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The Orange County Register

Unlike many of the craft-union members of the Building Trades, UA 250's HVAC Technicians often work alone. However, the jobs they perform are of critical importance to the customers they serve. The UA 250 HVAC Technicians working for Linc Services perform "mission critical" service and maintenance at the Orange County Register to ensure that the daily newspaper keeps humming along.

UA 250 HVAC Techs are at the Register two hours a day, 365 days a year, performing crucial maintenance tasks and system checks to make sure that the cooling system never goes down. The 47 air handlers in the Register's press room are critical to keeping the equipment running. In addition, Linc Services maintains the HVAC system in the Register office building, including the critical cooling system for the KDOC-TV computer server room.

Cory Hanna, a 17-year veteran of Local 250 who has experience as both a non-union and a union worker believes that the apprenticeship program and the journeyman continuation training program are what make the difference for Linc Services.

"A non-union company might say they can come in and do this job, but I've seen a lot of the work for some of the non-union companies. I don't think they have the skill or training to provide the same level of service," said Hanna. "They could change the shaft seal on that chiller right there, but do they know you have to set shaft seal to two or three psi pressure? They don't tell you that in the York book. They could set it in and let it go and its sucking air. We've got a wealth of knowledge. There's a lot that is not in those service manuals. What's not in there you learn from the union."

After spending several years as non-union HVAC Tech, Hanna joined Local 250 at the urging of his father. "My dad was a supermarket manager. He told me that all the big boys worked union and that if I wanted to have a good career in this field I should join."

Hanna had to take several math courses and a physics course as a prerequisite to the apprenticeship program. Even after turning out, Hanna continues to take certification and other classes at the training center.

According to General Manager Tony Dyer, the skill, education, and training level of the UA 250 members are key reasons for the success of Linc Services. "The five-year apprenticeship program is something that we value and the core training they continue to receive once they reach journeyman status is something that makes us valuable to our customers," Dyer said.

"We believe that the Local gives us an edge when it comes to service work, knowing that they are well trained, knowing that they are educated on what we do, and as we see here, this is not something that a guy off the street is going to be able to work on."

"The training is first rate," added Linc General Manager Tony Winter. "I really appreciate that they have continuing education for our higher-level people. Once our technicians reach journeymen level, they can still continue their education. That's a real big thing for us, being an aggressive company that likes to stay on the technical leading edge. In order to do that, we rely heavily on Local 250 and the training center."

Green technologies and the increased emphasis on energy efficiency have led to the many emerging technologies in the HVAC field, Winter said. "In order to keep up on this, we depend on our UA 250 labor pool."