The ETU knows the importance of safety at work and striving to perform the highest quality electrical work in the world. ETU members are some of the best, highest qualified and most highly skilled workers around and we never stop reaching to be the best there is.
ETU members also understand the importance of internationalism and being a part of a global union movement.
The ETU recently sent a delegation of Branch Secretaries, union delegates and officials to the US to learn more about the electrical and line work happening over there and to investigate how we could be training better, working safer and protecting workers against the scourge of lead poisoning affecting impacting workers in our crucial industries.
The delegation visited:
SOJX JATC Training Centre – IBEW led electrical training College
Key takeaways –
- The college is funded by industry, 1% of gross Union EBA Member payroll paid to the JATC to run the training centres, 9 across Texas that feed pre-apprentice completed candidates into big builds, with apprentice intakes multiple times a year.
- The College have a high completion rate and a great reputation for good quality apprentices with the pre apprenticeship giving the apprentice time off their total 4-year apprenticeship.
- The College is a union and industry partnered operation – an industry leading program
Lazy Q Ranch – Quanta Advanced Training Centre
Key takeaways –
- The College trains both Electricians and Linesworkers
- It’s world-leading leading in trade craft innovation
- The Electrician and Linesworker’s pre-app qualification delivered with a high intake, completed through a live-in program which, when completed, readies the student for fast tracking their 4-year apprenticeship program, with higher completion rates compared to other training organisations in the United States.
- Upskilling of Transmission Linesworkers to Bare-hand qualification
- Safety is central to everything the college does.
Purdue University – Lead Research facility
Key takeaways –
- Crucial importance of bone vs blood testing for lead exposure
- The Facility has industry experts leading world change when it comes to lead exposure and body accrual measurements and procedures
- The US PPE and procedure minimum standards are far superior to Australia’s current practices
- Purdue University Assistant Professor Aaron Specht provided advice for our lead standards review in Australia and offered advice on best industry practice for working with lead.
- The ETU sat in on Aaron Shechts’ class. We discussed the current working standards in Australia – leading Masters Graduates, PHD students and Professors were concerned that Australia was so far behind the United States when it comes to lead exposure testing and exposure prevention
The ETU will never stop working to ensure all members are safe at work and have the ability to work to the safest, highest quality standard. Trips like this give our union the opportunity to connect with our international union brothers and sisters and learn how we can do it better and validate how successful our union is when it comes to winning for workers across the country.
