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Apprenticeship Conference

L.U. 577 (em&i), APPLETON, WI—The annual Spring Banquet was held March 5 at Liberty Hall in Kimberly. The 200 members and guests attending enjoyed excellent food and conversations. Recent retirees William Gauerke, Gerald Voster and Jack Yogerst were honored, in addition to 50-year members David Cook and William Lopas. Thank you to Tom Van Heuklon and Social Committee members Mike Parker, Doug Schulz and Jerry Schraufnagel for helping make this event a huge success.

The 22nd Biennial Apprenticeship Conference was held in Appleton on Jan. 31 and the Appleton/Oshkosh JATC sponsored a booth at the apprenticeship expo. Many area high schools brought students to this event to learn about apprenticeship programs. Thanks to Tom Glatz and Jeff Schmoker, who fielded questions from students and counselors. Thank you to Corey Wiegel and Greg Young, who gathered the exhibits and set up the booth.

A recent audit of our continuing education courses showed that 780 members attended over 4,300 hours of night school in 2004. More than 3,300 of those hours were committed to safety training. The membership has shown a real commitment to keeping our jobsites safe for everyone. Let’s make 2005 an even bigger year by attending courses offered by the Local 577 Education Committee.

Greg Breaker, B.M.

Graduation Celebration

L.U. 595 (c,govt,i,o&st), DUBLIN, CA—The 68 graduates of 595’s Inside Wireman and Sound and Communications 2004 classes were honored at a gala dinner Feb. 26, 2005.

Hundreds of IBEW and NECA members and guests celebrated 52 new inside wiremen and 16 installers. JATC Training Dir. Byron Benton and Sound and Communications Training Dir. Ty McKinney co-emceed the event. Addressing the gathering, Local 595 Bus. Mgr. Victor Uno noted a recent front-page newspaper article titled "Union Helps Overcome Adversity." The article related difficulties faced by apprentice Cynthia Montero and how the union helped her through to graduation.

"Unions do not get much positive press these days," noted Uno. "But this article shows how we all come together during times of difficulty, and we treat each other as family."

Outstanding Inside Graduate honorees were Robert Ramer and Michael Bennett. Outstanding S&C Graduate was Jose Luis Munoz. Perfect Attendance Award recipients: Ron Donabedian, Vicente Herrera, Michael O’Sullivan, Michael Porritt and Scott Sauro.

Apprenticeship Service Award recipients were graduates Jessica Rodriguez, honored for her efforts when many apprentices were out of work, and Jim "Sarge" Lucas, who took seven years to complete the program because he served 24 months of active military duty overseas. Jim oversaw the Toys for Tots program for the JATC.

Marta Schultz, P.S.

Habitat Volunteers

L.U. 601 (i&rtb), CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, IL—Members of Local 601 volunteered their time and skills to the community through Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity builds homes for low-income families through donations of money and labor. At the time of this writing we are finishing the third Habitat home. Volunteering your services for such a noble cause is a great way to represent your local union as well as to show the community that your union cares. Local 601 owes a great debt of thanks to Bro. Chuck Leman and Bus. Mgr. Michael Herbert for their great job coordinating efforts for the project. Also, many thanks to all the brothers and sisters of "601" who sacrificed their time and energy to make the projects successful. Bro. Leman says we are planning to wire four more Habitat houses this year.

Work in the area is good. As spring approaches we expect to see steady employment.

Congratulations to new retiree Ron Hubert.

Local 601 mourns the loss of Bros. Russ Hubert, Robert Russell and Arlo Deremiah. They will be greatly missed.

Chris Cook, P.S.

Community Gains

L.U. 617 (c,i,o&st), SAN MATEO, CA—Keeping score at football time will now be easier for the Burlingame High School’s players and their cheering fans, parents and friends in the bleachers. The school now has a new electronic scoreboard with a large IBEW insignia on it. The new scoreboard, valued at a five-digit figure, was given and installed by Local 617, which has nearly a century of recorded contributions to the community.

Thanks to our local’s history of community service, leaders in the community are receptive and sympathetic to our enforcement officer Brian Deering’s and organizer Dominic Nolan’s concerns. They know these concerns are about our tax dollar spending for public sector projects as relates to productivity, quality, safety and environmental impacts. They are willing to listen regarding the great benefits of hiring skilled local union workers—workers who reinvest their earnings in the local economy.

Local 617’s service to the community, along with our fierce multi-faceted promotional campaigns of recent years, has helped make it possible to report that Local 617 has performed nearly 85 percent of the many millions of dollars in this jurisdiction’s prevailing wage jobs every year! Case in point: Prescott Electric is carrying a full IBEW crew at this high school remodel project scheduled for fall completion.

Pierre St-Cyr, P.S.

New Members Welcome

L.U. 625 (ees,em,i,mar&mt), HALIFAX, NS, CANADA—Congratulations to two newly certified journeymen, Eric Jury (Dec. 2004) and Otis White (Feb. 2005). Carry your ticket with pride, brothers.

Members retiring from Local 625 in the first quarter of 2005 are as follows: Bros. Mel Sampson, Wayne Oakley, John Meagher, Terry Colp, Paul Singer and Roy Evans. Thank you, brothers, for your dedicated service to the IBEW.

Welcome to the new members who joined the IBEW, when Germain Mechanical and Electrical was organized in January 2005. Local 625 and management of Germain are working in unison to ensure a prosperous future for all.

A New Member Orientation course designed to train the trainer was held March 7-9, 2005, in Halifax. Business managers and organizers from all over eastern Canada attended. Local 625 delivers an orientation course quarterly; the most recent of which took place March 12, 2005.

The local mourns the passing of recently retired Bro. Winston "Butch" Cheeseman, who passed away Jan. 24, 2005. He is fondly remembered by Local 625 brothers and sisters who knew him.

Tom Griffiths, P.S.