Cleveland Training
Center Gets High-Tech Makeover
July/August 2004 IBEW Journal
A $1.2 million expansion and renovation of the
Local 38
training center makes the Cleveland facility one of the only places in northern
Ohio that provides a key teledata certification.
Maureen Shelton, a third-year
teledata apprentice, punches
wires in a phone
block at the
new Cleveland Electrical
Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Center. |
The project, which doubled the training capacity of the
facility, is the culmination of two years of planning by the Cleveland
Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center, a partnership of the
greater Cleveland chapter of the National Electrical Contractor Association and
Local 38.
The renovation allowed for the addition of four new
classrooms and a telecommunications lab that will feature BICSI certification.
The center will educate a new generation of IBEW members skilled in the
installation of the high-tech cable and data wires required to meet modern
business demands.
"With this high-quality emphasis, well produce a higher
level of technician in this field," said Salvatore "Sam" Chilia,
Local 38
business manager and Third District International Executive Council member.
The April 30 rededication ceremony drew local leaders, county
officials and IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill.
Following the reaching of a 1997 teledata agreement,
Local 38
and its NECA counterpart launched an aggressive effort to win work in the
emerging technology of telecom and voice data video installation. Chilia said
Local 38 now has 234 members trained in the field.
The remodel and expansion will allow the JATC to continue the
emphasis on training new apprentices and retraining inside wiremen to do the
work.
"The demands of faster and higher quality data
are present everywhere," Whittaker said. Many businesses
are so dependent on their communications networks "if
they lose their data for just a second, there can be
serious consequences," said Local
38 President Tom Whittaker