For the first time since the Helmets to Hardhats program was established in 2003 to promote union jobs for military veterans exiting service, an IBEW member will serve as the organization's executive director.

Martin Helms, a 16-year inside journeyman wireman with Akron, Ohio, Local 306 assumed is new position in October. He was previously the director of the Akron Area Joint Apprenticeship Training Center.

"The day I heard about Helmets to Hardhats changed my life," said Helms, who also serves in the Army's Ohio National Guard. "Since then, I am financially sound with an awesome family and have been helping to change more lives directing the training at the same JATC that uplifted mine. I look forward to continuing to transform even more lives, using my skills from the trades and in uniform, and continuing to give back to this great industry and country."

Helmets to Hardhats was created by the North America's Building Trades Unions to help connect men and women leaving military service with construction-industry careers. The IBEW is one of the 15 labor organizations that support H2H, alongside the signatory contractor associations within the Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment and Veterans Employment.

Helms was an obvious choice to head Helmets to Hardhats, said Fourth District International Vice President Gina Cooper, whose district includes Ohio.

"Martin's a real H2H success story," Cooper said. "The program has so clearly helped him take advantage of his extensive military service to get into an electrical career he loves, and now he's in a position to lead countless other veteran men and women into similarly rewarding careers throughout the entire construction industry."

Since he was a teenager, Helms showed an aptitude for the electrical trade, working with a local nonunion electrical contractor during evenings, weekends and school breaks. But between his junior and senior years of high school, he decided to sign up with the Ohio National Guard.

"My goal was to use my Army service to help pay for a college education under the G.I. Bill," he said, noting that his father had been in the Coast Guard and his grandfather served in the Army during World War II.

After graduating high school and completing advanced individual training with the Army, he started working as a nonunion electrician full-time, began full-time college work at the University of Akron and got married.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Helms was activated under Operation Noble Eagle to serve a two-year full-time service stint at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

It was during an Army-led "Yellow Ribbon" meeting after that deployment that he learned from a Helmets to Hardhats representative about the program and its connections to the IBEW. The timing couldn't have been better.

"The workload of keeping up with family, work, school, and the military was burning the candle at both ends," Helms said. "The thought of an apprenticeship circled back around and seemed like a perfect way to balance out my life."

With help from Helmets to Hardhats, Helms was accepted into an apprenticeship at the Akron JATC in 2006. There, he was better able to balance his apprenticeship and National Guard commitments, and it wasn't long after topping out that he was using his Army-sharpened leadership skills to work as a foreman on several large building projects.

Over at the JATC, meanwhile, Local 306's Paul Zimmerman was beginning to wind down his nearly 30 years of service leading the center.

"I knew I needed a succession plan," said Zimmerman, himself an Air Force veteran. "Ideally, I would have somebody start as my associate."

Around the same time, Helms was deployed to the Middle East for a one-year assignment based out of Kuwait. After he returned to Ohio, he began working with the Akron JATC, first as an instructor and then as assistant director in 2017. And after the local's training committee thoroughly interviewed about a dozen applicants for the director position, Helms was hired for the role.

"Martin brought in some young blood [at the JATC] and created a great thing for Akron," Zimmerman said. "I applaud Martin for his stick-to-itiveness and for everything he's accomplished: college, apprenticeship, military service, raising four kids.

"Helmets to Hardhats landed an excellent person for that position," he said.

Helms is eager to spread the word about H2H to the entire construction trades community, he said. "I worked many years in unorganized electrical labor and could not get traction for a strong career with formal education, a livable salary, health care and retirement, even though my commitment was strong every day," he said.

Thanks to the IBEW, he said, "I can support my family with a strong wage package, health benefits and a sound retirement. I've had the pleasure to use my skills to give back to my country, community and family."

Helms eventually finished his work toward an associate degree in electrical maintenance, and he remains active with the Ohio Army National Guard, now holding the rank of Chief Warrant Officer, grade 2, assigned to the 112th Engineer Battalion based in suburban Cleveland.

"Being a warrant officer is not like any other rank in the military," he explained. "Our classification of knowledge often comes from our past real-world experience of doing the job, not just learning it through the traditional academic atmosphere."

"His experience and unique perspective as a Helmets to Hardhats success story will continue strengthening the organization's vision and growth," said NABTU President Sean McGarvey. "We look forward to working with him on efforts to bring H2H to the next level and positively change the lives of even more veterans and transitioning service members."

Helms' hiring comes as the Helmets to Hardhats program implements a plan of strategic growth in programs, development and outreach, and furthering the successes of more than 39,000 successful transitions into registered apprenticeship programs.

"My military career and civilian career grew because of skills learned from both sectors," Helms said. "Every employer I have worked for appreciates the soft skills the military service prides itself on: attention to detail, being on time, professional demeanor and being physically fit, to name a few."

For more information, visit helmetstohardhats.org.

When unions and environmental groups work together, both sides get better results than when the two sides are at loggerheads, according to a new report.

Most often, compromise leads to better results for the environment and increase resources and support for the creation of good-paying union jobs in the clean energy economy. The Natural Resources Defense Council has issued a report highlighting some of this work, including from several IBEW locals.

"Our members are already doing the work of building the clean economy," said IBEW International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. "We know not only that it benefits the environment, but also that it can provide a family-sustaining career. And we're proud to be doing this work with coalition members like the NRDC. We're all stronger when we work together."

The report shows how labor unions and climate advocates have been able to come together in support of a cleaner energy economy. Through multiple examples that include IBEW locals across the U.S., the authors showcase how labor is often at the forefront of tackling climate change while also providing strong, middle-class job opportunities.

"It really comes down to people, and there are a lot of areas where we can come together," said Fourth District International Representative Steve Crum, who has built a relationship over the last three years with the Director of Labor Relations for the NRDC's Climate and Clean Energy Program Dan Sawmiller on solar issues in Ohio. "We don't agree on everything, but we've chosen to work together where we can, and it's been very beneficial."

The report states that, "when it comes to emerging clean energy industries, we should draw on union expertise in worker training, project management, and problem solving to navigate these new industries efficiently. Doing so will help ensure that clean energy projects remain cost effective and are completed on time." It further notes that, "environmental and community advocates, lawmakers, and developers should start working with unions early in the project development process, not as an afterthought."

An example the NRDC points to is the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore farm of its kind in U.S. waters and one that IBEW members worked on. The facility generates approximately 125 megawatt-hours of clean energy a year, enough to serve roughly 17,000 households and about 50 Providence, R.I., Local 99 members helped make it happen. But not just in the normal way of construction. The IBEW also worked with a coalition including the NRDC, the building trades and others to successfully bring the work in and get it through regulatory approval.

Now more work in wind is on the horizon. North America's Building Trades Unions recently reached an agreement with the largest wind developer operating in the United States to develop a plan to transition U.S. union construction workers into the offshore wind industry. And in March 2021, the Biden administration announced its plan to encourage development of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind projects by 2030.

In Ohio, the story is about solar. As the report points out, while large utilities and unions usually have strong, long-standing relationships, most utility-scale solar projects are being advanced by private developers who do not have a history of working with unions and often tend to think such workers are too expensive. To address this issue, the IBEW joined forces with the NRDC, the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, the Ohio AFL-CIO, and the BlueGreen Alliance to advocate for solar development across the state and ensure that the jobs will be union.

"With all of the positives that utility-scale solar can bring to our communities — jobs, revenue, increased energy independence, and more — Ohio should embrace this solar development," Crum said. "Many of the proposed projects are concentrated in rural areas of Ohio where many IBEW members live and work. Our members and their families need these local jobs in Ohio."

As IBEW members already know, but many outside the labor movement may not, the brotherhood and others in the building trades provide the state-of-the-art training centers where apprentices and journeymen learn about the latest in topics including solar power generation, transmission, energy efficiency, instrumentation and electrical construction. The benefits of this training came into play when one solar project in the Buckeye State started out nonunion only to turn to Cincinnati Local 212 to finish the job on time. The report also noted that turning to Local 212 for its qualified workforce helped the project secure key incentives by hiring 80% of its workforce from within the state.

"We're learning each other's languages and priorities," Sawmiller said. "We're working together to find paths that deliver successful outcomes that we can both be proud of and that deliver meaningful outcomes to workers, communities and our environment."

Some of labor's priorities that the NRDC has supported include project labor agreements, which can ensure provisions like working standards and local hiring requirements on construction projects; and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a major piece of federal legislation that calls for a number of pro-worker improvements. The NRDC is one of a number of groups to come out in support of the PRO Act, including signing on to a letter last March.

"It's extremely important that we have the support of groups like the NRDC," Crum said. "NRDC understands that people have to have decent work opportunities, and they have relationships with stakeholders at the local, state and federal levels that we don't and vice versa, so the more voices we can align, the better."

Crum and Sawmiller both note that their organizations don't come together on everything. But they don't let those differences get in the way of the common ground that they do share, because that's where a lot of real work can get — and has gotten — done.

"My relationship with the IBEW is based on transparency and trust and has delivered significant results for both of our organizations," Sawmiller said. "And the more I work with the IBEW, the more motivated I become. It feels like family, like I'm working with someone who I know will have my back. It's a relationship that I place tremendous value in."

What is it like to be a woman in the construction industry? A new report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research has some answers.

In the largest survey to date of tradeswomen in the U.S., the IWPR asked 2,635 women and non-binary people what they think of working in the construction industry. The questions asked how they got into the field, what they like about it, and what challenges they face, including if they've ever considered leaving. The results show both positives and negatives.

"The report shows just how important and transformative a career in the trades can be, while also highlighting that workplace culture and practices need to change if the industry wants to attract and retain women," wrote the authors.

In 2020, more than 300,000 women — the largest number ever — worked in construction occupations, reflecting growth even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, women remain highly underrepresented, accounting for just 4% of all workers in the industry. Considering the pressing need for more skilled construction workers, this presents significant opportunity for growth.

Among the survey's findings are that, like a lot of tradespeople regardless of gender, the respondents like the work, as well as the pay — particularly if they're in a union. Union members tend to make more than their nonunion counterparts and also have more access to health care and better benefits like a pension.

According to the survey, seven in 10 union respondents, compared with just over half of nonunion respondents, said that their earnings were "very important." Furthermore, a national analysis of the full-time earnings of construction workers from 2016 to 2018 found that women construction workers not covered by a union contract earned 40.1% less than women who were covered by such a contract. For men, the corresponding gap was slightly smaller, at 34%.

The authors also noted that, of the individuals who answered the survey, 55% earned at least $50,000 per year in 2019, and almost three in 10 respondents earned at least $75,000. By comparison, the median annual earnings for all women in 2019 was just under $36,000.

Regarding the work experiences of tradeswomen and non-binary tradespeople, many report feeling respected and said that they enjoy what they do.

"I fell in love with it, seeing things go from one stage to another," said New Orleans Local 130 member Janelle DeJan on a webinar that accompanied the release of the report.

While that sentiment is shared by numerous tradeswomen, it's not always enough to keep them in the trades. More than four in 10 respondents say that they have seriously considered leaving the industry. For those individuals, discrimination or lack of respect is the most cited reason for wanting to leave, with 47.2% rating it as very important. Additionally, nearly four in 10 respondents say that they were driven out of the trades because the problems they raised were not taken seriously. And close to 50% say they are held to a higher standard than the men they work with, and sometimes contend with an unsupportive, if not hostile, work environment.

The survey also looked at parenting. While issues like finding childcare and pregnancy accommodations can pose very real problems, the study points out that, "the large percentage of mothers among respondents suggests that it is problematic to assume that just becoming a parent will cause women to leave the industry." In fact, the majority of those with children have not considered leaving.

Respondents also pointed to factors that help them succeed in the trades, including support from their union, which was described as "very important" by 45.9% of union members and as "important" by nearly 90%. Women's committees and tradeswomen's organizations, as well as participation in a women-focused pre-apprenticeship program, are just a few of the ways unions support women in their ranks.

Workplace procedures like anti-harassment policies were also identified as very important to success in the trades by more than four in 10 respondents, followed by having an employer committed to diversity goals and project owners with incentives or hiring goals for women.

"In our training we learn to select the best tool for the task at hand. The data from this survey will serve as a tool to help inform policymakers and leaders in their efforts to optimize available resources at the national, state and local levels," DeJan said.

The IBEW Strong initiative was launched in 2020 to focus on diversity, inclusion and equity, and aims to make the union a truly welcoming place for electrical workers of all genders, races and other differences.

"IBEW Strong is our way of saying there's a place for you with us," said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. "It doesn't matter who you are, just so long as you want to work hard."

Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey knows the value of a union apprenticeship. A member of Folsom, N.J., Local 351, Congress's only union electrician has a bill to help extend that opportunity to as many veterans as possible.

The Bringing Registered Apprenticeships to Veterans Education, or BRAVE, Act would require the Department of Labor to provide information about apprenticeship programs to members of the Armed Forces who are separating from active duty. It also calls for the establishment of a publicly accessible and user-friendly website where veterans can find the information they need and it extends post-9⁄11 GI Bill stipend benefits to participants in these registered programs.

In a rare congressional feat, it passed the House of Representatives unanimously on Nov. 16. The bill is currently awaiting Senate action.

"We provide America's servicemembers with world-class training to fulfill their responsibilities to our nation, and it is only right that we provide them with world-class opportunities as they transition back into civilian society," Norcross said. "The men and women of the U.S. armed services are highly skilled and uniquely qualified for registered apprenticeships, which allow apprentices to earn while they learn and build toward a fulfilling career in a skilled trade."

While college is a great option for some, for many others the opportunities afforded by an apprenticeship are a better fit. And for those who choose such a path, there are clear financial rewards to match the job satisfaction. According to the Department of Labor, 92% of apprentices retain employment after graduation and do so with an average annual salary of $72,000. By comparison, the average starting salary for a graduate of a traditional four-year college is around $55,000 a year. Further research by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute found a union benefit as well, where apprentices of union programs tend to make more money and have more benefits compared to their nonunion counterparts.

There are currently programs like Helmets to Hardhats and the Veterans Electrical Entry Program to help servicemembers transition into construction careers, but not everybody knows about them, Norcross wrote in an op-ed for Roll Call. That is where the BRAVE Act comes in. It will connect veterans to resources that are eligible for Veterans Administration education benefits, ensuring that when they begin considering their next steps they're provided with up-to-date and easily accessible information about registered apprenticeships.

"I still take great pride in knowing I was a small part of building enduring monuments in my community. As an electrician and graduate of a registered apprenticeship, I worked to electrify the Ben Franklin Bridge — an iconic landmark used each day by thousands of commuters ... By participating in registered apprenticeships, our veterans can pursue careers that are meaningful in the sense of service but also beneficial individually," Norcross wrote. "From one apprentice to the future apprentices who I hope are reading this: Consider the trades. Your service to our country and community doesn't need to end just yet."

Each year, according to the Department of Labor, approximately 200,000 men and women leave the military and return to life as civilians. As the country faces a construction shortage, and with the passage of President Biden's massive infrastructure bill, tapping candidates from the military may become increasingly important to meeting workforce demands. While not all will want to pursue the trades, many will see the chance to move into a structured and physically challenging job as not only appealing but familiar.

"Many of our best apprentices have come from the military," said International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. "They know the importance of discipline and professionalism, they're not afraid of hard work and they understand the significance of a brotherhood. We are more than happy to welcome them into ours and provide them an opportunity for the kind of career and benefits that can support their families for many years."