PLC Member Weekly Update April 29, 2022
In this Issue:
Annual Meeting 2022 – May 13, REGISTER, ATTEND, DONATE NOW!
Member Survey – Expected Startup Date
Logger’s Voice Spring Edition – Now Available!
Spring Safety Training – REGISTER NOW! Attend and PLC dues are free in 2023!
MLOP Now Recruiting – Classes Start in June! Scholarships now available for all accepted students.
Welcome New Supporting Member – Unifirst Corporation
Mud Season 2022 – New Guidance on unemployment from MDOL
Cost Calculators – Members Only
PLC Store – Many items for sale
Safety Resources – New Videos! Unsafe Zone with Gabe Rioux and new HumpDay video on Fire Response!
Trucking – Roadcheck 2022 May 17-19
Classified listings – Check them out!
Member Discounts – Many to choose from
Logging News – Latest headlines
Register for PLC’s Biggest Event of the Year! Only two weeks away!
Donate to the Auction!
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Registration for the 2022 PLC Annual Meeting, Dinner and Log A Load for Maine Kids Auction May 13 is now underway! We have a full schedule of events and we hope to see you there! We also need donations of items and cash for the Log A Load Auction!
Highlights of the event will include visits by Maine Gov. Janet Mills and retired New England Patriot Rob Ninkovich, our evening dinner and awards ceremony, and, of course, our live Log A Load for Maine Kids Auction!
We are at a NEW location this year! The Harborside Hotel, Spa and Marina in Bar Harbor! Come join us for this important day and evening!
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Harborside Hotel
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REGISTER AND VIEW EVENT INFORMATION HERE
If you prefer to register, sponsor and donate using paper forms, click the links below
If you have questions, please call or email Jessica Clark at (207) 688-8195 or Jessica@maineloggers.com
Member Survey: Startup Date
Members, the Maine Dept. of Labor (MDOL) has asked the PLC if an extended unemployment work search waiver (beyond May 6, 2022) will be necessary for the membership. To give Maine MDOL feedback on what they should do, PLC is doing a quick survey to gauge when PLC companies will be restarting logging operations this spring after mud season. Please give us your best guess for your company. The responses will be confidential and we will only share aggregate data with MDOL. Thank you.
TAKE THE SURVEY
Logger’s Voice Spring 2022!
The Spring 2022 Edition of The Logger’s Voice is now available! Copies have been mailed out!
PLC Logger Safety and Fleet Trainings!
REGISTER NOW!
*Attend and PLC dues are free in 2023!
The PLC is pleased to offer Logger, Fleet, CPR and Dynamic Driving Safety Training for its members in person for 2022! Please review our Logger and Fleet offerings and register as soon as possible to ensure there is room for your employees at the chosen location(s). Trainings run from March 31 to May 25, 2022.
You may REGISTER ONLINE HERE, or download, fill out and mail back the paper registration form Safety Registration 2022 – Form. A hardcopy has also been sent to your office. Via US mail.
This training is free to employees and owners of all PLC Member companies and Maine Master Logger companies! Lunch is provided, and we have added new topics based on feedback received from PLC Members. Don’t miss out, register NOW!
*New for 2022, the PLC will be receiving grant funds from the Maine Community College System (MCCS), our partner for the Mechanized Logging Operations Program, to provide your company with a great new member benefit!
With the help of the MCCS, we will be setting up a training database that will allow us to more effectively track employee training that you do through the PLC or Master Logger. It also allows you to offer hundreds of other free/low-cost training courses for your employees through the MCCS at no cost.
Participation is optional for all companies and employees, however, if your company participates with at least 50% of its employees you will not have to pay PLC dues for 2023. The PLC will use the remaining funds to cover the increased costs of training – so that training can remain free for your company!
To participate, your company needs to do the following:
- Register for a PLC logger safety, fleet safety training, Dynamic Driving (no charge) or CPR class (no charge)
- Send 50% of your employees to training.
- During registration, your employees will need to sign in and provide their Date of Birth (DOB) so training can be tracked in a central database. We will enter this information into the training database for you.
We think this is a great opportunity to offer more high-quality training, minimize the amount of tracking you need to do for training, increase funding for PLC training, and allow your company to skip PLC dues for 2023.
As always, if you don’t want to participate, please let us know. Otherwise, we will sign up your company for this great opportunity.
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The PLC would also like to thank our sponsors of the 2022 Safety Trainings below. We could not offer these trainings without you!
MLOP Program Now Recruiting Students for Summer 2022!
*Two instructors also being sought
Through the generous support of Skowhegan Savings, $1,000 scholarships are now available for all accepted students.
The Mechanized Logging Operations Program is now accepting applications for the 2022 Class starting in June of 2022. If you know of anyone who may have an interest in the program they can apply at the link below. You may also encourage them to call, text or email MLOP Coordinator Donald Burr at 207-356-1541 or dburr@nmcc.edu to learn more.
APPLY HERE
*MLOP is also seeking two instructors for the program! One instructor will need delimber experience and the other feller buncher experience. Contact Donald Burr at 207-356-1541 or dburr@nmcc.edu to learn more!
Share this video with potential students!
Why the Mechanized Logging Operation Program could be right for you
Welcome New Supporting Member!
Unifirst Corporation, headquartered in Wilmington, MA joined the PLC as a new Supporting Member in April, 2022. Unififirst is one of North America’s largest workwear and textile service companies, providing uniforms, protective clothing, and custom corporate image apparel programs to businesses in diverse industries. In addition to outfitting more than 2 million workers in clean uniforms each workday, Unifirst also has a hand in keeping their businesses clean, safe, and healthy through their Facility Service program, allowing the company to be a single-source solution for a variety of needs. To learn more contact Wade Taylor in Mars Hill at (207) 689-1065 or wade_taylor@unifirst.com or visit unifirst.com.
PLC Mud Season Reminder 2022
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Mud season is now upon us, and that means many of you are facing the annual challenges of temporarily laying off employees or being laid off yourself.
Following extensive efforts by the PLC in 2018, laid off loggers will once again be granted up to a 6 week work search waiver while on unemploytment as long as they are able to provide a definite recall date to Maine’s Bureau of Unemployment Compensation.
The PLC has been communicating with Maine’s Department of Labor and this is our summary of what they have provided for guidance this year:
*At this time, a Work Search Waiver has been granted effective March 27, 2022 to May 7, 2022, however, if your recall date is after May 7, you will still enter May 7 as your recall date if you are filing online.
The most important steps for logging contractors and employees to follow in order to take advantage of the waiver are the following:
1. A company provides an employee with a recall date. If this date is after May 7, you will still enter May 7 as your recall date.
2. The employee contacts the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660 selects option 2 and tells them the name of the company employing them and the recall date the company has given them. If this date is after May 7, you will still enter May 7 as your recall date.
3. The Bureau sends separation paperwork to the Company, at which point the Company will verify the recall date on the paperwork.
4. Phone lines are open from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday. Monday’s are busiest at the unemployment office and tend to slow down each day following. Currently, the average wait times for phone calls are below 3 minutes, so please be patient and a representative will help you.
5. For online self-service, click HERE. There are zero wait times and this option is available 7 days a week. Select “Create ReEmployME Account” if you do not already have an account created from prior years, or “Claimant Login” if you have filed through the ReEmployME system sometime within the last three years. Then select the “Unemployment Claim” tab at the top of your screen and go to “File Unemployment Claim.” Follow the prompts on the screen to file a new claim, or reopen an existing claim. * As part of filing your claim, you will be asked if you have a definite recall date. Please select “YES” when prompted and enter a definite recall date of 05/07/2022 (even if you are not sure of a definite recall date, or have an expected recall after that date), which will add the work search waiver to your claim. The department is manually putting in a waiver through that date and will consider an extension as needed at that time.
Any questions may be directed to the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660.
PLC Members Only!
Equipment Cost Calculators Available. See Demo Webinar, if you missed it.
Members,
With expenses rising rapidly in the industry we know you are struggling to get a handle on your costs. This is a great time to utilize the cost calculators created in 2021 for PLC Members.
If you missed the demo last year of these new, easy to use, logging equipment and log trucking cost calculators it is available on the PLC Members Only section of our web site where you will also find both calculators and our Safety Resources page. You may access this private section of the web site with your member login or set up a login HERE.
These calculators allow you to quickly estimate the hourly cost of operation for any piece of your equipment. The webinar includes a demo of both from the designer and a question and answer session that was held at the end with PLC Members.
DISCLAIMER: These calculators are being made available for your business use as a member benefit. They produce equipment estimates and are not official products of the PLC nor should they be used for negotiation purposes.
PLC Online Store
Looking for great PLC items and apparel? Gifts? First Aid packs, safety items and more? You will find them at the new PLC Online Store on our web site. Ordering is easy.
CHECK IT OUT HERE
Safety Resources
New Unsafe Zone Safety Video – Gabe Rioux: Hydraulic Injection Injury!
New HumpDay Safety Video – Fire Response!
Trucking
Roadcheck inspection 2022 blitz is May 17-19
You have about 30 days to get ready for the annual inspection blitz aimed at commercial vehicles.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has announced this year’s International Roadcheck dates ar May 17-19, and will have a focus on wheel ends.
New Bill Aims to Reduce Truck Driver Tax Liabilities – Drivers – Trucking Info
The Strengthening Supply Chains Through Truck Driver Incentives Act would provide a short-term and fast incentive to attract and retain new drivers. Specifically, the Spanberger-Gallagher bill would create a two-year (2022 and 2023) refundable tax credit of up to $7,500 for truck drivers holding a valid Class A commercial driver’s license who drive at least 1,900 hours in the year.
ELD Update: New and updated FAQs from FMCSA
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On March 10, 2022, to provide additional guidance on the ELD regulations, FMCSA published answers to several frequently asked questions. To view any of the FAQs, along with previously published FAQs, visit https://eld.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq. |
Logging Industry News
Lyme Disease Awareness Month 2022
Infected deer ticks can spread the bacterium that causes Lyme disease when they bite. For transmission to occur, the deer tick must be attached for 24-48 hours. Use frequent tick checks to find and remove ticks as early as possible.
Member Discounts
TRUCKING DISCOUNTS THROUGH THE ALC!
PLC Members, because the PLC is a member of the American Loggers Council YOU are entitled to special discounts on truck purchases! Click on the brand names below to learn more!
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Fabian Oil Discount
Traction Heavy Duty Special
Wallingford’s Discounts
Maine Trailer Discounts
Scandinavian Forestry Equipment
PLC Members get a 5% discount on culverts purchased at Treeline and Frank Martin & Sons
Hale Trailer discounts for PLC Members on new trailer purchases! Call Neal at 207-232-7969 for details!
Cross Arena Discounts for PLC!
Classifieds
PLC Classified Section
Check out the equipment and job opportunities our members have listed at the LOGGING ZONE! If you have equipment for sale, are looking to buy, are looking for employees, or
Preferred Supporting Members
Preferred Supporting Members
