Local Lodge 627

Injury rates drop across three categories

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of Construction Boilermaker Employers (NACBE) presented its annual safety awards to the 2011 top-performing locals from the Boilermakers’ four U.S. vice-presidential sections March 5 during the annual Construction Sector Operations conference held at Marco Island, Fla.

Local 263 (Memphis, Tenn.), representing the Southeast, took national honors with zero lost-time accidents, zero compensable injuries, and zero OSHA-recordable injuries.

AFTER SEVERAL DAYS of attending conference sessions and visiting the Hill to lobby for Boilermaker priorities

THE BOILERMAKERS’ International Executive Council scholarship committee announced the winners of its 2011 scholarship program this past April. The committee awarded $50,000 to 37 scholarship recipients, with $36,000 being allocated to U.S. applicants and $14,000 to applicants from Canada.

I am writing this letter to commend and thank the members of Local 627 [Phoenix] who worked on the Cholla Unit 1 horizontal superheat project [Joseph City, Ariz.]. The Boilermakers removed and replaced 384 superheat assemblies and made 1,600 welds in 26 days. We x-rayed 240 welds, with no rejects. They managed to do this with wind delays, crane breakdowns and other obstacles. APS [Arizona Public Service, owner/operator] was very pleased with this outage. The project was completed with an excellent safety record and ahead of schedule.

Donations build Brotherhood’s political strength

LODGES, VICE PRESIDENTIAL sections, and individual members that excelled in raising money for CAF and LEF in 2010 received special recognition during the LEAP conference in Washington, D.C., March 21.

MY DAD, HENRY Royce, was a shipyard Boilermaker out of L-614 (New London, Conn.) for 30 years before his retirement in 1981. When he died on Jan. 28, 2011, at 92, he left behind two generations of Boilermakers — and a legacy of inventiveness.

L-502’s Nordstrom places second; Northeast contestants take team honors

GRADUATE APPRENTICE Michael Bogue, Local 7 (Buffalo, N.Y.), won first place at the 23rd annual Boilermakers’ National Outstanding Apprenticeship Competition, held Sept. 26-30 at Local 7’s training center in Orchard Park. Western States apprentice C. Eric Nordstrom, Local 502 (Puyallup, Wash.), took second. Team honors went to Bogue and Jeffrey Nasta, Local 5 Zone 5 (New York), representing the Northeast Area.

Fluor Daniel settlement checks arrive just before Christmas

FIFTY BOILERMAKERS who participated in the union’s Fight Back strategy against Fluor Daniel Inc. in the 1990s received early Christmas presents last December. Settlement checks for those members arrived at L-627 (Phoenix), L-40 (Elizabethtown, Ky.), and L-582 (Baton Rouge, La.) and were distributed to 42 living members and the heirs of eight members who are now deceased.

ACTIVE AND RETIRED members of Local 627 (Phoenix) attended their annual lodge picnic at the Shriners’ Park near Farmington, N.M., Sept 5. About 85 members and their families attended. Each adult received a T-shirt featuring the Local 627 logo, and a drawing was held, with two winners receiving a GPS roadmap unit and two others receiving portable DVD movie players. In the photo to the right, Local 627 BM-ST Allen Meyers begins the drawing with help from the granddaughter of retiree Al Stapleton.

Northeast & Great Lakes

Toth and Buskey win Northeast; Vodraska and Woods win Great Lakes

THE NORTHEAST AND Great Lakes areas held their 23rd annual joint graduate apprentice competitions May 4-8 at Local 5 Zone 197 (Albany, N.Y.). The top two finishers in each contest will represent their areas in the national contest in Kansas City, Kan., Sept. 27-Oct. 1.