As a part of National Apprenticeship Week, the Business Manager for the Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, Dan Poteet, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how the apprenticeship program impacts the ongoing and upcoming work in Local 50’s Central Ohio’s jurisdiction and despite record membership growth, Local 50 needs more members to fill the expected workload over the next 5 years.
Insulators Local 50 covers 33 counties in Ohio and two in Indiana with 218 members, the largest the local has ever been. Poteet has been Business Manager for nearly a decade, taking over in February 2014. There’s been no greater feeling for Poteet than ensuring his members get the benefits and wages they deserve. Poteet’s history with Local 50 extends back to his father and uncle, the first two people organized into the western half of Local 50’s jurisdiction.
Local 50’s apprenticeship program has seen the largest growth in its history, and it couldn’t be coming at a better time. With a positive work outlook extending over the next 5 years, Poteet is actively seeking new apprentices and experienced mechanical insulators to join the union to fill the growing need for properly trained mechanical insulators. Poteet explained the current recruiting and organizing efforts he is using to continue the record growth of the Local over the last four years.
The apprenticeship program for Local 50 is a 4-year program. The class covers commercial and industrial work, firestopping and supervision classrooms. The classes ensure that when the apprentices book out, they are ready to step onto the job as regular workers or even be able to lead a team. Many of those who come from the program are even opening their own shops, and Poteet shared one of the success stories in United Mechanical.
To learn more about Poteet and the work for Insulators Local 50, visit Insulators50.com.
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, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 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, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
