posters and additional materials to use in-store to promote their involvement in the program. If you are interested in participating in this discount program, please e-mail cburrell@aws.org.

Profit Survey for Distributor Members • Participate in the 2009 GAWDA PROFIT Survey. Get full details here.

Take Advantage of GAWDA University Online • GAWDA U is an easy-to-use and inexpensive online training tool for your employees. The educational content of GAWDA U was developed to support GAWDA's primary mission of providing information to assist you in improving your company's safety and compliance.

GAWDA U Online is an ever-changing and growing program. We are conducting weekly webinars to introduce members to the functions and content of GAWDA U and to answer any questions. Please contact GAWDA Membership Director Kate Cole (kcole@fernley.com) to sign up for the introductory webinars or to find out more about this exciting opportunity!

View course listings here.

WORKSHOPS, WEB CONFERENCES & SEMINARS

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