UA 597 has a new $15 million training center - and success in recruiting people to fill it.
United Association Local 597 Local 597 has been around since 1885 and is the largest pipefitter union in the country with almost 9,000 members. Its territory spans a big chunk of the industrial Midwest, extending from the greater Chicago area all the way to the Wisconsin and Iowa borders, and into parts of Indiana. UA General President Bill Hite is the third generation of his family to come out of 597, starting with a grandfather who enrolled in its apprenticeship program way back in 1898. A son is now a fourth-generation 597 pipefitter.
Mechanical contractors in the region tell of sluggish business for the past several years, but that hasn't prevented the recent opening of a new $15 million training center for UA 597 in the Chicago south suburb of Mokena. Barely a year and a half passed between the first site work in November 2003 and the grand opening this past May 1.