1 min read

Season 4, Episode 3

IBEW 136 uses virtual reality technology to recruit apprentices

IBEW local136

 

Guest Name:


Bill Blackman, Jr.

Guest Website:


ibew136.org

Guest Social Media:


Facebook

Twitter

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Supportive Documents:


Bill Blackman, Business Manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 136, joined the AWF Union Podcast and discussed the importance of training the next generation of electrical workers through a registered apprenticeship program and how the Local uses virtual reality technology help recruit apprentices. 

IBEW Local 136 has about 900 members and covers the Central Alabama area.

Blackman said it is important to give the next generation of electrical workers the proper training in order for them to perform quality work and improve the ways in which the work can be performed. The Local 136 JATC’s registered apprenticeship program gives them this training, which allows them to excel in the field. 

He also explained several ways the Local recruits new members. The Local participated in a high school event that allowed the students to see the work an electrical worker performs on a daily basis. As part of their recruitment technique, the employs virtual reality to help get the students interested in the electrical field.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about apprenticeship recruitment.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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