Ventura County Plumbers and Pipefitters Local #484 December 2019 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. This year in 2019 work has been pretty good since the second quarter of the year after a very slow first quarter. Having said that we still have members either out of work, we are at about 15% unemployment and still have members 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 19, 2019 AT 7:00 P.M. The Local will be supplying appetizers and refreshments, please feel free to bring dish to share with everyone. There will also be door prizes, I look forward to seeing you all there!

100TH CALIFORNIA STATE PIPE TRADES CONVENTION CALL

The 100th 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 at the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, CA on Thursday May 14, 2020.

U.A. Local 484 will have a special order of business at our regular union meeting on Thursday January 16, 2020 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 “one (1) delegate” and “one (1) alternate” 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 20, 2020 at 1955 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura CA as close to 7:00 p.m. The purpose of this meeting will be to elect one (1) delegate and one (1) alternate for the above convention. In the event of a tie vote, a runoff will be held at the February 20, 2020 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 am 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, RECENT RETIREMENTS!

Brother Greg Grimm retired on July 20, 2019 with forty years of service to the United Association and Local 484. Greg was initiated into Local 484 on July 21, 1979.

Brother Mark Arenas retired on August 1, 2019 with 29 years of service to the United Association and Local 484. Mark was initiated into Local 484 on December 7, 1989.

Office Manager Veronica Bouvet retired on November 1, 2019 with 12-1/2 years of service to Local 484. Veronica started at Local 484 on July 20, 2007 and is a member of affiliate, Office and Professional Employees International Union No. 537.

Congratulations to Brother Grimm, Brother Arenas, and Veronica Bouvet for their dedication and service Local 484! As always, we wish you all a very long, happy, healthy, and well deserved retirement.!

IN MEMORY OF OUR DEPARTED BROTHERS

It is with great sadness to announce the passing of our Brothers since our last newsletter in July 2019.

Brother Mervin Melton passed away on 9/24/19, he was 92 years old at the time of his passing and was a 65-year member of the United Association.

Brother Richard ‘Dick’ Brock passed away on November 18, 2019, he was 84 years old at the time of his passing and was a 65-year member of the United Association.

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

BURIAL BENEFIT ASSESSMENT

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 the office.

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 fulltime attendance during the coming year.

Forty 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, 2020. They must be postmarked no later than March 31, 2020. 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

Murray Company continues to have work at the Amgen campus and a chiller, cooling tower change out, and all new piping system out at Los Robles Hospital.

Acco continues to pick up heating and cooling projects at Amgen and has started a high purity piping division and are going after work at Amgen. They also now have a plumbing division with a couple projects out at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and a Church of Scientology building in Ventura.

Kinetics has a good size project at Amgen building 31 with some crews working night shift. They also continue to pick up small projects out at Skyworks.

Limbach has plumbing, mechanical, and medical gas work out at Los Robles Hospital and Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks. They have also picked up mechanical work at UCSB with a few of our members traveling up there for work.

Sierra Commercial Plumbing has the Fairfield Inn by Marriott, on Central Avenue in Camarillo. They are gutting the hotel and will be re-piping the whole building.

Schultz Mechanical, and Unified Field Services Inc. continue to pick up projects through SB54 the statewide PLA on the California Resource Corporation oil leases in Ventura County.

Precision has spotty work at local schools in the area and work on both Port Hueneme and Point Mugu Naval Bases.

Smith Electric/Mechanical has a good size project at Rio de Sol STEAM School.

ORGANIZER/AGENT

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It’s that time of year again and I want to offer my best wishes to you and your families. I hope you have a joyous, safe, healthy Holiday Season and prosperous New Year.

I’m very happy to announce that Local 484 has three new contractors signed to the Master Labor Agreement through organizing efforts, Home Plumbing & Drain Service, West Coast Welding & Piping, and R.G. Construction & Plumbing.

I continue meeting with plumbing/mechanical/HVACR non-signatory contractors and strive to maintain a friendly and positive relationship. We also continue to send our apprentices out to these contractors per the State of California Division of Apprenticeship Standards requirements. Our main goal over time is to show that we have the best training, most skilled workforce and reliable manpower as needed for any project large or small and eventually have these contractors signed to the Master Labor Agreement.

As a friendly reminder to all, stay current with all needed certifications, Journeymen upgrade training and Union dues as to not jeopardize employment.

We currently have 78 case referrals submitted to LMCC and are being reviewed at this time. LMCC is a 3rd party agency that monitors Public Works Projects and audits certified payroll and manpower ratios, so contractors stay in compliance with local, State and Federal law. LMCC has assigned a full-time field agent to assist in monitoring Public Works Projects in Ventura County.

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

The Local will continue asking all brothers and sisters for your participation at city council meetings, PLA meetings/hearings, political rallies and various labor functions to secure future work. I will also be asking for apprentice and journeyperson volunteers to help with community service work, 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!!!

U.A. Local 484 continues to work on outreach to recruit new and past members through career/job fairs, non-signatory contractor job site visits, posting of recruitment flyers at supply houses, DC-16 blitz/sweeps, friends and family, etc. Please remember that we are all organizers.

In closing, I thank you for your support over the past three years and I will continue to work diligently for the membership each and every day. It is a privilege to serve you as Local 484 Organizer. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, do not hesitate to call me.

Fraternally yours,

Tim Redondo – Organizer

IN CLOSING I would like to thank former Office Manager Veronica Bouvet for another great year of service to Local 484. The Officers and members appreciate everything you have done for us this year and again wish you a long, happy, and healthy retirement!

I would like to thank new Office Manager Deanna Bouvet Paz for all her hard work so far this year. Deanna is doing an outstanding job in her new position and we are happy and blessed to have her here at Local 484!

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Office Manager Deanna Bouvet Paz, all the Officers of Local 484, and myself in wishing you and your families the very best this Holiday Season and to a Prosperous 2020!

Fraternally Yours,

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

EMAIL ADDRESSES

If you haven’t already provided us with your email address, please do so. This has been one of the best ways in communicating to our members upcoming training and important events. If you have moved, please notify the hall so we can send you the change in address form.

UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA AFL-CIO TELEPHONE (805) 643-6345 – FAX (805) 643-0425