Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to on the Fringe. We're here at the third district progress meeting listening to IBEW Voices.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: My name is Jordan Henry. I'm a fourth year apprentice with IBEW 743 out of Reading, Pennsylvania.
The most rewarding project that I've worked on recently is an auditorium at Wilson High School.
The biggest opportunity to see for our industry in the next five years is mostly data center work and big industrial new construction. At least for the next five years we'll see. After that who knows.
And one piece of advice I give my younger self is I would have gotten in way sooner than I did. I would have come. Wish I would have done it right out of high school but 34 now and here I am.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: So what got you in?
[00:00:56] Speaker B: That's a long story.
I was studying to be a priest and ended up dropping out of college. But my religious studies brought me to a more union belief with like everybody watch out for your brother, work with each other.
And that training for the priesthood kind of guided me towards a union and, and the IBEW was the union that seemed to cook with me the most.
[00:01:30] Speaker D: My name is David Hockman. I am executive board member of Local 3 IBEW.
I am also a general foreman for one of the contractors in my local.
The question is the most rewarding project I ever worked on recently was I was the general foreman on the rebuild of ground zero after 9 11.
It was a great experience. I was there on 911 when they fell and I had the honor of rebuilding afterwards for two and a half years after that. I actually became the shop steward down at ground zero as well for a few more years after that.
The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years in my opinion is infrastructure with solar and wind.
I believe the infrastructure of our country needs to be rebuilt. I believe all the power lines that are above ground need to go underground and I believe that would help our environment, that would help with the wildfires, it would help with a lot of different things and it would be a tremendous opportunity for our people.
The one piece of advice I would give my younger self is get more involved early. I am a 43 year member, I am third generation, my children are fourth and I just came to work at the beginning. I got more involved after I turned to the a journeyman. I would be more involved as an apprentice.
[00:02:46] Speaker E: Amazing. And are your grandchildren going to follow?
[00:02:49] Speaker D: My son is in what we call our division is a J division which is street lighting and my son in law is also in my division. Yes. I have four grandchildren now one's 21 who's in media and three are seven, eight, and ten. So they're not ready yet.
[00:03:05] Speaker E: There's hope.
[00:03:06] Speaker D: There's hope, yes. And I love our industry.
It's been good to my family. It's been good to my grandfather, my father, my two uncles and myself.
So I truly love it.
[00:03:18] Speaker F: My name is Laurel Brennan. I am the secretary treasurer of the New Jersey State AFL cio.
And the most rewarding project I've worked on recently in the past several years was making sure that we passed the Equal Pay for Women bill, which was introduced into the New Jersey Legislature by one of our IBEW brothers, Assemblyman and chair of the Labor Committee, Joe Egan, Local 456. The bill was passed out of committee, and now in New Jersey, their law is that women have to be paid the same as men, and it's equal pay for equal work. It was one of the most rewarding projects that I've worked on recently.
The biggest opportunity I see for the labor movement in the next five years is organizing.
Unions are approved by the general public over 70%.
And unions obviously provide economic security and rewarding communities. When people join unions and have good benefits and good pay and social and economic security. And in the next five years, I know the IBW is organizing. They just organized 29,000 members recently. And the unions are organizing because people know they need to join a union for security for their futures.
And the one piece of advice I'd give to my younger self is listen more carefully.
Watch what people do and not what they say.
[00:04:53] Speaker G: My name is Chris Bannis. I'm a foreman out of Local 41.
I'm currently working at the Bills Stadium. This is probably the most rewarding project I've worked on because I'm a huge Bills fan.
Biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years is all of the demand for energy with the upcoming AI and also all the electric cars.
And if you ask me, one of the best pieces of advice I'd give my younger self is to start the apprenticeship before I end up with student loans.
[00:05:27] Speaker E: So what got you into the trip? What you did?
[00:05:29] Speaker G: I graduated Buff State with a bachelor's degree.
I was debating whether I was going to go back for my MBA or get into the trades. And I applied at a bunch of internships. I ended up interning with 97 rack I out of Buffalo doing marketing, and I ended up applying at local 41. And I didn't end up getting the one internship that I thought I was going to with Northwestern Mutual. So I ended up going in with local 41 where I knew I was going to get the guaranteed raises every single year. And I ended up becoming a journeyman and then a foreman. And now I'm on the executive board as well.
[00:06:13] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Liz, I'm an electrician with Local 41 out of Buffalo, New York.
So probably some of the most rewarding work I did was working in the Buffalo Public Schools because my children go there. So I was able to do maintenance and repairs and I really loved having the teachers and the young girls look up and be like, oh my gosh, look, it's a woman electrician. And it was, it felt really good to see like that they could say, oh, I can do that too. So I really liked that upcoming in our industry, I think that we have a lot of new technology that might be coming out and a lot of power requirements. So obviously there's a lot of money to be made and a lot to learn. So I think that's really good.
And piece of advice I'd give my younger self is, is that don't be insecure and not confident because it's fine, it's fine.
Just feeling like, you know, the imposter syndrome or like maybe, like maybe I'm not going to be as good as them. But learning how to find your voice and assert yourself I think is like, it takes you very far.
And I wish I would have gotten to the apprenticeship earlier too. So.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Nick Ahern, organizer for the IBW Local 139.
The most rewarding project I've worked on recently is a thing called TRI Trades. It is a job fair for students in grades 8 through 12 to come out and do a hands on experience with different, different trades. Everything from electrical and plumbing to road construction and high line work. So the biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years is probably the opportunity to expand our membership through apprenticeships. The overall job outlook currently is great and to keep up with the demand of that work. I think that it's a great opportunity for all of our apprenticeships to really take that opportunity to build.
And one piece of advice I'd give to my younger self, you know, I'd have to say one, one piece of advice I'd give myself would be to really take a bigger advantage of the apprenticeship while I was there. You know, as a young guy getting into the trades, it's a hard transition to get into, you know, to really take full advantage of what you're being offered in the apprenticeships.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: Joe, checkley business manager for IBW Local 94 in New Jersey. We represent 4,000 members throughout the state of New Jersey, everywhere from utility to line clearance, tree trimming, to fossil generation.
Most of my members work for the utility in New Jersey. About 3,300 of them, 600 line clearance, tree trimmers. And then we. We also represent three nuclear power plants in San Juan County. Those plants have about 600 of my members working there.
Most rewarding project, I would say probably being part of the young workers. As Laurel Brennan, who just introduced me to you guys, said, it was something they started in New Jersey and having us kind of mentored by the leadership that was, you know, preparing for retirement, getting ready to retire and then kind of handing the reins over to us, preparing us for what was going to be the future of the local, the unions and then not only that, but the political influence, being able to talk to the politicians and help with and partner, not only work with the utilities, but partner with our utilities and work together to grow the membership and provide a trained, qualified workforce.
Biggest opportunity I see in the next five years, I would say.
So I'm going to be a little biased because I'm a nuclear guy. I spent 20 years working at the nuclear facility in Salem, Hope Creek. The boom we're going to see for nuclear power, the amount of nuclear power that's going to come back into the limelight and then not only that, but the workforce, the skilled workforce, we'll see come out of that and really drive not only New Jersey, but this country and power this country.
One piece of advice I'd give my younger self.
That's a good one. Look for every opportunity, don't discredit anything, and listen and learn from everybody who's willing to talk to you. Because one of the things I would say getting into this job, I ask a lot of questions as it is and I wish I asked more.
I wish I asked and knew more. Not that the leadership that was before me isn't there anymore, but their phone call way they've worked to enjoy their retirement. But there's so many more things I know now that I wish I would ask more questions about.
[00:11:21] Speaker G: Hi, my name is Ed Hill. I'm a business development representative for the ibew. The most rewarding project I've worked on recently is, is the establishment of offshore wind in the United States and helping secure the IBEW's role in building those projects.
The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years is the growth of demand for energy and also for data within North America.
And one piece of advice I'd give my younger self is to ensure that I listen to those that came before me and make sure that I appreciate and honor their previous roles and how we can leverage those for better ibew.
[00:12:09] Speaker H: Hi, my name is Pat Cadiz. I'm the business manager for IBEW Local 1049 and I'm happy to be part of the podcast today. Avery, thanks for inviting me. Appreciate that.
It's interesting on what's been going on, at least in my local union. We represent utility workers and outside construction workers in the Long island jurisdiction since 1937. The utilities on our property are PSEG Long island, which is engaged in a public private partnership with the Long Island Power Authority. Kind of a unique situation.
It works well.
And National Grid us, they handle the gas business unit and electric generation in that area.
So kind of busy on Long island. Keeps us excited. We have been engaged in contract negotiations for the past 12 months, recently completing negotiations with HomeServe USA doing appliance repair and plumbing and heating work on Long Island. That was a very successful contract.
We managed to get a four year agreement with 4% a year, you know, which is helping our members keep pace with inflation, some reduction in their costs on medical. I got to really put a huge shout out to Darren golden and the folks over at the FMCP for the great job that they do assisting us in collective bargaining. You know, the product that they give out with the FMCP is second to none. And I truly recommend any local union out there. Even if you have best in class benefits, you need to be looking at the fmcp. It's a way to get a better choice for the members at a reduced benefit, a reduced cost, I should say. The benefits certainly are reduced, but the idea of people struggling out there to pay their medical bills is greatly helped with the family medical care plan. So the biggest opportunity that I see in our industry over the next five years, we're seeing a drive towards eliminating the use of fossil fuels out there. And listen, I, you know, a third of my business, my people are employed in the fossil fuel industry, in natural gas industry and electric generation that is generated through fossil fuels.
But I know that that's going to change in time.
So what we really need to be doing here right now is focusing on making sure that the offshore wind turbines that are being constructed out there, I know this current administration has stopped that from happening, but I'm confident that with the money invested, we'll see that happen again.
But the operation and maintenance of those facilities should be done Union should be ibe dubbed. So we need to be focusing on getting operation and maintenance roles in the emerging renewables industry. That's going on.
The final question about what a piece of advice I would give my younger self.
You know, I got started in this business when I was 18 years old.
I was pretty young when I got started started, but I really didn't get involved with union affairs until my late 20s when we actually were engaged in a strike way back in 1984.
And fighting alongside my brothers and sisters to avoid reduction in wages and benefits made me fall in love with my unit and it brought me to where I am today. I got started as Stuart.
I then became an organizer, volunteer organizer, and then a full time organizer with local became business rep and today I'm business manager.
But if I had to give myself some advice as younger self, it's get involved early and encourage others to do the same.
The union movement has been the major part of my life.
I live and breathe our movement every single day, at every moment. Okay. This is all I know and it's provided me the ability to be able to put both my daughters through college to support my wife. And I know that one day when I retire, I'm going to retire with dignity and respect.
So my advice to anybody that's younger out there is get involved, stay involved and get others involved as well.
[00:16:58] Speaker G: My name is Robert Cisiak.
I'm an inside wireman. I'm the president of our veterans committee at Local 743.
Obviously that's my organization, IBEW Local 743.
The most rewarding project I've worked on recently and I guess maybe it would be today at the ball field, volunteering to help a local volunteer only kids ball field.
The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years is the ridiculous amounts of data centers going in everywhere.
As a matter of fact, I don't even know if that's going to be a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if we're going to be able to man, you know, fill the positions required for all this work.
That's actually one of my fears. I think that we're not going to have enough people.
One piece of advice I would give my younger self.
[00:17:56] Speaker H: Oh boy.
[00:17:58] Speaker G: Start planning for retirement now.
Like when I got out of the Navy, I should have gone back in time and told myself, start planning now. It's going to be quick.
Because it seems like yesterday I was an apprentice.
[00:18:16] Speaker I: My name is Paul Nyland. I'm the president of IBW Local 236.
The most rewarding project I've worked on recently is recently we were able to provide a benefit increase to our pension. I thought that was very rewarding. The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years, the ability to organize all electrical workers in the industry with all the work coming up, gonna need as many electricians as we can.
Provides a great opportunity for organizing.
[00:18:49] Speaker J: So my name is Bobby Scott. I'm a journeyman lineman at a local 1319.
Currently I am the apprenticeship coordinator for 1319. I work directly for Northeast Apprenticeship and training.
So the most rewarding project I've worked on recently, it's actually something that we've really just embarked on. Mental health is a huge crisis right now, especially on the outside branch of things.
So we're working with a guy named Tom Murphy with Sweethearts and heroes. 1249 is really kind of front running this and it's trickling out into the other locals. So I'm jumping on board with a massive group of people to try and destigmatize mental health in not just construction, but specifically line work. We want to get guys talking about what's going on that they don't have to be slamming it down inside of them. The tough guy gig is up because we've really taken a hit with the mental health crisis.
The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years, opportunity for employment within the ibew. Whether you're on the inside of things or on the outside, no matter what, we are booming everywhere right now. We need people and it's an opportunity to become part of the a proud part of the middle class.
And one piece of advice I'd give my younger self is everything takes time. I think when I was younger, if I couldn't fix it with a hammer, I got a bigger hammer and tried to force things.
And really it was just time. And I think, you know, I tell myself, keep your integrity intact and you'll eventually end up where you're supposed to be.
[00:20:35] Speaker I: My name is Randy Engerosa. I'm the state organizing coordinator for New York for the ibew.
The best part of my job is working with other people, sharing the opportunity and offering them a better all around life. Wages, benefits and retirement.
The biggest opportunity I see in our industry in the next five years is growth. Not only for the IBEW and membership, but also for our contractors.
One piece of advice I'd give my younger self would be to get involved earlier, not wait till later life too early. Get involved in your organization.
[00:21:16] Speaker F: What got you started when you did get involved?
[00:21:20] Speaker I: I was a steward where I worked for about 12 years and then I was asked to go into the office at the local IBEW. I belong to Local 236 in Albany and took me, well, probably a little over a year. Asked me a couple times to come in. I finally came in and that's what got me involved with organizing in the local office. I do like it. Like I said, you know, you're changing people's lives. You're offering them an opportunity they may not have gotten otherwise. And we're all doing the same work and there's no reason why we shouldn't be getting paid the same.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: So. I'm Russ Nakadil, State Organizing Coordinator for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in the Third District.
The most rewarding project I've worked on recently was preparing some remarks for a Labor Day demonstration in Columbia County, Pennsylvania.
The biggest opportunity I see for our industry in the next five years is an opportunity to leverage the increased need for manpower and increasing need for manpower to affect our non union competition and grow not only membership but also our market share.
And one piece of advice I'd give to my younger self would be to get out of your comfort zone sooner.
