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Sparking Careers in Skilled Trades with Junior Achievement

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Indiana Carpenters & Floorcoverers are sparking careers in skilled trades at the Junior Achievement Job Spark event in Indianapolis. Over 4,000 students visited the event where they learned about various career paths, including those in building trades.

The Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters booth was full of interested students all day. Students took part in a floorcovering challenge & at the end of the day, we named the challenge winner. Groups received blueprints and 24 carpet squares, with the goal of being the fastest, most accurate group.

See all the excitement below or by clicking here.

IKORCC Member Saves Police Officer’s Life

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IKORCC and Local 599 member Patrick Baum risked his life today to save a police officer and helped apprehend a person wanted for multiple attempted child abductions in Hammond. The Hammond Police Department held a special ceremony and presented Patrick with a bravery award for his heroic actions.

Officers say Patrick risked his personal safety to assist an officer in need while he was trying to secure a dangerous individual believed to be involved in multiple child abductions. Patrick’s actions that day helped to avoid a potential tragedy. The suspect who was arrested and charged with 5 criminal counts including Attempted Criminal Confinement and Resisting Law Enforcement is in custody.

A statement from The Hammond, Indiana Police Department stated:
On June 1 at approximately 2:30 pm, Hammond Police responded to the 2900 block of 165th street in reference to an attempted child abduction. A 15-year-old female reported that she was grabbed by a black male in a vehicle. The female stated that she was able to quickly pull away from the male and ran. Witnesses on scene gave police a detailed description of the vehicle he was driving and the license plate. A few minutes later, a 10-year-old female reported that a male matching the same description tried to lure her into his vehicle in the 6400 block of New Hampshire.

Hammond Police Officer Daniel Sangkaratana was actively patrolling the area in search of the suspect when he located the vehicle with matching license plates from Illinois. Officer Sangkaratana advised that he located the suspect inside his vehicle. Officer Sangkaratana performed a traffic stop of the vehicle and the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and began to walk around with a blank stare. Officer Sangkaratana gave the suspect orders that were ignored. The suspect went back into his vehicle and began to reach under the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Fearing that the suspect was reaching for a weapon, Officer Sangkaratana ran up the suspect and grabbed his arm attempting to stop the suspect from grabbing a weapon. The suspect spun around and began to fight with the officer. The suspect began to grab Officer Sangkaratana’s vest and gun belt. The suspect pushed the officer into the street and continued to struggle.

At this time, a local Hammond resident, Patrick Baum, was driving by and observed what was happening. He stopped his vehicle and exited. Mr. Baum ran up to the suspect fighting with Officer Sangkaratana and tackled him to the ground. Mr. Baum assisted Officer Sangkaratana in holding the suspect on the ground until fellow officers arrived and the officers were able to secure the suspect in the police vehicle.

Mr. Baum was presented with an award for bravery today. The Hammond Police Department would like to thank Mr. Patrick Baum for his selfless and brave actions that afternoon. He risked his personal safety to assist an officer in need while he was trying to secure a dangerous individual believed to be involved in multiple child abductions. Mr. Baum’s actions that day helped to avoid a potential tragedy. The suspect who was arrested and charged with 5 criminal counts including Attempted Criminal Confinement and Resisting Law Enforcement is in custody.

Carpenters Help Indiana Organization Save Lives

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44 – that’s the number of lives Indiana Youth Services’ Making Good Decisions initiative has helped save since its inception. It’s an organization that’s making a difference to so many young people, which is why the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters was happy to sponsor their “The Blind Pig Speakeasy” fundraiser this week.

“The carpenters have always believed in helping our members better their lives, in this regard our missions are very much aligned. This organization is helping save lives, it’s a great cause for us to support,” says Tim Thieme of the IKORCC.

Their mission is simple, Making Good Decisions helps educate young people about the dangers of underage drinking to help prevent alcohol-related deaths. The organization led the charge to pass Indiana’s Lifeline Law, which gives immunity from certain alcohol-related offenses to minors who call to report a medical emergency or crime.

It’s a cause that is deeply personal to the organization’s founders Norm and Dawn Finbloom. Their son Brett passed out after a night of heavy drinking at a friend’s house. When his heart stopped beating and friends realized he was in real trouble, they didn’t call paramedics immediately for fear of getting in trouble. Unfortunately, that choice and delay in getting help led to Brett’s death.

Vowing to save other families from a similar tragedy, The Finbloom’s worked hard to pass the Lifeline Law and say, “Now Brett is everyone’s lifeline.”

Making Good Decisions has recently partnered with Indiana’s Text-to-911 services to increase public awareness about the ability to TEXT-to-911 in an emergency. The purpose is to encourage young people to contact 911 for help when they find themselves or a friend in an emergency.

Learn more about the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters or our community projects.

Carpenters Help Little Wish Foundation Grant a Wish

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For Derek Dodd helping the Little Wish Foundation grant a wish isn’t just about giving back – it’s personal. Derek’s wife is a childhood cancer survivor and although he wasn’t in her life at the time, he knows the toll cancer takes on a family.

That’s why Derek and 13 other members of Carpenter’s Local 1016 spent the day in Muncie building a swing set for a two-year-old boy with cancer. The swing set included a slide, clubhouse, rock climbing wall, and a sandbox.

“You and your guys really made a difference to our family, and I cannot thank you enough,” the boy’s grandmother said.

Derek said seeing the family so happy meant a lot to the group. “Anytime we can help a family in need like this for this good cause – I’m all on board,” he said.

Great work Local 1016! 

 

IKORCC Wins Commercial Project of the Year

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They haven’t officially cut the ribbon opening the new Merrillville training facility and already the IKORCC’s state-of-the-art building is winning awards.

Wednesday the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters earned the prestigious “Commercial Project of the Year Award” from the Construction Advancement Fund (CAF) for the new administration and training facility in Merrillville.

The buildings, which are located at 1560 E. 70th Court in Merrillville, were built by Hasse Construction with the help of union carpenters.

The CAF hosts an annual award ceremony in partnership with the Northwest Indiana Building Roundtable (NWIBRT) to recognize excellence in construction and safety.

The IKORCC Merrillville project was recognized for being completed on schedule, within budget, with minimal disruption to the operation, all while upholding the highest commitment to safety.

The IKORCC administration building is 13,000 square feet and the training center is an impressive 64,000 square feet. The training center will help thousands of people build their careers in the industry. Carpenters, floor coverers, and millwrights will receive the latest skill & safety training thanks to the new facility.

To learn more about the Merrillville Training Center, or to build a career in carpentry click here.

Hochstedler Flooring Partners with IKORCC

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Indiana isn’t immune to the skilled worker shortage sweeping America, a fact that one flooring company learned the hard way. Hochstedler Floorcovering in Kokomo hopes to solve that problem by partnering with the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters.

“There’s a real shortage of flooring installers out there that really want to learn the trade,” Greg Hochstedler says. “We believe partnering with the carpenters will help get us trained flooring installers – that’s hard to find nowadays.”

Carmella Hochstedler, who runs the business alongside her brother & father, says they’ve been looking for a way to get new installers as many of their longtime employees are getting close to retirement.

“We really needed a better way to train the next generation,” she says. Adding, “We’ve used subs in the past, but it’s hard to get guys to stay due to the nature of the work.”

Carmella hopes partnering with the carpenters and their highly trained members will help grow the family business. “It will open doors we haven’t been able to on our own,” she says.

Hochstedler opened in its doors in 1998 after Greg and his father wanted to run a flooring company, instead of working as installers as they had since the early 1980s. The company has been family owned and operated since its inception.

Today there are three generations of Hochstedlers working at the company, although it’s not uncommon to see the next generation in the store learning the trade.

Hochstedler Floorcovering sells and installs vinyl, laminate, hardwood, ceramic, carpet and many more types of flooring. Currently, their wait time for installation is about three weeks, but with an influx of skilled floor coverers from the carpenters they can now service commercial clients much faster.

Hochstedler Floorcovering serves Kokomo, Logansport, Marion, Peru, Tipton, Westfield and portions of Carmel.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett Helps Fight Tax Fraud

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In March, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett visited the IKORCC to discuss the growing issue of tax fraud and the effects it has on responsible contractors, the city, and taxpayers.

Tax fraud occurs when companies misclassify workers who should be employees in order to avoid paying their fair share of unemployment insurance and federal, state and local taxes. Companies that commit tax fraud are often able to give lower bids on projects since they aren’t paying their share of taxes – a practice which makes it difficult for responsible contractors to compete fairly.

“Everybody ought to have the right to compete fairly,” Mayor Hogsett said while addressing contractors.  “I want to be clear – what the city seeks to do is not to pick winners and losers. Our job is to make sure everyone is operating on a level playing field,” Hogsett added.

Mayor Hogsett also acknowledged that the IKORCC has been at the forefront of the battle against tax fraud. “The carpenters have really taken a leadership role in this regard,” he said.

In response to the growing tax fraud problem in the construction industry, Mayor Hogsett says he put together a working group to explore the ordinances in place within the city and the means of enforcing these policies. “The ordinance is a bit vague in the enforcement area,” he said, adding that he hopes to have an enforcement officer in place in the future to cut down on tax fraud.

The IKORCC has seen an increase in the prevalence of tax fraud in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio and hopes to work with Mayor Hogsett and the working group to help curtail the issue.

Click here to learn more about tax fraud.

Walker Career Center’s Future Tradesmen

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The Warren Central Walker Career Center is advancing their students to successfully become tradesmen in the near future. Council staff Jeff Gielerak and Steve Hoyt are graduates of the Warren Central program and were happy to share about the opportunities available at the IKORCC and contribute $250 to new tools for their program. The Senior students were excited about their future and had several questions regarding our union. While visiting, Steve and Jeff were able to explore a home the students are currently working on.

“It’s great to see the students working hard on their project the day before Spring Break!” Steve says, adding, “That’s what we need out on our job sites.” The students will be working tirelessly on completing the project for the first open house this coming May.

In the Junior class, several students said they plan to take the class next school year and are very excited about the learning opportunities. Steve says he hopes the contribution from the Carpenters Union will help towards new tools for their program. The IKORCC is committed to building strong futures for our community. In doing so we provide wages to support families, benefits, and training to be the most skilled worker on the job site. We are excited for the students to come visit the Greenwood training facility at the open house on April 11th.  

Indianapolis Carpenter Manuel Banegas Nails the Win

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Hanging drywall sounds easy, but can you do it faster and more accurately than dozens of your peers across Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio? Local 301’s Manuel Banegas did just that.

Banegas and dozens of other participants competed to see how they measured up in the Drywall Drag Race Olympics. Banegas will represent the IKORCC in the United Brotherhood of Carpenter’s Midwestern District Interior Systems Competition on April 21st. Competition starts at 9:00 a.m. at the IKORCC headquarters in Greenwood, IN. Congratulations Manuel and thanks to all our participants! 

Indiana Interim Study Committee Reviews Payroll Fraud Issue

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Yesterday the Indiana Interim Study Committee on Employment and Labor heard testimony from construction contractors on the issue of#payrollfraud. Contractors asked the Indiana Legislature to consider options to investigate and prosecute businesses who break the law and steal from taxpayers. Stay tuned for actions the legislature takes to stop cheating businesses from robbing taxpayers of $400 million/year and raising costs on law-abiding business.