In January we held an online shop stewards training program over zoom. The training consisted of 1 hour a week for five consecutive weeks. Approximately 35-40 stewards and or interested members participated in each of the sessions. The training covered grievance handling, the rights of the shop steward and bargaining along with a number of other critical subjects. Those who participated will receive a steward’s guide as soon as I receive them. The online recordings of the training will be available on line through the end of March. After that time you will have to contact the union office to be able to view the recordings. The feedback from those who participated was overwhelmingly positive.

I have spent some time working with the updated IUOE National Training Fund (NTF) online platform. I think that this program could prove useful in providing some basic training for our membership. There is a nice catalog of basic classes that are available. We will be posting a few of the classes from the catalog on line to see if there is any interest among the members. Two of the courses are EPA 608 Certification and the other is a NFPA 70B Arc Flash Awareness.

The IUOE North Central States Conference holds a weekly conference call for all stationary engineer organizers which I participate in. It is aimed at insuring that we coordinate our organizing efforts across multiple states.

I am currently reaching out to build a relationship with the building engineers and mobile engineers at CBRE, ERMC, and EMCOR companies so as to begin discussion with them regarding organizing into local 148. The union has posted job openings with JLL AT&T DC and JLL AT&T MES on social media.

Organizing new members is our union is our life blood, and I am committed to doing all that I can to bring new blood into our union. Please help me in this effort.

A labor management meeting with Jefferson County Highways was held on March 6th.

I am still waiting to hear from Cushman & Wakefield Bank of America to begin negotiations. I met with the membership on March 6th to discuss the union’s proposals.

I recently attended the South East Missouri State University membership meeting to introduce myself as their new business rep. I met with the management of the university to introduce myself as well. I also met with the Chief Steward at Washington University; the steward and public works director at the City of St. Clair; and the highway commissioner at Franklin County to inform them that I would be replacing Doug Williams as the new union business representative.

Dates have been set to Meet and Confer with the University of Missouri St. Louis and Rolla over the implemented Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU). Over zoom we are set to discuss changes to the University’s Leave Policy. I will be sending a letter to all members requesting their input and Ideas for negotiations. I will also be sending a letter to all non-members of the bargaining units pointing out how their membership would benefit the entire bargaining unit as-well-as themselves.

The JLL AT&T Data Center is currently trying to hire a new engineer for the second shift Monday thru Friday. The pay is $35.00 per hour with an 8% contribution to the Central Pension Fund (CPF). I am attempting to clarify the pension plan contribution language which is supposed to be reported as an hourly contribution rather than a gross pay contribution. This clarification is merely a recording keeping matter and has no impact on the contributions currently being made. With respect to the job opening, anyone interested can reach out to me at brad@iuoe148.com or by calling me at 314-865-1300 ext. 111.