Organizing Department hosts January conference

The Organizing Department for the HFIAW is sponsoring an Organizing Conference in late January.

Every HFIAW Local is required to send at least one participant to the conference, which will occur from Jan 21-27 at the Flamingo Hotels.

The conference is open to all local union Organizers, Business Managers and other Local Union Officers interested in attending.

The first part of the conference will focus on training the participants. Topics will include how to utilize the OMS (Organizing Management System) online database to its full potential and how to use the OMS to compose Built Right Presentations with the intent to expose job spec violations committed by unscrupulous contractors. 

Additional OMS training will ensure certain job specs are enforced, such as when a project requires all mechanical insulation installed by a “BAT (Bureau of Apprenticeship Training) Certified Journeyman.” This example is only applicable on projects that contain the job spec in the U.S. In Canada, there is a similar job spec requiring all mechanical insulation on certain projects installed by a “Red Seal Certified Journeyman, or a Journeyman having an Equivalent Certification.”

The remainder of the conference will focus on providing an updated COMET Train the Trainer class to enable participants to return to their home Locals to teach the updated COMET classes to members. The COMET Train the Trainer classes will be taught by the National Building and Construction Trades’ Training Academy.

The Organizing Department hopes every participant will take something away from the conference to enable them to increase their Local’s bargaining strength by helping increase market share and create new job opportunities for our members.

Please contact Director Todd Dunnahoe at TDunnahoe@insulators.org with any questions.

Special thanks to Todd Dunnahoe, Director, Department of Organizing, for providing information for this post.