News
Latest news updates from MCA-KC.
And the Local 533 Winners Are…
From left to right: Local 533 Training Center Coordinator Administrator David Pate, Apprentices Jimmy Novich, Joe Noel, Anthony Widhalm, Josh McGhee, Chuck Davis, Corey Powell, Brent Grosdidier, and Local 533 Business Manager Pat Julo. Not pictured: Apprentices Pat O’Hara and Joe Abbbott.
Last month, MCA-KC announced in its weekly electronic newsletter that Local 533 would be holding an Apprentice competition on March 29-30 in three separate categories – HVAC, Pipefitter, and Welder.
The competition was held at the Training Center and included both written tests and practical tests, requiring each contestant to demonstrate the skills they have learned at the school and working in the trade. More than a dozen retired Pipefitters volunteered to assist with the judging.
After a rugged two days of competition, the final results for the three categories are as follows:
HVAC
1st Place – Josh McGhee
2nd Place – Joe Abbott
3rd Place – Chuck Davis
Pipefitter
1st Place – Corey Powell
2nd Place – Brent Grosdidier
3rd Place – Pat O’Hara
Welder
1st Place – Anthony Widhalm
2nd Place – Joe Noel
3rd Place – Jimmy Novich
Congratulations to all of these Apprentices and best wishes to Josh McGhee and Anthony Widhalm, who will be representing Local 533 by competing in the District 4 Apprentice Contest the last week in June at the UA Local 597 Pipefitters Training Center in Mokena, IL. Winners of the District 4 Contest will advance to the International Competition to be held in Ann Arbor, MI, the second week of August.
The cost of the competition was equally shared by MCA-KC, Local 533, and the Local 533 Training Center.
Please visit www.mcakc.org for the latest in news, information, and upcoming events regarding your Association.
Sincerely,
Bob Looman, MCA-KC Executive Director
What MCA-KC’s Student Chapters Mean to You
Union mechanical contractors strive to be the best of the best. That means we need well-educated, talented young people to fill positions in project management and business operations. To find these individuals, we turn to colleges and universities offering academic programs relating to mechanical construction and service.
MCA-KC does the leg work for union contractors. The Association supports two separate Student Chapter organizations – Kansas State University and Pittsburg State University – with the purpose of exposing students to the mechanical contracting industry and connecting them with our contractor members.
We do this in many different ways throughout the year.
- Giving contractors opportunities to speak at Student Chapter membership meetings (e.g., photo above shows MCA-KC and its contractors presenting at one of KSU’s Construction Science Seminars attended by hundreds of students).
- Coordinating semester field trips to job sites where our contractors have provided the mechanical work.
- Encouraging students to attend and participate in MCAA’s Annual Convention and Annual Student Chapter Summit.
- Promoting opportunities for our contractors to utilize the grants offered by the MCAA to help defer costs associated with paying student interns.
As contractors, all you need to do is find time to get in front of these potential candidates and determine if they might be the future leaders you need in your company.
You can learn more about both Chapters by visiting the Student Chapter section of our website. You can also see what Chapter events are scheduled and many other Association activities by clicking on the Upcoming Events section.
Sincerely,
Bob Looman, MCA-KC Executive Director
A Committment to Excellence
A few weeks ago, I laid out some ideas for a “Contractor Commitment to Excellence” and asked for your input.
Only a few individuals responded, but I’m going to keep bringing this up because, as contractors, we need to all make the commitment to boost our industry as we’re building our shops.
Simple steps like filling out the jobs tracker (see separate article below) and passing in our prevailing wage forms every month can make a big difference in our collective futures. Please send your thoughts to the MCA-KC staff here. I’ll compile our collective thoughts and share in my next email in a couple of weeks.
As a reminder, here were a few of my ideas:
- Send in our prevailing wage forms every month.
- Support Journeyman Continuing Education.
- Send in proper evaluation forms of apprentices.
- Understand all local and national agreements or call the MCA-KC staff to help pursue opportunities that use all available tools to get new union jobs, projects and hours.
- Participate in MCA-KC educational efforts to improve contractor innovation, competiveness, and support the next generation of union contractors.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Bill Adams
President, MCA-KC
