Summer Newsletter August 2025

I hope you and your families are having a happy, safe summer. Our annual Labour Day parade will be on Monday, September 1st• Our starting point will be approximately, at the corner of Caroline Street and Stuart Street at 1 0:00am and then finish back at the Union Hall for a BBQ lunch. Parking is available either at the Union Hall or the GO Station parking lot on Stuart Street. Shirts and hats will be available before the parade. Look for the Local 1 flag in the GO Station parking lot along Stuart Street.

This has been an extremely hot summer! Take precautions to monitor your hydration levels and exposure to the sun. Drink lots of fluids and make a habit of applying sunscreen to your exposed skin. If you do not feel well, mention to someone you are taking a micro break to hydrate or try to cool down. Employment has been good this year. The Out of Work List has been extremely low for the most part. The Niagara Region has several outside projects ongoing and more to start up later this year. The Hamilton area has had fewer movement with a couple starts coming up in the early fall. The Burlington/Oakville area has seen a decent amount of work this year with a couple more starts coming up in early fall as well.

Refractory work has seen a lot of instability due to the tariff situation. While work has been holding some what steady, the uncertainty has caused financial investment to stall regarding larger capital projects and caused some plant maintenance to be scaled back, paused or cancelled. This has also happened with a few outside projects like phase #2 and #3 of a new EV plant in Port Colbourne.

Foundation work has been started on a new stove at Stelco in Nanticoke. Start time for the Bricklayers is hard to say at this point. Possibly late fall, though the world of refractory has its own time zone, sometimes. This job will employ many Local 1 and BACU masons and last several weeks or more. Call me if you have interest gettingon this job as it will assist me manning it when the time comes. Call the Hall 905-527-8418 or my cell 905-517-0884. More updates to follow. Please mark in your calendar, our annual Retirement and Service awards dinner has been booked for Friday, December 5, 2025. The location will be the Venetian Club on John St. N., just a block away from our Hall. More information to come on ticket purchases.

Local General Meetings will take place August 14th, September 11th, October 9th, November 13th and the December meetingiscancelled. Allmeetingswlll startat8:00pm. The next Niagara Meeting is tentatively booked for Thursday, September 25th, 7:00pm at the Legion Branch #17 in Thorald. I STRONGLY recommend Apprentices attend es many meetings as possible. Networking with your Brothers and Sisters and understanding what our Union does for you is key to your success es you progress through your apprenticeship.

If you receive a dreaded delinquent dues letter from the Hall, please contact Alicia and she'll provide you with a link to transfer funds electronically. Somewhere, somehow, you are behind in your dues. It could be the contractor made a mistake and didn't take off your monthly dues, you could have been in school, or the contractor has remitted late. Either way, the responsibility lies with the member. Call the Hall and we'll straiten it out. If any member sees a potential ICI project being built non-union, e.g., Valmar, Blockwall, True Canadian Masonry, Palumbo Enterprises, D and D Masonry Inc, TMC (Total Masonry Construction) please let me know so I can Investigate. I would Uke to know where these companies are active.

Local 1 Hamilton Welfare Benefit Trustees have made a change recently to the message therapy benefit In our Cost Plus. Due to the Increased usage of this benefit and the substantial Increase of fees charged by "boutique" spas and hotels, the Trustees have adopted the 2024 Registered Massage Therapists Association of Ontario (RMTAO) billable time model. For more Information, please contact Donna at the Welfare office.

I can't say enough about speaking with our contractors in the last year, and the positive responses I have heard about Local 1 members work performance and dedication. Our work is hard on our bodies end with increased travel to jobsites, herd on our family life. I would like to thank all members who go to work and preform their job et a high degree of professionalism in environments that are hot, dusty, confined, and crowded, and working with materials that are heavy and or corrosive to our bodies. This is the work we have chosen to do, and in doing so, supporting each other and our Union, we can continue to be better, more efficient and safer than our non-union competition.

In solidarity, Dave Martin on behalf of, Ryan Dickinson, Nick Scott, Sean Read and Luigi Scodellaro. The Executive Board of Local 1 Hamilton-Niagara