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Posts Tagged ‘IBEW Jobs’

Is This The Future of the IBEW?

Tradesmen International, founded in 1992, is recognized nationally as the construction industry’s premier source for high-caliber, skilled craftsmen with thousands of employees in all trades across America. We hire our employees on a permanent basis with the goal of providing you job stability, a good income and full benefits.

As a Construction Labor Support company, we provide the industry’s top constructor and industrial clients proven labor management solutions – Total Labor Support Services – that enable them maximize productivity for every dollar spent on skilled labor.

What does this mean to you, a skilled craftsman? These services have positioned Tradesmen as a contractor’s “first choice” which means, unlike temporary agencies, we’re able to keep you gainfully employed, pay you what you deserve, and provide you an exceptional benefits package (see below). We have nearly 100 locations nationwide and work on projects ranging from national monuments and commercial structures to museums, retail facilities, even professional sports stadiums.

Job Overview

Company: Tradesmen International Location: US-MD-Baltimore Base Pay: $14.00 – $22.00 /Hour Other Pay: Job Commission Employee Type: Full-Time Employee Industry: Construction Electronics Homebuilding Manages Others: No Job Type: Construction Manufacturing Skilled Labor – Trades Required Education: High School Required Experience: At least 3 year(s) Required Travel: Negligible Relocation Covered: Not Specified Contact: Don Miller Phone: 1-800-636-9640 Email: Send Email Now Fax: Not Available Reference ID: 100606

Job Description Journeymen Electricians and Apprentice Electricians needed in Reading PA. Tradesmen International, founded in 1992, is recognized nationally as a leading source for reliable, skilled craftsmen with thousands of employees across America. With thousands of contractor clients and craftsmen employees serving their on-going needs, we’re one of America’s premier construction employers. Fact is, we’re constantly seeking the finest Electricans in the business to join our team. We’re committed to hiring only those Electricians who pride themselves on setting quality standards for the commercial and industrial industries. All our employees must display professionalism, Reliability and Punctuality / Good Appearance and Attitudes Highly Productive Work Ethics / Emphasis on Safety In addition to steady work, safer working conditions and good wages, we provide a benefits package that is among the best in the industry. Our comprehensive benefits encourage our employees and their families to build a life long relationship with us. Benefits include: Dental plan Vision plan Health insurance Prescription drug plan Life insurance Short-term disability 401(k) profit-sharing savings plan Incentive programs If you match these characteristics, please call us at 877-818-1885. We provide steady work, competitive wages, safer working conditions and good opportunities. www.tradesmeninternational.com New Orleans Needs Good: Carpenters, Drywall,Sheet Metal, HVAC, Plumbers, Welders…. Job Requirements Journey / Apprentice level Commercial Electricians Needed ! $14 – $22 per hour. Be perpared to complete a job application and a sit down interview. Verifiable references-addresses,phone numbers and contact names must be provided Must have Driver License, Transportation and all the required tools to perform your job. Solid work ethic-Safe worker,punctual,reliable and must be very conscientious of the quality of work.

Let’s Get Real About Alternative Energy

(CNN) — We need to introduce simple arithmetic into our discussions of energy.

We need to understand how much energy our chosen lifestyles consume, we need to decide where we want that energy to come from, and we need to get on with building energy systems of sufficient size to match our desired consumption.

Our failure to talk straight about the numbers is allowing people to persist in wishful thinking, inspired by inane sayings such as “every little bit helps.”

Assuming we are serious about getting off fossil fuels, the scale of building required should not be underestimated. Small actions alone will not deliver a solution.

Let’s express energy consumption and energy production using simple personal units, namely kilowatt-hours. One kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the energy used by leaving a 40-watt bulb on for 24 hours. The chemical energy in the food we eat to stay alive amounts to about 3 kWh per day. Taking one hot bath uses about 5 kWh of heat. Driving an average European car 100 kilometers (roughly 62 miles) uses 80 kWh of fuel. With a few of these numbers in mind, we can start to evaluate some of the recommendations that people make about energy.

Take, for example, the idea that one of the top 10 things you should do to make a difference to your energy consumption is to unplug your cell-phone charger when you are not using it. The truth is that leaving a phone charger plugged in uses about 0.01 kWh per day, 1/100th of the power consumed by a lightbulb.

This means that switching the phone charger off for a whole day saves the same energy as is used in driving an average car for one second. Switching off phone chargers is like bailing the Titanic with a teaspoon. I’m not saying you shouldn’t unplug it, but please realize, when you do so, what a tiny fraction it is of your total energy footprint.

In total, the European lifestyle uses 125 kWh per day per person for transport, heating, manufacturing, and electricity. That’s equivalent to every person having 125 light bulbs switched on all the time. The average American uses 250 kWh per day: 250 light bulbs.

Most of this energy today comes from fossil fuels. What are our post-fossil-fuel options?

Among the energy-saving options, two promising technology switches are the electrification of transportation (electric vehicles can be about four times as energy-efficient as standard fossil-fuel vehicles) and the use of electric-powered heat pumps to deliver winter heating and hot water (heat pumps can be four times as energy-efficient as standard heaters).

Among all the energy-supply technologies, the three with the biggest potential today are solar power, wind power and nuclear power.

It’s not going to be easy to make a energy plan that adds up, but it is possible. We need to get building.

IBEW Sees Future in Alternative Energy Jobs

MINNEAPOLIS - Darryl Thayer, a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 292 in Minneapolis, hardly received a visionary’s welcome when he addressed the Minnesota legislature in 1968 about the need to develop solar energy and wean the state from fossil fuel-based sources. Worse yet, says Thayer, many of his fellow workers “thought I was nuts.” How climates have changed.

Forty-one years later, the legislature has a green energy task force. And Thayer, a 53-year member who teaches solar classes at Local 292’s apprenticeship training center is a hero to folks like Ray Zeran, one of 600 unemployed members who are looking to benefit from billions of dollars of state funds and federal stimulus money focused on renewable energy projects.

While Minnesota may appear to be an improbable generator of sun power, Nimlos says that the 45th parallel is primed for harnessing solar energy. Residing on a latitude similar to Germany’s, where solar power is well-developed, Minnesota’s lower temperatures keep panels operating at maximum efficiency. And the state’s clear skies make it competitive with Jacksonville, Fla., San Francisco and Houston.

IBEW participates in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities project which targets 25 metropolitan areas for sun power development. Thayer— who earned a B.A. in physics over 13 years working as a journeyman electrician and has nearly completed his master’s in engineering—has written a curriculum for the project. Fully half of all Minnesota solar installers who have achieved National Association of Certified Energy Practitioners qualifications are Local 292 members.

Minneapolis Local 292′s JATC has a waiting list for members to train in solar installation. Veteran member Darryl Thayer, kneeling, instructs Bradley Kanis, left, Claude Clavette. Instructor Kelley Benyo stands at right. A large solar panel is mounted outside the training center (below). Photos courtesy of The Electrical Worker

Wind power has been expanding rapidly in the southwest quadrant of Minnesota. Local 343, in the southeast, is aiming to be the labor supply of choice on wind projects. The local is completing a 60-foot climbing tower for practicing high-voltage safety, climbing and rescue procedures on turbines in conjunction with an NJATC wind power curriculum. Toft, who sets a priority on making IBEW-organized contractors more competitive in wind projects, expects to see 1,700 towers erected over the next few years.

The IBEW Minnesota State Council’s efforts to promote new training and encourage grassroots political activism to set high standards for renewable energy workers are returning results that could reach far into the future.

IBEW is supporting state legislation to include more money to cover the labor costs of relocating existing power lines to make way for new highway and rail projects that will be financed by the federal stimulus. The local is gearing up to provide labor from new needs. A state bill supported by environmentalists provides that one-half of all new parking facilities include outlets to charge electric vehicles.

In a state that mandates the licensing of electricians, IBEW is challenging the perception that solar and wind energy require entirely new careers. Local 292 Business Representative Dan McConnell meets with community college educators who are setting up renewable energy training. “I ask them what will happen to students who are only trained in renewable energy installations if the bubble bursts in any specific sector,” says McConnell.

McConnell proposes to educators and legislators that the demand for solar workers be filled by journeymen and apprentice electricians who receive supplementary training in how to properly design and angle panels and calculate their efficiency. “Solar panels are live when they come out of the box,” says McConnell. Safety should not be taken for granted. And better-trained workers, he says, “are far more recession-proof than workers trained exclusively on renewable installations.”

Solar Power and Labor Unions

The appointment on Rep. Dina Titus’ calendar last Saturday didn’t appear controversial at first glance.

She was to tour the new 10-megawatt Boulder City Sempra Generation plant — the largest solar power plant in North America to use widely praised thin-film technology. The project also produced the kind of environmentally friendly jobs that elected officials covet and tout.

Yet Titus soon realized that she was wading into a political firestorm.

In Carson City, Nevada legislators had blasted Sempra for its hiring practices, part of an intensifying debate here and nationwide over who is to benefit from growing state and federal renewable energy incentives aimed at saving not only the environment but also the economy.

Titus was a last minute no-show at Sempra.

Sempra had provoked the ire of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for hiring nonunion electricians, who the union insists were not properly certified to install photovoltaic panels. (Sempra spokesman Art Larson said he wasn’t aware of and couldn’t respond to those accusations).

Building Trades, IBEW and AFL-CIO representatives said although they have told politicians not to visit Acciona’s plant, they do not have the same request regarding Sempra.

Jobless Claims Jump to 26 Year High

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment insurance spiked, and those living on unemployment benefits hit a record high, according to a government report released Thursday.

For the week ended Feb. 21, 667,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims, up 36,000 from a revised 631,000 the previous week. That’s the highest figure since October 1982.

IBEW Wins Rat Court Case

In a case that pitted an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union local against a central Jersey town, the high court ruled unanimously that the rodent is protected speech under the First Amendment.

The super-sized rat, sitting on its hind legs and bearing fangs, is a national symbol used by organized labor to signal a labor dispute.

TVA Ordered to Clean Up Coal Fired Power Plants

(CNN) — A federal judge has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to clean up four coal-fired plants that he said were engulfing parts of North Carolina with air pollution — emissions that fouled the region’s health, economy and natural resources.

Properties near ground zero of the December 22 Tennessee spill are covered in sludge.

“I’m pleased that the court ordered the TVA to clean up the air pollution coming from its plants closest to North Carolina,” said North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper. “This will help our air, our health, and our travel and tourism industry.”

The Tuesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg of North Carolina calls for TVA, the federally-sponsored utility, to meet specific time limits for pollution reduction at the plants closest to the state — three in eastern Tennessee and one in Alabama. Thornburg also ordered the agency to clean up faster and reduce pollution more than required under federal law.

The court concluded “that TVA’s generation of power at low cost to the consuming public has a high social utility” and says “the vast extent of the harms caused in North Carolina by the secondary pollutants emitted by these plants outweighs any utility that may exist from leaving their pollution untreated.”