Education and Training

Twenty attend MOST training session

MEMBERS FROM A dozen local lodges met in Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 15-20 to expand their skills under the MOST Project Management Training Program. MOST (Mobilization, Optimization, Stabilization, and Training) is a pioneering labor-management trust fund designed to address issues in the construction industry through innovative programs and collaboration.

Institutes focus on labor education

MORE THAN THREE dozen Boilermakers interested in expanding their knowledge of labor and union leadership attended sessions at the School for Workers on the University of Wisconsin campus last August. Commonly referred to as the Boilermaker Summer Institutes, the sessions include one week-long block for basic studies, another for advanced studies. After completing the basic session, participants typically return the following year to complete the advanced course.

THE NATIONAL LABOR College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md., has introduced a new financial education program especially for union members. The free program is designed to educate members about making sound financial decisions. It includes an informational website featuring how-to videos  and practical advice about investments, pensions, debt, credit cards, and other topics. A booklet is also available to be shipped to unions or downloaded.

Without clear guidelines, many lodges end up arbitrating more grievances than they should.

Program emphasizes communication techniques

FORTY-EIGHT MEMBERS from four Canadian locals participated in the two-day field supervisor leadership training program held late last year and early this year, according to Grant Jacobs, Canadian National Director of Apprenticeship and Education. Jacobs, pictured in the first two photos kneeling/sitting at left, led the course, assisted by Jonathan White, Assistant National Training Coordinator, pictured to Jacobs’s right.

August 14-19 BASIC; August 21-26 ADVANCED

The 2011 School for Workers Summer Training Institute
Madison Concourse Hotel, Madison, Wisconsin

Additional announcements and registration information will be mailed to local lodges early this summer.

For more information, please contact Cheryl Harris at 913-371-2640.

Your job as a steward is to find that evidence wherever your grievance investigation takes you.

17 members from six locals attend

SEVENTEEN CONSTRUCTION Boilermakers from six local lodges attended the first project management course to be held in Canada with all-Canadian participants. The training took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Nov. 7-12.

The week-long course was taught by Dale “Skipper” Branscum, Director of Construction Division Services, and Gerry Klimo, Local 154 (Pittsburgh) safety training coordinator.

Training coordinators Scot McMahon, Local 128 (Toronto, Ontario) and Al Bennett, Local 359 (Vancouver) audited the program.

Locals 128 and 555 finance 1,800 sq. ft. building in Ontario

SITTTING RIGHT ON the dividing line between the Boilermakers’ Western and Eastern districts is a new 1,800 sq. ft. training centre in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

TWO CANADIAN LOCALS held a two-day field supervisor leadership training program this summer, drawing nearly 30 participants who are interested in furthering their skills. Local 73 (St. John’s, New Brunswick) hosted the course on July 28-29; Local 146 (Edmonton, Alberta) held the course on August 19-20.