Contact Us

Office:

4818 E Ben White Blvd.

Suite 300

Austin, TX 78741

Job Call Line after 4:00 p.m.

512.326.9545

Main Line

512.326.9540

Fax

512.326-9596

Business Manager's Office 512.326.3650

www.ibew520.org

International Brotherhood of Electrical

Workers Local Union 520

P. O. Box 18508

Austin, Texas 78760-8508

PLACE STAMP HERE

M arch/Apr i l 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

5:00 pm New Mem-

ber Orien-

tation Part II

6:00 pm Local

Union

Meeting

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

5:00 pm

Code of

Excellence

11:00 am Retired

Member’s

Meeting

29 30 31 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

5:30 pm Executive

Board

Meeting

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

5:00 pm New Mem-

ber Orien-

tation Part I

6:00 pm

Local

Union

Meeting

IBEW Local Union 520, Austin, Texas opeiu 298 afl-cio

TRAIL BLAZER

On the Inside:

BUSINESS MANAGER'S

REPORT

Day of the Fallen

Building Upgrades

KVUE/CMA

Fish Fry

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Apprentice Swearing In

Annuity

Object of the IBEW

Electrical Ordinance

OUR MEMBERS

Continuing Education

BUSINESS MANAGER'S REPORT ….Chris Wagner

Sisters and Brothers,

I want to open this report by thanking all of the members that came out to march

with the Workers Defense Project during their Day of the Fallen march, up Con-

gress Avenue to the steps of the Capitol. This was the third year of WDP’s ef-

forts to bring to light the fact that Texas has one of the highest construction

worker on-the-job death rates of any state in the country. It was great to see so

many members wearing the Local 520 safety vests and marching under the

IBEW Local 520 banner in support of some of the most abused workers in our

state. We have doubled the Local 520 participation in this march for each of the

last two years. If you were at the march this year, I ask you to commit to attend-

ing next year and bringing someone with you, so that we can double our partici-

pation again next year.

We continue to make several much needed upgrades at the union hall. After our

barbeque pit was stolen last year, a motion was made at the union meeting to

have cameras installed inside and outside of the building. The trustees of the

Building Corporation have had this done and have also included some improve-

ments to our audio/visual equipment. There have also been improvements to the

parking lot including repairs to the asphalt, sealing of cracks, new black-top

sealant, and restriping. While the motion to install handicap-accessible automat-

ic door openers has proved a little harder to accomplish, we are still working on

getting this done.

(Continued on next page…)

IBEW Local Union 520 Newsletter 691st Edition March 2015

IBEW Local Union 520, Austin, Texas opeiu 298 afl-cio

OUR MEMBERS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Local Union Meeting - Friday,

March 21, 2015, BEGINNING AT

6:00 P.M., at LU 520 meeting hall,

3rd Floor, 4818 E. Ben White Blvd.,

Austin, TX. There will be sausages

and drinks provided before and

after the Union meeting.

Retired Members –

The Retired Members meeting will be

held on Wednesday, March 25, 2015

at 11:00 a.m., at Casa Garcia Mexican

Food Restaurant, located at 1901 West

William Cannon Dr. and Manchaca

Road. Telephone #512-441-9504.

Everyone is welcome.

PRIZES

Attendance Drawing -

The Attendance Drawing was won by

Vincent DeLeon at the February 20,

2015 Meeting. CONGRATULA-

TIONS! Attend YOUR Local Union

Meeting to help ensure a big jackpot.

Trail Blazer Prize –

Congratulations to Member No.

D996730 who will receive this

month's Trail Blazer Prize of $34.25,

upon presentation of this edition of the

Trail Blazer to the Business Manager

at the next Union meeting.

Read your Trail Blazer….Attend the

Local Union Meeting…Win a FREE

Monthly Dues Payment

PAYMENTS

Local Union Dues -

* A dues: $34.25

* BA dues: $19.00

* Teledata A dues: $37.00

* Death Benefits are $8.00 and are

due upon the death of a member.

Dues payments can be accepted for

the exact amount only. Any check that

is under or overpaid will be returned.

Also at the last union meeting, the membership voted to commit to a year

of commercial advertising with the local ABC affiliate, KVUE. Our mar-

keting firm, CMA Marketing, was in Austin this week shooting video on

several job sites, at the JATC, and at Local 520 for some 30-second com-

mercial spots that will begin airing on KVUE next week.

Make sure to mark your calendars for the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local

286 fish-fry fundraiser for the family of one of their young members

killed in an auto accident, scheduled for April 20th, 5:00 pm at their union

hall. They are building us a new barbeque pit for an in-kind donation to

their fundraiser, so it would be great for us to have substantial participa-

tion at this event.

As always, sisters and brothers, work safe and give eight-for-eight! I look

forward to seeing you at YOUR next union meeting!

Fraternally,

Chris Wagner

Courtesy of the Austin Chronocle publicshed on March 6, 2015

UNION BABIES!!!

Parents: Horasio & Antoinette Par-

tida

Baby Name: Christian Joseph

DOB: 02/14/15

Weight: 6 lbs. 8 oz. 20 inches

Parents: John & Penny Breit

Baby Name: Eden Faith

DOB: 02/16/15

Weight: 6 lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches

Congrats on the bundles of joy!

DEATHS

Brother Sidney Shelton passed away

in December 15, 2014. He was 85

years old at the time of his death.

Death Benefit #367 is due & paya-

ble.

Brother Mauritz Lyckman passed

away in February 27, 2015. He was

77 years old at the time of his death.

Death Benefit #368 is due & paya-

ble.

Our sincere sympathy is extended to

each of these families.

WORK

Out-of-Work Book –

All applicants shall re-sign monthly,

beginning on the 10th and ending on

the 16th of each month. Failure to do

so results in the applicants name be-

ing removed from the list.

Roll Call –

Meeting Hall, 3rd Floor, 4818 E. Ben

White Blvd., Austin, TX. Sign in

begins at 6:30 a.m. and roll call

starts promptly at 7:00 a.m. DON'T

FORGET TO SIGN THE DAY

BOOK.

CONTINUING EDUCATION The JATC is located at 4000 Caven

Road. Registration for training classes is

on a first come first serve basis. Ques-

tions please feel free to call 512-389-

3024

PRESIDENT’S REPORT….Lane Price

Brothers and Sisters,

We will be swearing in the 2014-15 Apprentice class at the March meeting.

Let’s have a great turnout to welcome our new Brothers and Sisters into our

Local and the IBEW.

At last month’s meeting, Kevin Clift (of the Clift Group) addressed those

present about financial planning. I have to date received only a handful of

individuals interested in attending an Annuity Educational class held by the

Kevin and his associates. If you are interested in attending such a meeting,

please contact me for more information.

An Annuity/Health & Benefit education class has been scheduled for all

those who are enrolled at the Austin Electrical JATC on: April 20,21, 2015

at 5:00 pm.

The second Object of the IBEW is “to promote reasonable work methods.”

This Object directly effect’s our work on the jobsite. It is our responsibility

to stay updated on new installation concepts, wiring methods and manufac-

turers requirements. Code updates are not just a requirement for license re-

newal, but it is our collective responsibility to stay knowledgeable about the

NEC as well as local codes.

On that note, the City of Austin Electric Board has approved the 2014 Elec-

trical Ordinance. It will be effective as of April 1, 2015. You may download

a copy of the New Ordinance from our Website @:

http://www.ibew520.org/coa_codes.html

New Member Orientation & Code of Excellence:

New Member Orientation

Part I– April 13, 2015 @ 5:00 p.m.

Part II—April 20, 2015 @ 5:00 p.m.

Code of Excellence

March 23, 2015 @ 5:00 p.m.

You may register online or contact Mary (512/326-9540 X11). Please remember to

contact Mary before 2:00 on the scheduled class day to verify the class is being

held. We need a minimum of 5 students for each class.