After delegates voted at the 42nd UBC General Convention on Aug. 22, the UBC leadership team is in place for the next five years. Our own EST Wayne Jennings served as the secretary of the Election Committee and gave the committee’s final report during the convention.

Learn more about the leadership and structure of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, SSMRC's parent organization, here.

Learn more about Southern District Vice President Dennis Donahou here.

The September SSMRC delegate meeting was held early, Aug. 23-24, so it could take place after the UBC General Convention in Gulf Shores. Thank you to all the delegates who attended.

Delegates and council staff members held committee meetings, elected trustees, heard numerous reports, including investment, treasurer, organizing, and training rundowns, ratified contracts, voted on committee recommendations, listened to updates on construction of new training centers, and more.

Here are some highlights:

Watch an interview with scholarship recipient Michelle Thornton:

Watch an interview with Ruth Mazara, director of the Women in Construction Program:

Watch a video of the grant and scholarship presentation here:

Cedar Harlon, a Local 1263 member and foreman for Savannah River Remediations, and other members of Local 1263 donated and organized materials for the project. Mark Keilholtz, a 31-year UBC member and a steward at Savannah River Remediations, his wife, Michelle Keilholtz, and family friend Kyle Yarborough, who is applying for the millwright apprenticeship, built the ramp, getting the project done quickly for a brother in need.

Do you know someone who should be recognized for their community contributions? To nominate yourself or a union brother or sister for the SSMRC Wright Moves Community Service Challenge, please send the nominee’s first and last name, local number, and a description of their community service to info@southernstatesmillwrights.org or call/text the information to 855-577-7672. Challenge winners will receive a $250 gift card, a T-shirt, and a Stanley lunch cooler.

Paul French, who became a member of Millwright Local 2411 in 1970 and the local's business agent in 2008, will retire on Dec. 31. The Southern States Millwright Regional Council and its Eastern Region leaders gave him several gifts during a late-August staff meeting (see photos below).

Read French's retirement message here.

At Local 216's August union meeting, Business Agent Matt Nowlin presented journeyman certificates to six members. Congratulations to these new journeymen!

There are ongoing projects at Big River Steel, Nucor, and Kimberly Clark Maumelle in Arkansas. There is also a turbine major for September on the books. In Oklahoma, there has been ongoing turbine work and a major scheduled for October. There has also been work at Kimberly Clark in Jenks and ongoing maintenance at Holly Frontier in Tulsa.

The recent hurricanes have not helped the work outlook in Louisiana. However, we expect to work with our partnering contractors in the upcoming weeks as they get work orders for repairs and maintenance on facilities and equipment damaged in the storms. If you or a fellow Brother or Sister have been affected by the storms, help is available. Please reach out to the Central South Disaster Relief Fund.

Local 1421 will have some paper-mill projects coming up in the next few weeks. There have been projects at Miller Brewery and other food-and-beverage facilities, and there are also several projects being bid by our partnering employers. The power-generation work continues to come in, with emergent projects and turbine outages as well.

There is ongoing work at Toyota in San Antonio, and 2232 has picked up work at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport as well as the Frito Lay facility in Southwest Houston. There are several upcoming projects in September as the petrochem and power-generation facilities begin their fall outages and turn-arounds.

In the next couple of weeks, all the fall outages on our schedule will be starting or our partnering employers will be in-processing members in preparation for their start dates. As of now, we have, for the most part, fulfilled the manpower requested by our partnering employers.

I would like to thank everyone for their understanding and patience while our employers and myself adjusted from our normal way of doing business in fulfilling those needs. As mentioned in my last update, during these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, many considerations had to made for not only our safety, but the safety of everyone at each outage site. All utilities adjusted, whether by cutting work scope to reduce the number of workers, by testing for the virus on site or at their in-processing facilities, or by checking employees' temperatures each day and shift. We appreciate and respect their efforts in reducing the virus's possible spread.

We should all be aware of and practice COVID-19 recommended safety protocols on and off jobsites. With this thought in mind, some sites might enforce use of personal protective equipment and safety practices such as face masks, face shields, long-sleeve shirts, gloves, temperature checks, and spilt break and lunch times, to name a few. Understanding it will be frustrating at times, we must bear in mind that these precautions are aimed at protecting us and others. Let’s all keep a good attitude while we get our jobs done safely, productively, and on time.

The 2020 edition of the SSMRC's annual publication, The Millwright, has been printed. If you haven't received your copy, please let us know by emailing info@southernstatesmillwrights.org or texting 855-57-7672. If you would like to read a digital version of The Millwright, click here.