IBEW Training Program Preparing for Green Future

by James Parks, May 28, 2009

Apprentices from Ironworkers Local 29 help put up the steel structure for a solar array at the IBEW union hall in Portland, Ore.

With hundreds of thousands of its members employed by construction and utility companies, the Electrical Workers (IBEW) is working with electrical union contractors to create a comprehensive green jobs training program that weaves practical experience with classroom instruction into the union’s apprenticeship programs.

IBEW’s training program highlights the commitment of union members to transform the nation’s struggling economy through a range of environmental investments in green technology, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

IBEW locals across the country are retooling and upgrading their training facilities to prepare workers for the rapidly growing clean energy revolution. Just this month, Local 494 moved its headquarters to a new office in suburban Milwaukee, which includes a state-of-the-art training center. The center’s spacious interior will enable union members to learn how to install solar panels and work with wind turbine companies and energy utilities that supply a growing amount of electricity to Wisconsin residential and commercial power consumers.

Local 494 Business Manager Mike Mueller says:

We’re also developing more programs to train people who can conduct the right training programs for our apprentices and journeymen on green projects.

To ensure that IBEW members are well trained to compete for the new opportunities in solar, wind and other renewable energy projects, the union’s apprenticeship and training committee this month published its new green jobs curriculum. IBEW’s Electrical Worker magazine says the comprehensive program

will be woven into the fabric of current IBEW apprenticeship training and will serve as a resource for journeymen looking to upgrade their skills in the growing green jobs market.

The curriculum includes 75 lessons, including green building fundamentals and automated building operation. A two-volume workbook and seven textbooks will guide apprentices through the details of green energy distribution.

IBEW President Ed Hill and other union leaders invited members of Congress to tour IBEW training centers this month to highlight renewable energy training and win more help from the federal stimulus package.

In March, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis toured IBEW Local 349′s training center in Miami, where she met and talked with young workers who are learning the skills that will prepare them for better jobs with a decent wage and benefits. Accompanied by Hill and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Solis told the trainees they “are the face of our future of jobs that stay here.”

These jobs are here. They’re available. They’re already being done with partnerships with private industry and the unions. I think it is a very attractive program that certainly could be used as a model that could be replicated in other parts of our country, where we’re finding people who have just lost their job. Or maybe they want a career change so they can upgrade their skills and have a livable wage and provide for their families.

Local 494 is just one of many IBEW unions that is working to create good green jobs and clean up the environment:

• In late March, Local 113 in Colorado Springs completed installing rooftop solar panels at the union hall. The all-union project will provide about 80 percent of the local’s electrical needs for the next 25 years.
• In Minnesota, Local 292 has launched a solar power training center, which features one of the nation’s best solar labs and its own solar system. The center has a waiting list for students. But the local isn’t taking an exclusive approach to training. Jim Nimlos, Local 292′s training director, and his counterpart at Local 343, Andy Toft, developed a student exchange between 343′s wind turbine training and 292′s solar curriculum. Local 343 is completing a 60-foot climbing tower for practicing high-voltage safety, climbing and rescue procedures on turbines in conjunction with a national wind power curriculum.
• In Portland, Ore., Local 48 is installing a solar array at its union hall. When completed, the all-union project will provide 40 percent of the local’s electrical usage for the next 30 years and be used to train members on the design and installation of solar arrays.

IBEW is not the only union demonstrating the union movement’s commitment to creating good green jobs and protecting our environment. Read about other union efforts to go green here and here.

On Earth Day, the AFL-CIO, in conjunction with its Center for Green Jobs, announced an initiative to reduce energy consumption, cut waste and reduce the carbon footprint of its national headquarters. Read more here.

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