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July 27, 2021
Sisters and Brothers,
As I sit here and write this article for the Conduit, Memorial Day weekend has just passed; an unofficial start to summer has begun. We are slowly getting back to normal here in NY State with a lot of the Covid restrictions being lifted.
It has been a tough 15 months for all of us, with all the lockdowns and restrictions. I am happy to say we did not have to close the union hall down during this time. The hall was open every day through the entire pandemic. Also, throughout the pandemic employment has been great. We had 60 travelers working in the jurisdiction this winter and now have 145 travelers working in the jurisdiction. The number of travelers should go over 200 by mid to late summer with the big push to complete the NY Islander Hockey Arena (which right now has approximately 300 Local 25 members and travelers working on the project). Also, the 23-megawatt solar farm in Calverton will start to ramp up with manpower this summer. Some other projects that are getting ready to start very soon are: Long Beach Super Block, Ronkonkoma Hub, Amazon projects, lots of schoolwork, and lots of hospital work. 2021 is going to be another great year for employment. This will be the 5th summer in a-row that Local 25 has had travelers working in the jurisdiction.
We just finished negotiating the Maintenance and Telecom- munications Contracts. Both contracts were unanimously voted on by the membership. Both contracts received increases in the wage, health, pension, and an additional 2% increase in the annuity in lieu of the new NY State Paid Sick Leave law. Right now, we are in the middle of negotiating the Neon Sign contract. I will give an update on that contract in the next Conduit article.
Most of the major renovations on the union hall have been completed. The one thing that we want to get done by the end of this year is to install all new LED light fixtures for the entire union hall. We are also looking into purchasing a LED sign truck. The Laborers Local 66 has one of these trucks; some of you may have seen the truck recently at the BJ’s rally. The sign truck is way more effective than the old way of protesting a nonunion jobsite with the rat and a picket line.
For the summer Union Meetings, we will be having a barbeque afterwards. So please try to attend the union meetings.
Brothers and Sisters, that ends my report for this edition of the Conduit. Remember to work safe, turn off energized circuits, and always stick together out there.
IN UNITY THERE IS STRENGTH
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