ACTIVITY IN THE GLASS AND GLAZING WORLD BY JOE NARDELLI

I would like to start off by saying thank you to the new Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer Chris Brennan for giving me the opportunity to represent and work for the men and women of District Council 35. I have settled into my new role as Business Representative and have been working on many different projects.

It has been getting very busy with the arrival of spring. Last month, I attended the Boston Building Trades meeting. I am happy to report that many infrastructure grants have been awarded: $37 million to upgrade Logan Airport, $22.5 million to Terminal E Logan Airport, $300,000 to Norwood Memorial Airport, $20 million FHA Roxbury Resident Transportation Corridors, $9 million Safe Roads and Streets and Key Intersections in Boston, $66 million All Station Accessibility Program MBTA Symphony Station Improvement Projects, and $1.2 million to the Boston Harbor Cruises Public Ferry.

The IU has been having a strong push for our Glass and Glazing contractors to get NACC certified. I met with the owner of Jackson Glass regarding signing up for the NACC. We had a successful meeting and Jackson Glass is in the process of getting NACC certified. They are actively bidding on a NACC project: Cottage Street Housing, Chelsea. I also met with the owner of Aluminum and Glass Concepts. We also had a successful meeting, and they are in the process of getting NACC certified as well. They are actively bidding on a NACC project: Tewksbury Water and Electrical Municipal Plants.

Working closely with the Organizing Department, our Glass and Glazing world is still very busy. Since the beginning of January, Organizer/Representative Billy Lang and I have put over 30 new members out to work for projects all over the region. I would like to welcome all our new members!

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending two weeklong leadership training courses in Hanover, MD. I met Agents and Organizers from all over the country. These trainings were a great service to me. The trainings covered Computer Skills, Organizing, and Business Representative training.

I will be attending two more weeks of leadership training this summer. I attended an IU Financial Officers training. A hot topic at this meeting was how we can help our members when they get hurt, sick, or experience hardship. I learned that we cannot donate money to any member for any reason. This prompted me to start a 501(c)(3) charity for our 1,044 members. This is a fully tax-exempt charity that can help earn money for our members. With the 501(c)(3) program we can now legally donate and help sisters and brothers in need. I am hoping that this pilot program will spread to other locals. I will share more information about this very soon.