Andrew Jones brings Corps values to apprentice training
WHAT DO THE Marine Corps and the Boilermakers have in common? If you ask Andrew Jones, quite a lot.
Jones, who is the apprentice instructor at the new J. G. Cooksey WSJAC Training Center in Salt Lake City, says attitude, discipline and camaraderie drive the Boilermaker construction trade — the same traits that make the Corps successful in its mission.
Donations help elderly Navajo maintain traditional lifestyles
FORTY NAVAJO ELDERS living in remote tribal areas in the Southwest are now receiving food packages, food certificates and firewood courtesy of the Boilermakers union as part of an outreach program based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
International President Newton B. Jones said a decision was made last year to support the program, Adopt-A-Native-Elder, as a substantial number of our members who live in Arizona and New Mexico are part of the Navajo Nation.
SEVENTEEN NEW BUSINESS managers/secretary-treasurers from the United States attended a training course Sept. 18-21 in Kansas City, Missouri, to prepare them for their lodge leadership roles.
THE CHARLES W. Jones Award, which honors the local lodge demonstrating the highest use of specified MOST programs during the preceding year, went to Local Lodge 4 of Page, Arizona. International President Newton B. Jones presented the award to Local 4 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Louis Dodson, Jr. Local 4 is the seventh lodge to receive the award since its inaugural presentation to Local 154 (Pittsburg), in 2011.
NEARLY 150 MEMBERS working at the Lackawanna Energy Center near Scranton, Pennsylvania, completed Boilermaker Code training July 19-20. Prime contractor Kiewit hosted the training at the project site. Approximately 175 Boilermakers representing 30 locals from across the United States are on the job, building elements of a new 1,500 MW combined cycle gas plant. Local 13 (Philadelphia) has jurisdiction for the Boilermakers’ work.
LOCAL 627 (PHOENIX) hosted two days of Boilermaker Code and steward training Jan. 17-18 in Farmington, New Mexico, drawing more 34 members, including some from Local 4 (Page, Arizona).
The Boilermaker Code is the newest program of the MOST trust and is aimed at educating and inspiring members to work with absolute professionalism on every project. The program stresses the importance of “living the Code” to build trust and earn opportunities for more work.
LOCAL 4, OF Page, Arizona, held its first-ever award ceremony for 15-year service pins July 9 during the lodge’s regular union meeting. The local was chartered in 1999 as a construction lodge. Receiving their pins above are, left to right, Lorado Yazzie, Louis Dodson Jr., Tully Bitsoie Jr., Ernest Coleman, Jerrold Hatathlie, Ray John, Jerry Fowler, Harold Neztsosie, Ralston Benally and BM-ST Casey Tibbs.
U.S. AREA APPRENTICESHIP committees have scheduled competitions for 2015. The events will be held as follows: Western States, May 4-7, at the Local 101 Training Center in Denver; Northeast/Great Lakes, June 1-4, at the Local 154 Training Center in Pittsburgh; and Southeast, June 28-July 2, at the Local 456 Training Center, Rock Hill, S.C.
The Boilermakers National Apprenticeship Competition will be held August 30-September 3 at the Local 456 Training Center.
THE U.S. NATIONAL Apprenticeship Competition marks the highest level of skills and knowledge testing for Boilermaker graduate apprentices. But before the finale, contestants are selected at the local lodge level to compete in their geographic areas.
In 2013, 37 graduate apprentices reached their area competitions, from which eight were selected by judges to enter the nationals.