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On June 4, this year’s apprenticeship graduation was held at Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Maryland, with over 600 people in attendance. This was our fourth combined Inside Wireman and Teledata Technician graduation ceremony. In addition, the residential upgrade program graduates were included in the graduation. Congratulations to all the graduates for their hard work and dedication. Thanks also to the instructors and Apprenticeship Director, David McCord, and his staff, for doing such an excellent job with this program. Local 26’s apprenticeship program is a model program in the IBEW. Scroll down for more pictures of the graduation ceremony.

NEW REFERRAL PROCEDURES

If you attended the general membership meeting on June 10, you were advised of changes in the referral procedures as mandated by the International Office. We sent all inside wiremen, residential wiremen, and teledata technicians a letter informing them of the changes as well as a new referral procedures booklet. Please call the hall, 202-829-2900, and speak to a business agent if you have any questions.

NEW NATIONALS BASEBALL STADIUM

The Project Labor Agreement for the new baseball stadium is almost completed after a long battle with the DC Government. This will be an all-union job and, hopefully, will be a gateway to more PLA’s in the future for DC Government work. The new stadium has about a $40 to $50 million electrical package.

INDEPENDENCE DAY HOLIDAY

This year’s Fourth of July holiday will be celebrated on Monday, July 4, and it is a paid holiday if you meet the criteria as stated in our current collective bargaining agreement. Please celebrate safely!

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

I’d like to congratulate this year’s recipients of our scholarship award – Jennifer M. Decker and Michael S. Farrell (pictured below). Jennifer is the daughter of Brother Paul Decker and resides in Waldorf, Maryland. She graduated from Thomas Stone High School in June and plans to attend either the College of Southern Maryland or Towson University. Jennifer will study nursing. Michael is the son of Brother Richard Farrell, Jr. He lives in Pomfret, Maryland and graduated from Maurice J. McDonough High School last month. Michael will be attending Gettysburg College majoring in bio-chemistry.
We wish these outstanding young scholars continued success, and extend our best wishes go to all the applicants as well in their pursuit of higher education. All of you can be very proud of your accomplishments!

Congratulations to those members
below who received their service pins at the
June General Membership Meeting!

Pictured above from left to right-- Mike Shoemaker, Financial Secretary; Michael Best, 30 Yrs.; Robert Iddins, 30 Yrs.; Robert Whitestone, 30 Yrs.; Stephen Simpson, 30 Yrs.; John Caruso, 30 Yrs.; Harvey Samuels, 30 Yrs.; Larry Cross, 35 Yrs.; Daryl Sutton, 25 Yrs.; Winston Wright, 30 Yrs.; Robert Rippeon, 35 Yrs.; Frank Gordon, 40 Yrs.; James Whitacre, 35 Yrs.; William Robrecht, 30 Yrs.; Chuck Graham, Business Manager

Credit Union Members

To better serve our members, the new office hours are:
Monday thru Friday, 9-12 & 1-3:30
For those members who can’t get to the office during these hours, many transactions can be done by fax, mail or telephone, such as:
•Loan applications
•Membership applications
•Share withdrawals (must have signature)
•Payroll deduction cards
•IRA applications
•ATM applications
If you have moved, please remember to change the address on all family member accounts as well as your own. If members of your family do not belong, they might want to join the “Credit Union Family”.

Do you have graduation expenses such as senior trips, college expenses, books, lap top computers, and dorm room expenses? Get our signature loans up to $10,000, and an additional $5,000 with a qualified co-applicant. All loans are subject to approval.

IBEW 26 Federal Credit Union
Telephone: 202-829-5404
Audio response: 1-800-724-7573
Fax: 202-723-3190

Working Dues Clarified

With over 300 contractors and over 9,000 work dues statements printed, it is essential that all contractors and all members report and pay the work dues in the same manner. Many members have received statements showing that they owe work dues for the previous year, and I am hoping that this clarification would help to bring those to a minimum. Many contractors claim they were confused as to what deduction they should take.
I have recently sent a letter to all contractors trying to clarify the policy on the deduction of work dues from paychecks. This letter is in accordance with the Bylaws that state work dues should be a percentage of gross wages. Due to the changes by the Federal Government and the very detailed reporting the Local Union must do on its federal reports, the definition of gross wages must be uniform. The Local Union is using the monthly contractor reports that are sent to the Health and Welfare office as the report of gross wages. Gross wages should include pay for hours worked, premium pay, holiday pay, vacation pay and the like. The total gross pay figures on the monthly contractor report are the gross pay figures that the work dues will be calculated from. Those of you who self-pay should use the same guidelines as defining what gross pay is, and pay the monthly work dues from that amount. Please feel free to call the Finance Office with any questions that you may have.

THIRD QUARTER DUES WERE DUE JULY 1ST

RETIREMENT ASSESSMENT
FOR APRIL, MAY, and JUNE IS $22.00

by Mike Shoemaker, Financial Secretary

Salt Anyone?

How you can help organize to union!

One method of organizing unions use to secure work for their members is salting. Although some businesses view this as an expensive form of harassment, salting is a legally protected activity by the National Labor Relations Board. The purpose of salting is to organize workers into a union – not to harass an employer. Salting allows union friendly people to come in contact with workers who would like to join the union, and gives us the means to deliver information to workers on the benefits of working for a union.Since the passing of the Home Land Security Act, access to the workers has become extremely difficult. Twenty-two government agencies fall under this new Act.

In addition to providing jobs for our members, salting provides a means to evaluate the non-union work force. A successful salt requires patience, subtlety, and the ability to listen to one’s co-worker. Keeping account of daily activities on the job and identifying the concerns of the workers are some of the responsibilities of a salt. Salting is another tactic used in the perpetually changing world of organizing. Through the direction of an organizer, this method can be utilized as a portion of an overall campaign strategy. Anyone interested in salting should contact an organizer at your local union offices.

by Joe Dabbs, Organizer

Congratulations to the Graduates!

It is an honor to welcome you here today on behalf of the graduating class of 2005. Today we are acknowledging and celebrating a great accomplishment. Out of 182 individuals entering the program, 125 of us successfully completed our education. We all made it through 960 hours of class time, over 8000 hours of on-the-job training and countless hours of study time. We did not do this on our own. Knowledgeable instructors challenged us, taught us the trade and led us through our training. Our instructors worked hard week after week to train us to work safely and with intelligence. I would like to recognize our Apprenticeship Director, Mr. David A. McCord. He was instrumental in establishing the day school. This provided us with better training that is more useful in the field. Because of the hands-on experience we had, our training was extensive. This apprenticeship has provided us with a well-rounded education that includes classroom theory and practical experience. I would also like to thank and recognize: Charles Graham, Business Manager IBEW Local Union # 26 and Andrew Porter, Executive Director of NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association.) We recognize that there are many others who contributed to this program, but listing them all would keep us here all night. As we become journeymen electricians, we know that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of continuous training and education in the ever-changing electrical field. We are the future of our union and it is up to us to uphold the standards and reputation our leaders have worked hard to establish.

~Eric A. Harbour, Inside Wireman Valedictorian

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