This is the second article in a series on how locals are expanding market share and creating opportunities for contractors, local unions and members looking for careers in the electrical trade.

National unemployment statistics are still on a scary incline. Inside construction locals, like Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Local 163, aren't waiting on better days. They are sharpening tactics to win new customers and keep members on the job.

Local 163 and its signatory contractors are winning lucrative contracts on projects ranging from strip malls to larger jobs such as hotels, stand-alone medical facilities and large retail stores.

Lowe's Home Improvement, for instance, contracted with signatory contractor Cavanaugh Electric Inc. to build a new distribution center in Local 163's jurisdiction. The contractor, employing IBEW-NECA's Pennsylvania Initiative, placed 13 newly-hired workers (construction electricians and construction wiremen) on the job with 65 journeymen and apprentices. When it came time to install conveyors, the local negotiated with BCU, an Ohio contractor, to put an additional 23 inside wiremen on the job. "Our ratios worked out for everyone," says Local 163 Business Manager Michael Kwashnik.

Joseph J. Cavanaugh, president of Cavanaugh Electric Contracting Inc., says, "We have the ability to compete in non-traditional work without any wage concessions for any of the classifications on the projects."

Cavanaugh says that the company's projects under the Pennsylvania Initiative for 2007-2008 were worth $9.6 million and generated 55,000 inside journeyman man-hours by utilizing composite crews.

Expanding the use of the CE/CW classifications has generated some controversy within the local. However, says Kwashnik, "by strategically targeting specific jobs, we have increased local man-hours on the types of jobs that we had not been doing in the past."

The Pennsylvania Initiative Committee increased contractors' training contributions from $0.25 to $0.40 per man-hour, based upon a study on training needs conducted by Local 163's training director, John Nadolny.

Increased contributions helped fund a JATC-certified training room that is being used to help upgrade the job skills of CE/CW and inside apprentices. Enhancing the training of CE/CW boosts productivity, allowing union contractors to pick up market share, says Kwashnik.

Extra attention to training is not just helping employers, but is boosting career opportunities.

Jeremy Polney is one of four construction electricians who have already used their training and on-the-job experience to enter the apprenticeship program.

Polney, 29, worked as a nonunion electrician for about seven years on residential and small commercial projects after receiving an associate degree in electrical construction. "As I was gaining more knowledge and getting more experience in the field," says Polney, "the room for advancement seemed to be getting slimmer." With his pay scale close to topping out and lacking retirement benefits, he started investigating the IBEW.

When he learned about the union's efforts to expand its share of the small works market, Polney submitted his resume to Local 163 and a local contractor. He was hired as a construction electrician, worked a few months, and is now enrolled in the apprenticeship program. "It's much more satisfying to talk about my career now," says Polney. "I look forward to a better lifestyle for myself and future family. I am proud to be following in the footsteps of many great journeyman wiremen," he says.

More electricians will see future opportunities as Local 163 continues its involvement in other large-scale jobs.

For more than two years, 200 Local 163 journeymen and apprentices have been building a 500,000-square-foot cocoa-processing factory on 74 acres in Hazleton, Pa., for Archer Daniels Midland. All of the work is being performed under the parties' inside agreement.

ADM, which calls itself "supermarket to the world," bargains tough, says Kwashnik. But the company—which declared $1.8 billion in profits in 2008—is more than satisfied with Local 163's commitment to excellence on the job.