IBEW Local 531 Conduit

Merry Christmas!!

Announcement: We will no longer be mailing the quarterly Conduit. Moving forward, the Conduit

will be available on the website under the “About Us” tab at the top. If you wish to still have a copy mailed

to your address, please contact the hall and let us know. Thank you!!

Greetings Brothers and Sisters of IBEW Local 531,

Another year has almost passed us by. They do seem to move along faster than they used to. We

have had a steady year, but it could have been better. The LaPorte Hospital is moving along and so is the

Beacon clinic here in LaPorte. Much of our school work is finished or close to being done. Our work out at

the mill is slowing down with the outages wrapping up and the walking beam slowly moving along. Thank

GOD we have had the ability to work out of 697 and 153 as they have had plenty of work to do. Our work

picture should be good thru the winter, and hopefully continue thru the Spring.

I would like to take the opportunity to remind our members of some items:

Please remember to pay your dues on time! This will keep you from any gaps in your I/O and Local benefits.

If you are dealing with our Health and Welfare, please log what phone number you are calling from, what

time of day, who you are talking to, what you are calling about. All calls are recorded, so with this infor-

mation the calls can be retrieved and listened to, hopefully to correct any errors that may “happen”.

Please call us if you see any unfamiliar contractors in the area. We need phone numbers, addresses,

websites, any information so we can track who is doing what work in our jurisdiction.

We have currently put out information on multiemployer pensions. Please look at this info and help

us by contacting your Senators. Noone can afford to be silent on this issue!!!

Please remember our members who have passed away and their families. Local 531 has lost some

great members this year.

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, please be safe.

Harry

Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about the election that is coming up in 2020. As we all know, like it or not, politics plays a big part in all of our lives. The people we elect not only get to make new policies, but they sometimes get to change policies. This has never been more prevalent then in today’s poli-tics. As a union member I believe that workers should have the right to organize and negotiate for fair wages and benefits through collective bargaining. I appreciate the fact that our training facilities are the gold stand-ard by the Department of Labor. Many of our retired members are enjoying the fruits of their labor through the pensions. These are all possible by what generations of labor leaders negotiated for their members. Late-ly there has been an attack on labor that is very disturbing to me. As most of you know in 2012 the governor of Indiana signed a bill that put right-to-work into effect making it the 23rd state to have such a law. Since then 4 other states have enacted right-to-work. Making over half the United States right-to-work. Then in 2018 the state of Missouri showed up in force to vote down right-to-work. Politicians then turned their atten-tion to our apprenticeship. They tried to drum up support to pass a law that would allow anyone to create a watered-down apprenticeship and have it meet Department of Labor standards. In my opinion, this was nothing more than another angle to try and destroy what unions offer to the middle class in America. Now as I am writing this there is another situation, one with our pensions. Rather than pass a bipartisan bill called the “Butch-Lewis Act" and help save these funds. There is a new proposal that would all but bankrupt many un-ion pensions and definitely effect ours in a negative way. I am not writing this as a “sky is falling” article, but I am wanting everyone to take notice. We have an opportunity to vote this fall. It is imperative that everyone votes and that we are educated on what should be important to us as union members. So, take the time to educate yourselves on whom you are voting for and make sure they have your best interests when it comes to working with integrity and retiring with dignity. Have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Shawn

IBEW Local 531 has always been involved in politics. As discussed at recent Union Meetings, we are

looking at ways that we can be more involved. Currently, we are very restrained in our political contributions

due to state finance laws. However, we are looking at starting a “Voluntary Cope Checkoff”. This has been

discussed at multiple Union Meetings about how this will give our Local much more flexibility in which it gives

political contributions. Most importantly, this will allow us to be much more involved in local politics such as

Mayors, school boards, city councils, etc. It is at this level of politics where we can make the greatest impact.

Many of the ordinances we are working to put in place come from this level of government. This is also noth-

ing new. A large majority of IBEW locals throughout the U.S. have these in place already. Both our sister lo-

cals, 697 and 153, have these in place with almost 100% participation. We will also be continuing to only look

at the person and not the party. If you support working men and women of NWI, then we will support you.

Here in IBEW Local 531, we have always been proud of the fact that we can work across both aisles to do

what’s right for working men and women. We will continue to support those who support us regardless of

their political affiliation. More information will be coming out soon but I believe we are looking at doing a

Voluntary contribution of $.05/hr. This will equal approximately $100 per member, per year. We will also be

looking at possibly doing a monthly drawing for all of those who participate. 2020 is a very important elec-

tion year. There are many races that will be very important to us. The use of a voluntary cope fund will allow

us to participate in a way that we could not before. As always, if you have any questions, please call the hall

and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Our New Website is now live!! Www.ibewlocal531.org

If you have not checked out our new website yet, please do. It is still at the same web address as before,

www.ibewlocal531.org, but has completely been redesigned. Hopefully this will be much more user friendly

not only for our members, but for anyone looking to find information about IBEW Local 531. It has many of

the same features with some new one’s as well. You can now view and sign up for Journeyman Enhance-

ment classes online, access important documents, view our For Sale items, etc., just to name a few. Also,

you can now pay your dues online with a Credit Card!! Please take a stroll thru our new website and let us

know what you like or don’t like or what you may like to see added.

We also now have our own IBEW 531 app available for Download!!

Along with a new Website, we also have our own app available for down-

load that will allow you to access some of the Members Only information

more efficiently. Another great feature of this app, is the “push notifica-

tion”. This will allow us to communicate with anyone who has the app

downloaded. This will be a great tool when information needs to get to

the membership in a timely manner. Along with Facebook, mass emails,

and the call out system, this will ensure greater communication between

IBEW Local 531 and it’s membership. Installing the app is simple, just go to

our website at www.ibewlocal531.org and scroll down until you see the

“Download our App” module. Click on Android or Apple and follow the directions. You may need change

your settings to allow “notifications” from the app in order to receive the push notifications. The push notifi-

cations will show up in your notifications bar along with a red notification next to the App icon. This is very

similar to when you have a new text or email. You may also have a pop up that says the app could be harm-

ful to your advice. This is only because it’s a 3rd party app and is in no way harmful.

Announcement: We will no longer be mailing the quarterly Conduit. Moving forward, the Conduit

will be available on the website under the “About Us” tab at the top. If you wish to still have a copy mailed

to your address, please contact the hall and let us know. Thank you!!

Pension Reform: Recently, you should have been

contacted by the hall via email, phone call, push notification and

Facebook, about very recent Legislation coming from the Senate

regarding pension reform. This will be devastating to not only

our Local 531 pension but also to NEBF. We are also asking that

you contact your Senators about your concerns for this. Infor-

mation along with talking points can be found at

www.ibewlocal531.org. Please click on the homepage and follow

the directions. The pension you save may very well be yours!!!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New Members!!: At Novembers Union Meeting, we welcomed 18 new members to IBEW Local

531. They consisted of 15 new inside apprentices along with 3 new

VDV apprentices. Please congratulate these guys if you run into

them. They are: James Alexander, Kellen Beckles, Jeremiah

Blanchard, Alyssa Deluca, David Demann, Jared Donegian, Benton

Forker, Joel Haddad, Graham Johnson, Brandon Lambert, Martin

Komay, Joshua Martin, William Mitchell, Ryne Stormer, Anthony

Whitcomb, Madyson Ruzbasan, James Conroy and Trevor

Lindewald.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___

Retirees Christmas Party: On December 11th, we held another successful retiree Christmas

Party. There was a great turn out and great comradery. Even if you are retired, you can stay involved. Our retirees meet the 2nd Wednesday every other month in February, April, June, August, October and Decem-ber. . Dues are only $12.00 for the entire year. Our meeting generally consists of a luncheon which starts at noon. The main course is provided by the club and covered dishes and deserts are provided by the mem-bers. We are looking for suggestions on the direction the club will be going in the future. So, if you have any, we would like to hear them. We are thinking about activities that people would like to participate in. Activities such as day trips to venues like the South Bend Cubs game, or a day at a casino, or possibly having euchre tournaments. We are open for suggestions. One thing you will certainly get is the feeling of friend-ship and comradery and stories about our days in the trade. Please come out and join us!!

Reminders:

• Visit our new website and download our app!! www.ibewlocal531.org

• Sign up for Email/Text alerts from BCRC to be sure to never miss a random. Call 219-764-9500 or go

to www.bcrcnet.com

• New Shirts are in at the Hall. Short and Long sleeved. Visit our website to see them.

• View and sign up for Journeyman Enhancement classes via the website. Under “apprenticeship”

• First Aid/CPR classes are open to friends/family as well.

• Earn $$ for books, tools, work clothes, etc., via the Incentive Program. Visit our website for details.

• Dues can be deducted from First Trust Credit Union or use a Credit Card online via the website.

• Members can earn additional $350 and spouses another $350 towards their HRA by completing the

wellness program through the health insurance.

• 531 Merchandise can be viewed via the online store on the website.

We will no longer be mailing the quarterly Conduit. Moving forward, the Conduit will be available on the

website under the “About Us” tab at the top. If you wish to still have a copy mailed to your address, please

contact the hall and let us know. Thank you!!