by Tony Enger

What is MEA doing for us? Are we in fact getting a return on our investment (ROI) in the association from our membership dues? This question is getting easier and easier for me to answer with the help of a few new tools on the MEA website. An ROI worksheet has been developed to show us exactly how much we are saving when it comes to Education, Compliance and Legislative Issues. And to kick off the New Year, Federated Insurance and MEA are celebrating 60 years of promoting safety by offering us even more benefits.

MEA members can start receiving the following as of January 1:

• FREE 8-hour NEC class taught by MEA ($155 Value)
• FREE AWAIR Safety Program & Workbook ($499 Value)—MEA members also have access to purchase a webinar that was conducted by Andy Smoka that walks you through your AWAIR manual and how to set yours up
• FREE 45 Electrical Safety Meeting Talks CD ($40 Value)

For more details on each of these 2017 promotional benefits, read Alex Hyatt’s article on page 14. If you are a current member of MEA and you are not utilizing the benefits that are referenced above or in the calculator, contact MEA to find out how. If you would like to become a member of MEA to start taking advantage of these savings opportunities today, contact MEA. Call (612) 827-6117 or email [email protected].

As the master electricians in your shop need to renew their licenses by February 28, make sure you take a look at the training schedule that MEA has for the new year and get your employees registered. MEA will be holding numerous classroom classes throughout the state as well as 2-hour and 4-hour online classes to meet our needs. Take the middle section of this newsletter out and post it in your breakroom for everyone to see the upcoming course schedule (online and classroom), quiz on the code and toolbox talks. Sign up early to guarantee a seat in these classes.

2017 is going to be another busy year filled with some recurring challenges and some new challenges. I know that the value that I get from having MEA on my side is priceless but being able to quantify it with online tools makes it that much better. The new promotional items that Federated and MEA are offering for 2017 will make our jobs that much easier as we head into a New Year.