Congratulations to Koeppel Nissan shop steward Franklyn Kerr who is retiring after 30 years as lead parts counterman in the Koeppel Parts Department, and as shop steward for Local 355 for the last fifteen years.
Franklyn has been a key player in everything Local 355 has been able to accomplish at Koeppel Nissan over the years.
The USWU and IUJAT wish Franklyn the best in his retirement and thank him for all his contributions to the Union.
Our industry, like many other industries, found itself in a bit of a quandary! The baby boomers who had been in leadership roles as Foreman, Project Supervisors, and Project Managers were starting to retire. This left a tremendous void in leadership. Companies were finding this void costly and needed to fix this problem.
The United Service Workers Local 355 Joint Apprentice Training Center was called upon to help meet these training needs. And we were able toanswer the call. We put together a two year program: Project Manager, and Foreman Advanced Training. This program covered Crew Leadership, Project Supervision, and Project Management. The results and feedback were outstanding. We graduated seventeen future industry leaders on June 16, 2016.
These graduates are filling the leadership void in managing projects for the companies employing them. These companies are seeing a definite return on their investment. When a job is well-managed, morale is lifted, safety improves, productivity increases, and companies are more profitable.
We are proud of our graduates and wish them much success in all their future endeavors. The United Service Workers Local 355 Joint Apprenticeship Training Center is proud to be able to assist our signatories and answer the call.
We’re training the technicians of tomorrow, today!