Ventura County Plumbers and Pipefitters December 2017 Newsletter

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

I would first like to start by thanking you for your enormous generosity in the past few years on our Holiday Gift Card Drive. The drive could not have happened without your generosity and support for this event. Although 2017 was a pretty good year for Local 484, our work hours were up 47,000 hours at the end of October compared to the hours at the end of October 2016. Having said that, we are at about 15% unemployment, and still have members either out of work or working out of town and away from their families. We will be accepting gift cards of any denominations from grocery stores, i.e. Ralph’s Vons, Target, etc. Gift cards are ideal and make distributing them by mail easy.

Save the date, please join us at our HOLIDAY PARTY, THURSDAY DECEMBER 21, AT 7:00 P.M. The Local will be supplying appetizers and refreshments, please feel free to bring a dish to share with everyone. There will also be door prizes; I look forward to seeing you all there!

98TH CALIFORNIA STATE PIPE TRADES CONVENTION CALL

The 98th call for the convention of the California State Pipe Trades Council of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada is hereby issued to convene on Thursday May 24, 2018 at the Marriot Marquis in San Francisco, California.

U.A. Local 484 will have a Special Order of Business at our regular union meeting on Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 1955 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, CA as close to 7:00 p.m. as possible. The purpose of this meeting will be to nominate “two (2) delegates” and “alternates” for the California State Pipe Trades Convention.

IMPORTANT: The United Association Constitution Section 17 shall govern the nominations and states: “No member shall be eligible as a delegate or alternate unless he/she shall have been a member of the Local Union which he/she is to represent for at least two (2) continuous years previous to his/her election and he/she remains in good standing from the date of his/her election through the period of the convention.”

U.A. Local 484 will have a Special Order of Business at our regular union meeting on Thursday February 15, 2018 at 1955 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura CA as close to 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of the election of the delegates and alternates for the above convention. In the event of a tie vote, a runoff will be held at the February 15, 2018 meeting at 1955 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura CA.

IMPORTANT: The United Association Constitution Section 124 (a) shall govern the election and states: “No member shall vote at any election of any description unless he/she has been a member in good standing in the Local Union where the vote is being taken for a period of one (1) year immediately prior to the date of the election. Any member who owes or has paid a reinstatement fee within a period of one (1) year immediately prior to the date of the election shall not be eligible to vote in any Local Union election.”

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to Brother Pat Carse, who became a 50 year Life member of the UA on July 1, 2017. Brother Carse was initiated into Local 120 Cleveland Ohio on July 1, 1967 and transferred into Local 484 on September 14, 1978.

IN MEMORY OF OUR DEPARTED BROTHERS

It is with great sadness to announce the passing of Brothers Eldon Huntling, Harold ‘Hal’ Coffman, Gene Crandell, and Billy Maloy.

Brother Huntling passed away on June 11, 2017 at the age of 87. He was initiated into UA Local 761 on November 26, 1952 and transferred to Local 484 on July 10, 1979. He retired November 26, 1977. Brother Huntling was a 64 year Life member of the UA at the time of his passing.

Brother Coffman passed away on October 22, 2017 at the age of 72. He was initiated into UA Local 484 on June 16, 1967 and retired on January 1, 2004. Brother Coffman was a 50 year Life member of the UA at the time of his passing.

Brother Gene Crandell passed away on November 22, 2017 at the age of 72. He was initiated into Local 484 on December 3, 1965 and retired on October 1, 2005. Brother Crandell was a 51 year Life member of the UA at the time of his passing.

Brother Maloy passed away on November 22, 2017 at the age of 87. He was initiated into Local 484 on January 17, 1958 and retired on September 1, 1984. Brother Maloy was a 59 year Life member of the UA at the time of his passing.

We extend our sincere condolences to the families of our departed Brothers. Please keep our departed Brothers and their families in your thoughts and prayers, Thank You.

BURIAL BENEFIT ASSESSMENT

With the passing of Brothers Huntling, Coffman, Crandell, and Maloy, it brings the burial assessment number to #290, respectfully. A friendly reminder, the $8.00 dollar assessment is due and payable prior to any payment being applied to your monthly dues. The reason for this is many times the benefit is paid to the beneficiary of our deceased brother or sister prior to the members paying the actual assessment. In our ongoing effort to cut back on postage, we’ll continue to use the newsletter and e-mails as our only notice of any death assessment. If you have any questions regarding your payments, please do not hesitate to call us. I thank you and appreciate your understanding on this matter.

CALIFORNIA STATE PIPE TRADES SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION CONTEST

I am pleased to notify you about a wonderful opportunity for your children. The California State Pipe Trades Council Scholarship Foundation awards college scholarships to sons and daughters of U.A. Local Union members who are in good standing for at least one full year.

1) A high school senior graduating in June and attending a U.S. 4-year college or university during the coming academic year.

2) A full-time community college student attending a U.S. 4-year college or university during the academic year.

3) A full-time student currently attending a U.S. 4-year college or university and continuing full-time attendance during the coming year.

Thirty-two scholarships in the amount of $2,500.00 will be awarded to the applicants. Applications and the required materials will be accepted beginning January 1, 2018. They must be postmarked no later than March 31, 2018. Applications must be received within five business days after this deadline.

You can find the instructions and download the application on the California State Pipe Trades Council website at www.calpipes.org. If you have questions or need additional information you may contact the California State Pipe Trades Council Scholarship Foundation at (916) 446-7311.

WORK OUTLOOK

Southland Industries is out at Ventura County Medical Center working on the remodel of the Fainer Building. There is a lot of plumbing and medical gas but not too much on the mechanical side. We currently have 9 members working out there; they are working a day shift as well as a swing shift.

Anderson Systems has picked up more work at Teledyne and have hired a couple members in the last couple of days; they also have the Steam School in Oxnard, a decent size project. They also continue to pick up projects at Amgen and Sky Works.

Kinetics is starting to get a little busy at Skyworks and are looking at a good size project at Amgen Building 18 to start sometime after the first of the year.

Precision Plumbing and Mechanical along with Sierra Commercial Plumbing look to have a lot of work in the coming year. Both contractors are looking for supervision, anyone interested please contact the hall so we can put you in touch with these contractors.

Suttles Plumbing and Mechanical is also looking for a new foreman and journeymen service plumbers, again please call the hall if you are interested in a foreman position. Most of their work is in the valley. Bryan Suttles is reaching out to Locals 484, 761, and 78 for supervision.

Schultz Mechanical, ARB, and Spectra continue to pick up projects through SB54 the statewide PLA on the California Resource Corporation oil leases in Ventura County. Herman Weissker Inc. who is signed to the short line agreement has signed on to the DC16 Master Labor Agreement and are currently bidding this oil lease work as well.

There is still a very slim chance that the La Puente Power Plant in Oxnard will go sometime in the third quarter of next year. Next, we will be concentrating on the proposed Alpine Power Plant in Santa Paula. When the meetings with the California Energy Commission start, we need as many members as we can to attend these meetings. If we don’t have representation it will be very tough to convince the commission to proceed with the project. I have been to far too many of these meetings where 5 or 6 building trades representatives are speaking in favor of the project and over 100 citizens speaking against the project. It is very important that we fill the room with building trades people!

ORGANIZER

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A lot has happened since our last newsletter. I have been meeting with several non-signatory contractors and we have started off from day one with a friendly and positive relationship. We have also sent some of our apprentices out to these contractors with satisfactory results. Our main goal is to eventually have these contractors signed to the Master Labor Agreement. U.A. Local 484 continues to work on outreach to recruit new members through our community colleges, high schools, career/job fairs, non-signatory contractor job site visits, posting of recruitment flyers at supply houses, etc. Please remember that we are all organizers.

When I attended the U.A. Organizers two-week training seminar back in August of this year, the U.A. required all Locals/DCs to build and submit a Comprehensive Strategic Organizing Plan for the next two years to the U.A. Director of Organizing for approval. I have completed this request and we have an approved U.A. Organizing Plan for moving forward.

I continue to monitor Public Works projects throughout the county and open LMCC case referrals on contractors. We currently have twelve case referrals submitted and being reviewed at his time. LMCC is a 3rd party agency that audits certified payroll and manpower ratios, so contractors stay in compliance with State and Federal law.

Starting early next year and moving forward the Local will be asking all brothers and sisters for your participation at city council meetings, political rallies and various labor functions to secure future work. I will also be asking for apprentice and journeyperson volunteers to help with salting non-signatory contractors and projects. We need members to be active and involved with our regular membership meetings every third Thursday of the month at the hall. Please do your best to attend. The fight is to keep the middle class. Without unions, Corporate America will do away with the middle class.

I continue to communicate with our local signatory contractors on a regular basis and assist them with potential bid opportunities, future projects and upcoming manpower certification needs. We must increase market share with all our good signatory contractors and increase membership if we wish to survive as a Local.

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. Best of health to everyone.

Fraternally yours,

Tim Redondo/Organizer

Once again, I would like to thank Office Manager Veronica Bouvet for another great year of service to Local 484. Thank You Veronica for everything you do for me, as well as all the members of Local 484 and their families!

In closing I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Office Manager Veronica Bouvet, all the Officers of Local 484, and myself in wishing you and your families the very best this Holiday Season and to a Prosperous 2018!

Fraternally Yours,

Shane Boston Business Manager/Financial Secretary U.A. Local 484