There will be a Special Notified Meeting to be held following the regular body meeting on April 27th at 7:00 pm for the Building Trades Members of Central and Western Massachusetts to vote on the increment of $.49. Total allocation will be $.85 with $.36 to National Pension and $.49 to be voted on April 27th. This increase will begin on July 1, 2006.

If any member is interested in accepting any out of town work, we suggest going to www.smwia.org to check out the Job Bank listings. Simply click on Members, enter your member number and last name. Click on Job Bank and you will be able to research the out of town jobs on your own. If you find any job that may suit your needs, please give Mark Andrews a call in the Worcester Office, or give Kevin Mulcahy a call in the Springfield Office.

There are absolutely no late dues exceptions. Dues are to be paid one month in advanced. The Union books are to be closed on the last business day of the month, every month by 4:30 PM. Delinquent dues result in suspension, which in turn adds on a $200.00 re-instatement fee, (Vermont Members $150.00 re-instatement fee) plus a two-month advanced payment of dues, in order to be re-instated. Suspension will also have you immediately removed from the shop or job site you are working in. Please be prompt with dues payments!

This years golf tournament will be held at the Chicopee Golf Course on August 5, 2006. There will be a shotgun start time of 12:30 pm. Further information will be in the May 2006 Newsletter. For immediate questions or concerns, feel free to contact Kevin St.Germain at 413-786-8194.

We are looking for anyone who would like to help out organizing. Please call Stuart if interested 413-733-8332.

Members working out of Local 63’s jurisdiction must call the Union whose area that they are working in. Here are the phone numbers to other Sheet Metal Workers Local Unions:

Local 17 Boston (617) 296-1680
Local 17 New Hampshire (603) 626-5577
Local 17 Rhode Island (401) 831-7150
Local 17 New Bedford (508) 999-0001
Local 17 Maine (207) 783-6783
Local 25 Northern New Jersey (201) 507-0330
Local 27 Southern New Jersey (732) 919-1999
Local 28 New York, NY (516) 742-9478
Local 38 New York, Southeastern & Western CT (845) 278-6868
Local 40 Connecticut (860) 529-2616
Local 83 New York, Albany (518) 489-1377

Starting July 1st, 2006, there will be a New State Law in effect regarding being certified for the OSHA 10 hour course. Those who have not taken the course will not be eligible to work on any State Funded Jobs. Your OSHA card should be on you at all times!

There will be (at the very least) one more OSHA 10 hour course available. The date is to be announced. If you have not yet taken this course, sign up ASAP with Helene by calling the Hall at 413-732-4449. The first 24 people will be taken, others by first come first serve basis.

There will be a State of Rhode Island Licensing course available soon. If you are interested, please give Helene a call at the Union Hall to sign up. Thank You!

The following courses are available for Journeymen
1. Basic Welding~stick or MIG
2. Advanced welding~TIG
3. Certified Welding
a. Sheet Metal Certification
b. Structural Certification
4. CAD~ Basic CAD Drafting 6 person minimum 10 weeks 2 nights per week

Please call Helene at (413) 732-4449 to sign up if you are interested. Dates will be determined based on enrollment.

Many thanks to all who helped out with this year’s clambake, this year was the LARGEST crowd we’ve seen at a bake. There was plenty of food and drinks and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Best of all we were able to raise $1,623.19 toward our upcoming children’s Christmas party. We tried organizing a bus to bring our Vermont members to the clambake, but we did not have enough participants, if all who attended gets the word out about what a great time this was then maybe next year we can get our Vermont members to join in the fun.