L-107 holds open house

L-107 BM-ST Blane Tom, with scissors, prepares for the ribbon-cutting at the lodge’s new facility. L. to r., L-107 VP Jerry Maciejewski, L-107 trustee Joe Garfield, Great Lakes Apprentice Coordinator Mark Gustafson, Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto, Great Lakes IVP Larry McManamon, L-107 Rec. Sec. Rick Wilson (partially hidden), L-107 inspector Paul Stahl (partially hidden), L-107 trustee Pat McMahon, IR-CSO Tony Palmisano, and L-107 Pres. Marvin Cartwright.

Lodge moves into larger, more modern facility

LOCAL LODGE 107 (Milwaukee) held an open house Aug. 26 to showcase its new union hall and apprentice training facility. The local sold its previous facility and purchased a 21,500-sq.-ft. building in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. The lodge leases about half the space to a tenant.

L-107 BM-ST Blane Tom said the newer building provides an open floor plan and more room to conduct operations. After making renovations, the lodge moved its offices in Dec. 2009 while it continued to work on the training center.

Completed this past summer, the 6,500-sq.-ft. training area is more than three times as large as the previous one. Included are a modern classroom and a shop with 10 new weld stations and advanced air filtration systems.

“Our classroom includes 15 networked computers that are tied into an overhead projector,” Tom said. “Instructors can control the content that appears on each of the computer screens.”

Office and meeting areas include photo displays of job sites, members at work, and historical images. More than two dozen large-format images were prepared and installed by the Boilermaker History Preservation Department.

IVP Larry McManamon described the new union hall and apprentice training facility as state of the art. “Local 107 has once again proactively positioned itself to more effectively provide manpower, now and in the future, for the construction industry,” he said.