To cap off the Veterans Day episode for America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Sean Ellis joined the show to discuss his experience as a member and instructor for the United Association's Veterans in Piping program. Ellis also shared how the program helped shape his time after transitioning out of the Marines and continues to impact his life.
Ellis served as an infantry Marine, and during his transition out of military service, he found his way into the UA VIP program. After going through the program, leaving the military and joining the UA, Ellis eventually became a journeyman, and would later run the UA VIP program at Camp Pendleton. He also became more involved with his Local, and is now the lead organizer and political director for UA Local 230. As part of his work with his local as political director, Ellis met with several leaders of Labor in America and got to shake hands and speak with President Joe Biden during the signing of The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
Ellis grew up with a family full of union workers and began searching for his transition out of the Marines about a year before the end of the contract. He visited with the transition services and was provided a number to learn more about the UA VIP program. Ellis credits his current status as a result of taking the chance to find out more about the program. He said that decision changed his life and helped bring him all the success he’s experienced so far.
His time in the program was difficult. Welding proved to be more challenging than Ellis expected. The experience of going through daily training for four hours daily and the support that trainers would give him after mistakes helped Ellis fall in love with the program. He shared that many program members become fully devoted to the experience after they earn their first certification and realize they can make a career out of the program. Ellis discussed the steps that Marines can take to join the UA VIP program, what they can expect and the types of jobs that they can do after graduating from the program.
Hear more from Ellis on the UA VIP program and his experiences in the episode above.
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.
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