Cooperative Living June 2019 - 27

(CEWD), a non-profit consortium of
energy utilities formed in 2006 to
address employment.
CEWD has launched Get Into Energy,
an initiative to help utilities recruit and
train women, youth, military veterans
and others into these jobs. Some of
those efforts have produced results
since CEWD's first survey in 2007,
which found that between 40 and 60
percent of skilled workers and engineers
were set to retire by 2012.
" We have seen the positive effects our
efforts have had with our veteran
outreach programs and diversity and
inclusion initiatives, but these changes
take time to see the fruit of our labor, "
says Todd.
CEWD surveys report higher levels of
replacement and growth -- 5 percent in
2014, 9 percent in 2015 and 7 percent
in 2016. In addition, workers are getting
younger. Electric co-ops have the youngest
workforce, with only 25 percent of
employees over the age of 53. Investorowned
utilities have the oldest, with 35
percent over age 53; for municipal utilities,
12 percent are under the age of 32.
And " when looking at just the key job
categories, the percentage of engineers
and lineworkers under age 32 continues
to increase at 29 percent and 30 percent
respectively, reflecting the focus on
hiring in these categories, " according to
a 2017 CEWD survey.
Nevertheless, electric co-ops aren't
slacking off line work recruitments just
yet. It takes at least four years to fully
train a lineworker. Tenacious people
unfazed by heights and working with
high voltages are in short supply. And
the talent pool is limited in a maledominated
field that " all in all is a
well-kept secret, " says Todd.
Electric co-ops are learning that it's
not enough to simply roll out the
welcome mat and hope people show up.
The past decade has seen a proliferation
of " pre-apprentice " programs, either at
community colleges or lineman schools,
which give students basic knowledge
and skills before placing them at utilities.
CEWD also sponsors Careers in Energy
Week in mid-October to help energy
companies and local communities,
including schools, increase public
awareness of jobs in the field. As
more utilities get involved in these
co-opliving.com
It takes at least four years to fully train an electric lineworker. Tenacious people unfazed
by heights and working with high voltages are in short supply, but electric co-ops and
other utilities are making headway with line work recruitments.
and other initiatives, interest in line
work and related jobs will grow.
" Before, you only got the job because
you knew someone who had it, and
now, we have programs across the
nation that people are talking about, "
says Todd. " In the future, this will be
something that everybody knows, just
like doctors and nurses, police officers
and firefighters. "
Certification through the Department
of Labor's apprenticeship program is
enabling utilities to provide on-the-job
training. If all goes well, apprentices
completing the four-year, 8,000-hour
line work program reach the top of the
trade: journey lineworker.
Apprentice wages follow a progressive
scale where there is an increase for
every step successfully completed. " For
lineworkers, it typically starts at about
60 to 70 percent of the employer's
journey-level wage, which is comparable
to the region's cost of living, " says Jacob
Phelps, vice president of apprenticeship
programs at Northwest Lineman College.
" It's up to the employer to make sure
it's competitive. In addition, if the
employer is affiliated with a bargaining
unit then that comes into play, as well, "
says Phelps. 
Victoria Rocha writes on consumer and
cooperative affairs for the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association, the
national trade association representing
more than 900 local electric cooperatives.
From growing suburbs to remote farming
communities, electric co-ops serve as
engines of economic development for
42 million Americans across 56 percent
of the nation's landscape.
June 2019 | Cooperative Living | 25

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Cooperative Living June 2019

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