Local News

New pipeline could employ Boilermakers on gas-fired units, compression stations

BOILERMAKERS AND OTHER union members from Virginia’s building and construction trades gathered at the Virginia State Capitol on January 30 to advocate for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Danny Watson, Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer for Local 45 (Richmond, Virginia) spoke at the rally. He said they were also there to show support for Governor Terry McAuliffe, who backed the project in spite of opposition from environmental activists.

Local 1 • Chicago

JOHN F. RIEL, BM-ST of Local 1, Chicago, reports presentation of membership pins to the following:

FREDRICK W. MCDONALD, Jr. is using his passion for art to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The Local 83 (Kansas City, Missouri) retiree created a 2017 calendar with his original art, including some drawings of children, in an effort to help St. Jude advance its mission to find cures and to prevent pediatric diseases.

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.

Quilt includes T-shirts from construction locals across the Southeast

Toy drive nets over $1,200 and nearly 600 toys

IN A MULTI-CRAFT effort to make the holidays merry for those less fortunate, Boilermakers from Local 29 (Boston) spearheaded a Toys for Tots campaign at the O’Connor Corporation’s Salem Harbor Project jobsite in Salem, Massachusetts, last December. In addition to the Boilermakers, the IBEW, UBC, UA and LiUNA also collaborated in the holiday effort. The O’Connor Corporation offered their support of the month-long donation drive as well.

FORMER APPRENTICE CHAD Riley, son of Local 455 (Sheffield, Alabama) Jeff Riley, saved a boy’s life on Labor Day weekend with CPR skills he learned while in the Boilermaker National Apprenticeship Program.

Chad Riley and his family were spending part of Labor Day weekend at the Phil Campbell, Alabama, swimming area when Riley heard shouts coming from the water’s edge. A friend’s nephew wasn’t breathing after being found unconscious in the water. A bystander tried CPR on the boy for two minutes, but he still wasn’t breathing.

Local 1 • Chicago

JOHN F. RIEL, BM-ST of Local 1, Chicago, reports presentation of membership pins to the following:

• 45 YEARS — Edward Anderson, Mark Gustafson;
• 40 YEARS — Eugene M. Forkin III; and
• 25 YEARS — Robert Taylor.

Local 83 • Kansas City, Mo.

JOE LEWANDOWSKI, BM-ST of Local 83, Kansas City, Mo., reports presentation of membership pins to the following:

Retired Local 1 member served 25 years as BM-ST

JOHN J. SKERMONT, A retired 45-year member of Local 1 (Chicago) who served 25 years as the lodge’s BM-ST, passed away September 13 at the age of 69. He is survived by his wife Susan (nee Christy); three daughters, Patricia (Daniel) Pohrte, Amy (Gabriel) Cuevas, and Jaclyn (Kristopher) Lunquist; grandchildren John, Lola, Mckinley, Max, Juno and Margot; and sisters Kathleen (Robert) Mrugala and Peggy ( Jack) Crotty.