FROM THE BUSINESS MANAGER
Hello fellow Local 44 members. Work activity at the Hall has been uncharacteristically slow this season and as of this writing, we do have 7 open Journeyman Lineman calls on our job board. However, our Books are mostly empty so hopefully every member, who desires to work, is out working in our jurisdiction. If you know of a buddy who is possibly thinking about returning to our area, please encourage him to come sign the Books and fill one of our open job calls. We diligently try to fulfill our employment responsibilities and help our contractors to remain relevant in the job market.
Also, we are pre-planning a few of our upcoming negotiations to finish out 2023. ELM Locating, Asplundh Tree Expert, Statewide Line Clearance, and Beartooth Electric Co-op are the four remaining units whose contracts expire at the end of this year. I am working on establishing our Local 44 negotiating teams now. If you are a member of these units, please contact me or Kyle with any contract provisions you want addressed and we will do our best to draft proposals.
In closing, we recently returned from one of our Bi-annual LAMPAC meetings and I feel it’s extremely critical for our membership to understand the importance of building and maintaining quality employer relationships. As your Business Manager, one of my main responsibilities is to establish and then maintain harmonious friendly relationships with our employers. Make no mistake by what I’m saying here, disagreements are common and will always factor into any partnership, but those disagreements can certainly be handled with the utmost respect toward the other party. I try my darndest to always behave in a respectful manner, especially when I’m feeling upset. Yes, respect is earned, no question there, but hard-headedness and callus attitudes must be put to the wayside if true trust and respect are to be accomplished. I am aware that friendly relations with our employers are paramount to our Locals success in several ways and I want you all to know that as Business Manager, I always intend to keep building real respectful relationships. Please choose to carry a positive attitude, choose to be safety minded, and always be your brothers and sisters keeper no matter what.
In Solidarity,
Scott Klungland
406-565-6839
FROM THE ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER
To start things off our RENEW Committee has sponsored a raffle, the catch is you must show up to a Unit Meeting to purchase a ticket (IBEW MEMBERS ONLY). You are only allowed to buy one ticket per meeting. If you are the only member to show up to that meeting and there is no quorum you may still purchase your one ticket. Another point to make here is as long as you are IBEW and can sit in a meeting you may attend any of the Unit Meetings as a guest if you like. Say a Construction Member is in Bozeman and isn’t part of that Unit, that Member can sit in on the Bozeman Meeting and grab a ticket. As always, there may be some unforeseen dilemma that presents itself, and at that point we will shift on the fly and keep on trucking. Please keep in mind this raffle isn’t to make tons of money, the idea is to hopefully up attendance, and help RENEW to sponsor our first annual RENEW Curling Tournament (which I will explain shortly), a BBQ, or put the funds raised toward bettering our membership in the best way possible. I want to be clear; our goal isn’t to sell tickets; it is to hopefully up attendance at our meetings and allow RENEW to better our Union. Every raffle will consist of 44 tickets, they cost $25 per ticket and when the 44 tickets are sold, we break out another 44 tickets that have a different prize and keep rolling. For those of you who are doing the math, that is $1,100 per raffle and you may end up with better than a one in forty-four chance of winning. The cost of and kind of prizes will vary depending on funds available. For instance, we kicked off the raffle at our last Construction Meeting with the prize being a Springfield XD 9MM, we sold all but 7 tickets and thanks to those who participated. Hopefully by the time you read this we will have already chosen a winner and moved on to a different prize. We would like to hit a point where occasionally, the cost of the prize would be greater than what the raffle actually makes, but we will see how it goes. I would like to take a moment and thank one of our members and her son for really helping RENEW out and making this happen in a big way! Thank you!
Moving on, yes, I said Curling! Save the date for November 11, 2023 from 1pm-3pm. Yes, it is Veterans Day and yes, it is hunting season, but the Butte Community Ice Center only had two dates available and this was the best one so we grabbed it! Anyone who receives this letter is invited and bring a few loved ones as well. There can be 40 people on the ice curling at a time, we plan on having two sessions, 1-2pm then 2-3pm so that makes 80 people we can have curl. If more than 80 people show we have a contingency for that as well. I know most people may not look at curling as much fun, but I’m here to tell you don’t mock it until you try it. There is a reason it is an Olympic Sport and it is tons of fun. Yes, you will be able to enjoy a beverage or two at this event as well. More details to come and if you have read this far thank you for your time, we appreciate you!
See you at our Meetings,
Kyle Hintz (AKA Special K)
RETIRED MEMBERS
Local 44 would like to congratulate the following members who have retired from the trade:
Alan Duncan
Mark Quinn
Best wishes for a long and happy retirement!
DUES INCREASE REMINDER
The Delegates of the 40th IBEW International Convention, which was held in May 2022, approved amendments to Article IX of the IBEW Constitution. Accordingly, there will be a Basic dues increase of $1.00 for “A” members starting after you have paid through December 2023. The new Basic “A” rate will be $49.00 monthly. The Basic “BA” rate will also increase $1.00 and the new rate will be $28.00 monthly.
Any member that is currently paid into year 2024 will have a balance due on their account. Any member that is on dues deduct with your employer; they will not start to deduct the extra dollars until January 2024 no matter when it is due for you. So please pay attention to the receipt that is mailed to you and pay any differences that you may owe. Printed at the top middle of the receipt will be a negative balance if you owe money, and it will print a positive balance if you have credit.
JOURNEYMAN UPGRADES
Local 44 would like to congratulate the following members for achieving Journeyman status:
Lorenzo Camac – Journeyman Lineman
Brady Castellano – Journeyman Lineman
Jory Chrest – Journeyman Lineman
Justin Clark – Journeyman Lineman
Sean MacDonald – Journeyman Gasman
Brock Peterson – Journeyman Lineman
Jared Rohrback – Journeyman Lineman
William Stanton – Journeyman Lineman
Kelly Vitt – Journeyman Lineman
Kaden Walsh – Journeyman Lineman
Great job and best wishes for a great career!
IN MEMORIAM
Local 44 mourns the loss of the following retired member:
Steven Simonson – Journeyman Lineman – passed away 8/9/23
Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.
OCTOBER UNIT MEETINGS
Great Falls Oct. 02, 2023 6:00 PM Great Falls Labor Temple
Havre Oct. 03, 2023 6:00 PM Elks Lodge
Lewistown Oct. 04, 2023 5:30 PM Fergus Electric
Billings Oct. 05, 2023 5:30 PM NWE Service Center
Helena Oct. 16, 2023 5:00 PM Helena Labor Temple
Bozeman Oct. 17, 2023 6:00 PM Bozeman Labor Temple
Missoula Oct. 18, 2023 6:00 PM Missoula Labor Temple
Butte Oct. 19, 2023 5:30 PM Local 44 Office
