Every year thousands of people look to South Florida for re-location, and we are lucky enough to call this our home. Like any other home, we are constantly looking to upgrade and move with the times. With our good weather and white sandy beaches it’s easy to see why we call South Florida home. We at Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 630 are proud to call South Florida our home and are aggressively keeping ourselves ahead of the game with an apprenticeship program that is second to none, continuing education so that current journeyman can stay on the cutting edge of technology within our trade. We at Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 630 have a long lasting relationship with our community since 1913.We have helped build this State to what it is today. We have been in the forefront in the plumbing / pipefitting industry and set the foundation for our organization through training, apprenticeship and professionalism.
We at Local 630 are proud of our heritage and history. Throughout this web site you will see a condensed history that shares with you some of the roots of our Local Union. Of course, the foundation of any organization is its membership. Our members work and enjoy the fellowship that makes us what we are – a union – a group of people bonded together for a common cause.
We have a dedicated staff and officers who spend endless hours to ensure that Local 630 members will continue to enjoy their union and the benefits that derive from it.
Of course, without our retired officers and their dedication throughout the years we would not have existed. We salute all of the members who, since 1913, have made Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 630 what it is today.
By working together, perhaps some of our children and grandchildren will someday be celebrating our 150th anniversary!
Charles J. Simonin
Charlie’s service to the United Association covered a 50-year span. Over 40 of those years were served in Local 630. He was Acting Business Agent from 1929-32; elected Business agent in 1932; and Business Manager in 1955, serving in that position until January, 1971. In July, 1965, Charlie was appointed to the office of U.A. Vice president and served in that capacity until his retirement on Dec. 31, 1972.
Roscoe L. Pickrell
Roscoe served Local 630 in a number of capacities including : Recording Secretary, Executive Board, Finance Committee, and on numerous other committees. Roscoe was elected Business Agent of Local 630 in May 1957, and served in that position until Charlie Simonin’s retirement in January, 1971. At that time, Roscoe was elected Business Manager and served until his appointment as U.A. International Representative in February, 1972, a position he held until his retirement on April 1 , 1985.
Together, Charlie and Roscoe were prime negotiators from the beginning of Local Pension and Health & Welfare Funds. They formed the A.P.P. Building Corporation for Local 630, negotiated the Building Fund to purchase the land, and planned the construction of the Union Offices meeting Hall and Apprentice Training School.
UA International Union History
The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, the parent Union of Local #630 in West Palm Beach, has a long and proud history that goes back more than 100 years.
Before and during the Civil War, plumbers and pipefitters were organized in many major cities of the United States. The first strong, long-lasting local Unions were established in the boom construction decade, 1879-1889, when United States population growth accelerated.
Journeymen in the pipe trades in the 1880s worked in three basic crafts: plumbers, steamfitters and gasfitters.
The first truly successful national body, the United Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters’ Helpers of the United States and Canada, was officially founded on October 11, 1889.
Gradually, former members of rival Unions joined the United Association. The depression of 1893-1897 slowed the development of a stronger organization. Membership in the United Association grew to 6,700 in 1893, but fell to 4,400 by 1897. Yet, by that year 151 local Unions were listed on its rolls.
Starting in 1898, the construction industry entered a period of expansion and prosperity that lasted until 1914. From 1898 to 1906 the United Association quadrupled its membership.
During its first years, the United Association was essentially a federation of local Unions, rather than a truly national Union of the pipe trades. The major breakthrough toward a unified national organization came at the 1902 national convention in Omaha, when delegates approved a Nationalization Committee proposal establishing a comprehensive system of sick, death and strike benefits.
As such reforms to strengthen the national organization were being made in the early part of the century, however, some locals broke ranks to form a rival Union. In August 1906, members of the secessionist Union realized the futility of further rivalry and agreed to affiliate with the United Association.
From 1898 to 1914, the United Association went through several phases of a struggle with the International Association of Steam and Hot Water Fitters and Helpers, a prolonged and sometimes bitter dispute both over jurisdiction over a craft (steamfitting) and work assignments (plumbers vs. steamfitters). The conflict affected other building trades when walkouts by the rival steamfitting organizations, as a result of their jurisdictional dispute, led to work stoppages by other crafts.
The strength of the United Association, and favorable rulings by the American Federation of Labor, including the revocation of the International Association’s charter in 1912, ended this jurisdictional battle, but other jurisdictional issues would continue to challenge the Union.
New disputes arose over the construction of chemical plants and other manufacturing and service establishments that required extensive piping systems. Large volumes of newer types of pipefitting installation in the shift from World War I wartime industries to peacetime construction caused considerable difficulties. Jurisdictional problems also developed with other national Unions, but the United Association retained jurisdiction over important, growing areas of work like construction of industrial plants, public utilities, petroleum facilities and residential buildings.
In the first half of the century, the United Association moved to formalize apprenticeship training programs, including making a five-year apprenticeship mandatory in 1921, and in 1938 holding that all apprentices be members of the United Association and attend related training classes. Its National Plumbing Apprenticeship Plan of 1936 was the first set of standards governing apprenticeship to win approval of the federal government.
In the Depression, United Association membership fell from its 1929 peak of 60,000 to 26,000 by 1933.
After several constitutional changes through the years, the 1946 convention changed the name of the organization to its present name: The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada.
Throughout World War II and after, the United Association made considerable gains in membership and prestige. Between 1940 and 1954 membership surged from 60,000 to 240,000 with veterans entering the skilled craftsmen field.
United Association member George Meany was elected in 1952 to be president of the newly formed AFL-CIO and was to provide a shaping force in the American labor movement until his death in 1980.
The New Frontier of President John F. Kennedy and Great Society of President Lyndon Johnson were movements supported by the United Association. With expanded training programs beginning in 1956, the UA was able to meet the demands of accelerated construction activity in the 1960s. With the increased work the slogan, “There is no substitute for UA skilled craftsmen” became widespread throughout the industry. By 1971 the UA was 320,000 strong.
General President Mark McManus now leads the United Association forward in the 21st century.
