Greetings Brothers and Sisters, I hope you and your families are enjoying the summer months. I would first like to congratulate Business Manager William McLaughlin on his announcement that he will be retiring in September. While I’m sad to see Bill go, I’m happy that after all he has done for the Local he will have the opportunity to enjoy a well-earned retired life and spend more time with family. I would like to thank Bill for his leadership over the years as Business Manager and Local 4 representative but also personally as someone that I’ve looked up to in the business.

I would also like to extend my congratulations to Mike Bowes on his upcoming move to Business Manager upon Bill’s retirement. I look forward to working with Mike in his new position. He will continue to fight hard for Local 4, like he has always done, and will do a fantastic job as the Business Manager.

Congratulations also go out to David Shea and Chris Carey who are moving into the President and Vice President seats respectively. Dave and Chris are deserving of the positions and will continue to do great work for the members. I would also like to congratulate James Marenghi on his new assignment as the Worcester area Business Agent. Jimmy will do a great job taking over where Dave Dobson left off. I wish Dave all the best in his retirement.

On June 22, 2023, the Apprenticeship Program held the 2023 Graduation Ceremony. We had 13 talented graduates this year. This was an especially good group of apprentices and I’m sure they will all be very successful as journeymembers of the Local. I would also like to recognize Office Manager Michele Maimone, who once again put together an awesome night to celebrate the apprentices’ accomplishments. Congratulations to all of them and on behalf of the Training Center, we wish them all a safe and prosperous career.

This year’s graduating class:

Brian Barron, Antonia Cardoza, Brent DeLongchamps, Nicolas DiMinico, Cody Drouin-Pires, James Golden, Ryan Morrissey, Jose Navarro, Gina Petrillo, Shawn Pitt, Alexandra Simonovitch, Candace Waldie, Andre Wilmot.

It was great to see everyone who attended the Woo Sox event at Polar Park. Thanks to Business Manager William McLaughlin and Business Representative Dave Dobson for organizing a great event. It was a fun night in a beautiful ballpark built by Local 4 members.

I would like to thank Greg Geiman and the whole Benefits Funds staff for putting on the second 5k event at Medway High School. It was a well-done event and nice to see so many people outside of the job sites and offices.

Lastly, coming up next month is the 60th Anniversary of the Trust agreement that established The Hoisting and Portable Apprentice and Training Program Fund. The Trust Agreement was entered into the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on August 6, 1963.

The Agreement is between the Building Trades Employers Association of Boston & Eastern Massachusetts, the Labor Relation Division of Construction Industries of Massachusetts, the Foundation and Marine Contractors Association of New England, and the Labor Relations Division of the Associated General Contractors of MA and Local 4’s International Union of Operating Engineers.

The above information forms the Trustees (Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee), which is governed by the Trust Agreement. This establishes an educational and training program for apprentices and journeypersons.

I would like to recognize the outstanding Training Center staff for this milestone. That includes Office Manager Michele Maimone as well as Melissa Lucente who works in the office and keeps the Training Center going every day and provides so much help to the apprentices and members. We are fortunate to have a great team of full-time instructors that provide training, maintain equipment, and are constantly looking for new ways to improve training. They include Tom McEvoy, Peter Carpenter, Andy Franzen, Peter Gardiner, and Bill Jusczak. We are fortunate to also have a talented group of part-time instructors that work in the field for our contractors and then come in to share their experience with apprentices and provide continuing education to the membership. They are Jason McElroy, Nick Palmitesta, Frank Girolamo, Tyler Moore, Nick Romaniuk, Brian Jusczak, and Scott Snow. This team works extremely hard every day for the membership and is eager to be of assistance. As always please reach out to the me or Training Center staff, if there is anything we can do to help you.