I hope you and your families are all enjoying a safe and healthy winter. The holiday season and New Year are right around the corner and the winter months are a good time to get caught up on any licensing or certifications that may need renewing. Please check our website or this newsletter for a list of classes at the Training Center. If you are looking for seat time over the winter months, please call the Training Center office and we will do our best to schedule a convenient time to come in for any of the cranes or dirt equipment.
Congratulations to Business Manager Mike Bowes and Funds Administrator Greg Geiman, as well as Greg’s team in the Funds Office on an excellent Healthy Living and Retirement Planning Fair. It was nice to see so many members at union-built Polar Park in Worcester. There were numerous Health and Welfare partners on hand and fun activities for kids. It was a nice event to stay up to date on any changes to the benefits and take full advantage of retirement planning. Great job to all that made the day happen.
The 7th Annual William D. McLaughlin Charitable Golf Tournament was another huge success on a beautiful day again this year. It was great for everyone to come out on a Sunday at Stow Acres and fill both courses. Thanks to the Golf Committee for their hard work creating an incredible tournament that raised over $100,000 for veterans’ charities.
The Training Center has been busy this fall and winter. November was an especially busy month as we were open for applications to the Apprenticeship Program. We once again received a lot of interest in the program with approximately 600 appointments booked to fill out an application. The application period is now closed, and we are processing the applications that we received. This is the first step in the process; we expect to be interviewing potential candidates that have completed all steps in March or April with the JATC.
With the support of Business Manager Mike Bowes and the Training Fund Trustees we have been fortunate to be able to continue to upgrade the equipment at the Training Center. We have had Sitech out in Canton outfitting the newly purchased Cat D6 Dozer with Trimble GPS. We are excited to work with Sitech as we will be tailoring training opportunities in GPS for the apprentices and journey members. This is something we have done in the past with rental equipment, but I’m happy to have a more long-term training opportunity in GPS at the Training Center.
Congratulations to all the 50-year members that were recognized at our October Body Meeting. It was a large turnout and always great to see the members and families of those that helped pave the way for the Local with 50 continuous years of service.
I hope you and your families enjoy a happy and healthy Holiday Season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Michael J. Carey
Training Coordinator