The Inside Wire IBEW LU-379 Serving the Carolinas Since 1926

Inside this issue

Do you know Sam Mills?? ...........2

A Word from Scott Thrower ........3

Brotherhood of the Year .............3

BM Tommy Hill ............................4

BM Tommy Hill Continued ..........5

CETI (Apprenticeship) ..................6

CETI (Apprenticeship) Continued.7

New NC AFL-CIO President………..8

Important Dates

2017 IBEW Christmas Party Saturday, Dec 2 6PM to 9PM 2601 E 7th St Charlotte NC 28204 BOLT meeting Monday December 4th 6pm Charlotte Hall General Meeting Monday December 11th 6 PM Charlotte Hall & Hickory Hall

November 3rd, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 2

The SPCLC endorses candidates for local and state elections who

have proven themselves to be advocates of working families. This

November, we will have elections

for Mayors, City and Town Councils,

and School Boards across our juris-

diction. Union members meet with

these politicians and get to know

them and then we work to help get

them elected. This year, running for

Charlotte City Council, is Braxton Winston II, a card-carrying union

member of IATSE 322. With the help of the CLC, he received the

second highest number of votes in the Primary and is moving on to

the general election in November. In addition to Braxton, the CLC

successfully fielded and endorsed 5 candidates who won their pri-

maries. Now we turn our attention to the November election! The

CLC is always looking for people who want to volunteer to help

with this effort.

This year’s Labor Day Parade was a huge success, both for

Local 379 and for locals across the county! There were hun-

dreds of union members who showed up to march and share

their union pride with the community. Members of UFCW

even came from Fayetteville to participate!

2

Do you know Sam Mills???

Many people know Brother Sam Mills, who has been a member of Local 379 for five years. He has worked at BB&H and Preferred Electric and is cur-rently working for ESCO at the Cargill Plant in Charlotte. Everyone who works with Sam says that he is a great guy, an honest person and a hard and safe worker. He is an Army veteran and a family man, married to An-drea with three girls, Olivia, Victoria and Emiya. The extracurricular activities that he enjoys are paintball, recreational shooting, and time with family. But Sam also has another not so fun extra-curricular activity that takes up his time. Four times a week after he gets home from work, Sam has to give himself dialysis. He must start an IV and sit for three hours while the treatment helps clean out his kidneys. In 2015, Sam suffered damage to his kidneys due to high blood pressure and they eventually failed. He missed four months of work as he adjusted to dialysis, but as soon as he was healthy enough to come back to work, he did. He made sure he was trained to give himself the dialysis at home, so he could come back to work doing what he loves, electrical construction. Sam recently had great news! His doctor’s say that he is in the top 1% of health for his age and he should be ready for a kidney transplant in just a couple of months. Now, everyone has two kidneys so Sam’s best chance for a kidney is to have one donated by someone who is a match. His blood type is B+. 11% of the population have a B+ blood type. Some-one with O+ or O- would also be the match. People who are interested just have to give a few vials of blood and a tissue sample to determine if they are a match. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good new for Sam and his family soon. Ashley Hawkins 7848420

Sickness

• King Singletary

was hurt in a acci-

dent at work and is

recovering from

surgery.

• Lonna Horner was

hurt in a accident

at work and is re-

covering.

• Andrew Coulbourn

was hurt in a mo-

tor cycle accident.

• Michael Gardner

(Jersey Mike) had

a heart attack, but

is doing better.

• Tom Beamon is re-

covering from

open heart sur-

gery and is doing

better.

• Richard Wood is

back to work after

having open heart

surgery.

Deaths

• Glenn Johnston

passed on

10.5.2047

• Linwood Coleman

passed on

10.8.2017.

• William Evans

passed on

10.15.2017.

3

This question was asked of me (Scott Thrower) in 1990 by a JW name Clyde Hines who was at that time serving on the Executive Board. I worked with Clyde for over 2 years as a Apprentice and fresh JW. I have to say that by Clyde asking me to step up and finish his term on the E-Board, this is what kick started my want and my need to help. This local has changed in many ways since 1990, and there are so many more ways to get involved and give back to the local that has been so great to all of us.

• Serve as a Officer

• Serve on the Apprenticeship Board

• Serve on the Building Committee

• Serve on the Entertainment Committee

• Serve as an Instructor

• Serve on the Brotherhood Committee

• Serve as a delegate to the Central Labor Council

To sign up just visit www.ibew379.org and click on the “How to Volunteer” button on the left side of the home page.

In Solidarity Scott Thrower Card # D735657

Brotherhood of the Year Nominations….

• Gilbert McIntyre

• Kelly Butler

• Doug McDaniel

• Tommy George

To Vote this year you can call Carol 704.455.4595

Ext 1, or come by and fill out voting form in person,

or go to our website and vote online. The deadline

is November 27th to vote.

IBEW LU 379 Updates What would it take for you to get involved with your

local Union ?

Announcements

Effective January

1st 2018, Union

Dues will change

to the following

• JW $52.00

• JL $52.00

• VDV $52.00

• App $42.00

• CE $42.00

• CW $42.00

Aflac is a trusted partner of

IBEW 379 and is available to all

IBEW 379 members at a deep

discount of up to 50% off. Four

polices are available:

(Individual Accident, Individual

Cancer, and Individual Dental,

Individual Specified Health

Event. To Sign up visit ( https://

enrollment.aflac.com/

AccountSites/G_I/

ibewlocal379/Homepage.aspx)

Or call Tommie Hagin @

980.833.1307.

I want to share with my brothers and sisters of the

I.B.E.W. some insight that I gained when I was giv-

en the opportunity to operate a service truck at

Vector Electric Co, from mid-80’s until 2004 when I

came to work at the local union as an Assistant

Business Manager. A major portion of the work I

did was for a company called Weyerhauser. This

division of Weyerhauser was a Corrugated box

plant. They made corrugated board into sheets,

and then sent them through a Print and Die Cut ma-

chine of various kinds that made packaging boxes

for an assortment of different customers. We would

install new machines, move existing machinery, up-

grade machines, and install conveyors.

The point of this is, we would on a regular basis

tear a machine apart on Friday afternoon, and by

Sunday night at 8 pm, that machine had better be

ready to start up and make boxes or whatever that

machine did. If not, someone else could be doing

the electrical work for Weyerhauserr. You have got

to remember that the electrical work at that plant

had been done by a union contractor since it was

built back in the late 50’s.

This is what I was taught by working in that plant:

Go the extra mile, the job itself constantly re-

quired going above and beyond the call of du-

ty.

Planning your work, even with the best of plans

you needed a backup plan.

Organizational skills were a must. You had to

think the job through in your head way before

you disconnected the first wire.

Attention to detail, one wire not in the right place

could cost you hours of trouble trying to get

the machine to operate correctly. Document-

ing every wire you disconnected was very,

very important.

4

A Word from Tommy Hill Business Manager

Being able to work with other people in other crafts.

Dependability, you had to be there and do your part.

Respect for Authority!

Safety, lock out tag out, and wearing proper PPE are a must. We all

want to come home safe to our families!

Most of all, Customer Service! The customer was King. He wrote the

check so I could get paid, and everyone else who was working on

these projects.

I spent many years working in plants such as Weyerhauser. It gave me

the opportunity to earn a good living out of Local Union 379. It also

taught me some valuable skills that still serve me today.

No matter what kind of job you have, whether you are an Apprentice, a

Construction Wireman, a Construction Electrician, or a Journeyman.

The character traits I listed above can help you to be successful in what-

ever endeavor you choose to pursue. When we value the customer and

their needs, they come to depend on us. They start to value the service

we bring when doing their work. They will overlook the price when they

know that we will come through for them and meet their needs consist-

ently.

Remember, when you are successful the I.B.E.W. is successful. My hope

is that all of our members are using their skills and talents and working

together as a team so they can be successful, which in turn makes the

local union successful

Thanks for all you do!

Tommy Hill

Business Manager

IBEW LU 379

Card # D610327

5

Tommy Hill Continued...

Ideal National Championship Local Apprentice Competition

On September 7th, CETI held a local compe-

tition at the Training Center for our appren-

tices. Each student competed for a chance

to participate at the National Championship

this Fall in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The turnout was great with 70 of our 74 ap-

prentices in attendance, testing their skills

against each other.

Congratulations to the top five finishers.

Pictured above left to right; Christian Garcia,

Devon Hughes, Melissa Reyes, Derrick Rowe

and Tristan Molina.

For more information and follow the progress

of the competition, visit

Congratulations! Melissa

Reyes (4th year apprentice)

has won the top territory

score in the apprentice

category. She will now

proceed to the Champion-

ship Tournament.

The IDEAL National

Championship Tournament

will take place at Walt Disney

World Resort in Orlando,

Florida on November 10 and

11, 2017.

IDEAL UPDATE

Upcoming Classes

• OSHA-30

• First Aid/CPR/AED

• Motors

• Code Update

• (http://carolinaseti.org/calendar/ ) see website for

dates

Call CETI @ 704.532.7001 to sign up for a class

Rebuilding Together - Charlotte

Giving back is just one example of how

our IBEW Local 379/ACC NECA Electri-

cal Apprenticeship helps build quality

communities. This past Saturday, two in-

structors and three apprentices volun-

teered their time rebuilding our Community through the

nonprofit organization Rebuilding Together Of Greater

Charlotte. Many thanks to Adam Taylor, Brad George,

Conkarah Robert Harris, Diego Jose Garcia, and Thomas

Muratore.

The mission of Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte

is "Together, we transform the lives of low income home-

owners by improving the safety and health of their homes

and revitalizing their communities."

For more information on how to be a part of Rebuilding Together of Great-

er Charlotte, please visit https:// rebuildingtogetherclt.org/ about-us-1.

PRE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

At the 60th Annual NC AFL-CIO State

Federation Convention held in Septem-

ber in Atlantic Beach, MaryBe McMillan

was unanimously elected the first wom-

an president of our state federation.

She is the antithesis of what people

think of when they think “union boss”.

She is small in stature but large in voice

and conviction. Seriously, look her up

on YouTube. We are proud to be work-

ing with her and look forward to helping

grow the labor movement under her leadership. Also, at the convention

Scott Thrower, Tony Swift (LU-553), and Alvin Warwick (LU-342) were

elected to serve on the State Executive Board. The IBEW gets two seats

based on the number of members we have in the state and Brother Warick

fills the spot that is allotted to the representative from the Building Trades.

Ashley Hawkins 7848420

PLEASE PLACE STAMP HERE

IBEW LU 379

1900 Cross Beam Dr.

Charlotte NC, 28217

Phone: 704-455-4595

Fax: 704-455-5117

E-mail: ibew379@ctc.net

YOUR LOGO HERE