Out With The Old

On May 13th Plumbers Local 12 in Boston graduated their first apprentice class in two years. These new journeyman plumbers have raised the bar for what an apprentice class should be.

After five years of attending a program that started out at night and finished as a day program they sang the praises of their training. They also represented the changes that Local 12 has been championing. There were commercial, residential, and service apprentices graduating together.

Also in this class were three apprentices that competed in national apprentice competitions. One in Connecticut, one in Ann Arbor, Michigan,and one in Hollywood, Florida. These apprentices were so inclined to participate because of their confidence in the training they received at Local 12s training facility by our instructors.

One of the most important jobs that the plumbers union has is to provide the best trained apprentices and plumbers the industry has to offer. There is nothing else like this in regard to training in Massachusetts. Now with a special attention to all wood frame construction with 12R we are training to all aspects of the residential industry. Not that we weren’t before before but we are in it to win it.

We also have our focus on service as well. All apprentices take part in service training but the ones actually doing it train with the journeyman as well. That along with quarterly in service training with the vendors of the industry puts us head and shoulders above everyone else.

The day school also brought some unsolicited comments from the class. Class President Danny Palimeri spoke about how their personal relationships changed after they went to day school. “When we started at night we were acquaintances but once we started day school we all became very close.” For me that compliment was confirmation that day school is the way to go. “We were supportive of each other to make sure that everyone was getting whatever the teachers threw at us” said Danny.

Class President Danny Palimeri addresses over 200 people that attended the graduation at Venezia Restaurant in Dorchester, MA.

Some that read this may not appreciate that trade training is that important, but when you put in five years and over eleven hundred hours of training this group of new journeymen will forever consider themselves Local 12 Class of 2016! Congratulations!

June 20, 2016 0

They just do commercial……

If you look on a clear day from a high spot on the Massachusetts – New Hampshire border or from the west on a hill in Worcester County or from a high spot near Foxboro you can see the great Boston skyline.

From many a plumbers perspective that are not members, thats where most of the members of Plumbers Local 12 work. Building or servicing large commercial projects. We know thats not true. But there is something really great happening in the Local. A place for residential plumbers.

What I mean by residential plumbers is the men and woman that are out in the suburbs everyday building those local skylines, thinking that Local 12 has nothing for them. As the building boom continues through out the Greater Boston area plumbers and apprentices need to know there is a place here for you.

Yes, if you are contractor you can access the same types of benefits that you may have thought were unattainable for your loyal workers. For the plumbers and apprentices there is the access to the benefits and free training that the Local has always provided. The one thing that we all have in common is that plumbing is our Career. Lets make the most of it together.

We have created a new division that makes this affordable. For Real. Its all about cost and we know that what we have done is in line with whats going on in all parts of eastern Massachusetts.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this opportunity and I want to encourage any sole proprietor, small shop, developer or any one interested to call the office and get the correct information.

Our business development representatives will be all over eastern Massachusetts visiting job sites this spring and summer spreading the word so we look forward to talking with you.

Remember, plumbing is our career, making the best of it includes being able to provide health insurance for our families and retirement benefits for ourselves. We look forward to talking to you.

April 3, 2016 0

On the road again

7:15 I have to be on time for this. As we enter the parking lot for the Hanson Commuter Rail station I am thinking this because I live one minute from the station. After a usual night before of helping make sure we are ready we pull in with 10 minutes to spare.

Moving here twenty-five years ago there was no way to get to South Station other than driving to a connector station. Although every time I have seen the tracks, anywhere I might say, i think about where they come from and where they go. This will be the beginning of a day on the rails that starts from one minute away.

There is something. to me anyway, that draws me to the trains. Growing up on the Red Line I learned quickly that you can get around pretty good by rail. Once again having this available at a young age also lets the mind wonder.

Like many other people part of this nostalgia comes from the stories i heard from my very dearly missed grandfather about his days on the old Boston and Maine railroad. Once again it was the trains that brought that part of my family to Boston from Bath Maine. The freight lines that he spoke of readily moved so much of the domestic commerce of New England.

Riding in the coach today I think I could stay on here right across the country. The scenery that is available is second to none but it is the fact that these trains ride on the same tracks that millions have ridden before across these states. That rails allow the imagination to roam. I think everyone has the urge to roam. When you are in a car or an a plane your senses are trained to pay attention to other things. On the train you are allowed to roam, to the cafe or in your mind.

Another great thing about this ride is the whole northeast corridor. It is a rolling education of where America has been, where it is, and where its going. I love this rolling history lesson. One the about this track, it is a testament to the middle class. Places. Some old, some new, some just stuck. Looking at different sites, doing 50 mph, gives me just enough time to think about “What happened to that place?, Trade agreement, depression, no succession plan, who knows but you can’t think about these things from 35,000 feet or the middle lane of Interstate 95.

Today as we head to DC, I look at my beautiful wife and daughter and see that like everything else I see going by on the train it seems like a snapshot in time. I am not crazy about the snapshot of my daughter because it stunning to think of her when she was just my baby as to what she is now and that my wife and I were seemingly just kids when we got married. But time is just that and while seeing the snapshot of the geography of the train is nice it is the slow steady ride of my family that my has been and is the best ride.

April 18, 2015 1

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