Helmets to Hardhats assists veterans find a career in the trades
Wrapping up the National Apprenticeship Week coverage on America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Martin Helms, Executive Director of the Helmets to...
Guest Name:
Guest Website:
Guest Social Media:
Supportive Documents:
Donnie Colston, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Utility Department Director, appeared on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed Lineman Appreciation Day and why the job of a lineman is dangerous.
Colston joined AWF in recognition of Lineman Appreciation Day, which is April 18. The IBEW classifies 20 types of members as utility including linemen, groundmen and equipment operators.
He said the IBEW and Edison Electric Institute, a trade organization that represents all of America's investor-owned utilities, are pushing Congress to move Lineman Appreciation Day to July 10. On that date in 1896, Henry Miller, the IBEW’s first president, fell off a utility pole while repairing storm damage and died. Both organizations feel it is appropriate to honor lineman on this day, he added.
Colston then explained the dangerous work lineman perform. He spent the bulk of his career as a lineman and emphasized the many hazards lineman face on the job. Anything from grabbing the high voltage lines barehanded to making contact with live objects could potentially kill lineman, he noted.
Throughout the country, there is a need for more men and women to become lineman. Colston emphasized it is a great career opportunity for people to make great wages and not take on college debt. The demand for electricity is increasing, and as a result, more help is necessary to do the work.
Listen to the entire episode:
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.
SUBSCRIBE ON:
