Brothers and Sisters,

I hope this article finds you working and as I write this, it’s the first day of Spring. Spring to me has always been a new start and it usually means that work will pick up soon. This year is shaping up to be another busy year and we will need new apprentices and journeymen if we can get them. If you know someone who is looking to get into the trade, please have them call me. If you are currently out of work, please call in and put yourself on the Out of Work List.

Meeting attendance has picked up a little, but we need more members to attend. If you haven’t been to a meeting yet or if you haven’t been to one in some time, we provide dinner at 5:00 pm, and the meeting starts at 5:30 pm. Every month we have a prize raffle worth $300.00. The past few months we have given away Visa gift cards, DeWalt tools, carpet tools, vinyl tools, and hard hats. Local 1237 Membership Meeting is the first Tuesday of every month at 7111, Governors Circle, Sacramento, CA 95823. I hope to see you at our next meeting.

With the District Council 16 By-Laws being ratified on February 20, 2025, we can start our local by-laws. In January President Tim Ringor appointed the Executive Board and Timothy Tweedt to the By-Laws Committee. We will be scheduling a few meetings for the month of April and May. If you are interested in attending, please let me know. The by-laws will need to be submitted no later than June. The May and June meetings will be very busy. At the May meeting we will have nominations for all Executive Board positions, and we will also work on our options for the January 1, 2026, wage allocation of $3.75. At the June meeting we will have election for Executive Board positions (if needed) and have a wage allocation. As soon as the locals’ proposed by-laws are finished, we will need to vote on them, I’m thinking it will probably be in June.

After returning from the Western Regional Conference, we have been directed by General President Jimmy Williams to get out into the field and engage our members. He wants to ask the members “what do you want from your union?”. If you asked me the same question, I would have to say I want more involvement from my brothers and sisters. I would like to see more members participate in VAC’s, STAR’s, meetings, wage allocations, by-laws votes, and contract votes. We all belong to the IUPAT, and DC16, but our antonymy lies within our local. The members who participate are the ones who are guiding our local and making decisions for those who don’t participate. As your Business Rep. I don’t make all the decisions; your Executive Board makes recommendations and the members who attend the meetings vote on them. I believe that unions are still the epitome of democracy.

Fraternally,

Randy Rojas

Business Representative

DC16/LU1237