“My colleagues and I cut a copper pipe to welcome everybody to the building,” says Ducharme. “It was a momentous day and even though we had a massive blizzard that day, it was a great event.” UA Local 254’s 1,400 members service commercial and industrial mechanical needs from plumbing, steamfitting, sprinkler fitting, refrigeration and welding. Members have maintained the plumbing and fire protection systems of the institutions, buildings, and industries that keep Winnipeg up and running. UA Local 254’s strong training and certification program keeps all members upto-date with legislation and regulation as well as keep the end-users, the client and homeowner’s, safe. Ducharme says that even though UA’s national, provincial, and municipal standards are as high as they are, “they can always be better”, which is the sign of someone who truly cares about safety. “They can always be tighter,” says Ducharme. “Especially with COVID. We had to adapt to that, and we didn’t experience any kind of slow down during the pandemic. Everything stayed operational because we have two hospitals that have to stay running.” Adapting meant UA Local 254 members, during the height of uncertainty, were not only working, but working in unprecedented circumstances. UA Local 254 members pivoted to remote deliveries, and adopted new and stringent sanitization standards. “It’s important for our members to maintain operations because even if something like COVID comes up, people still need clean, safe water,” says Ducharme. “We were able to maintain a service to our clients and our end-users which was a massive undertaking. Not everybody was able to do that, but we were.” In the Local’s new Union Hall and Training Centre, one to five-year programs. “We also do well testing for the province of Manitoba every two years,” says Ducharme. “UA Local 254 does that for the province of all the contractors to keep them licensed so they can look after the water utility and backflow prevention.” UA Local 254 Training Facility Steve J. Ducharme - Executive Director/President & Quality Manager, Piping Industry Technical College/UA Local 254 5 4
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