“In 2008, I dropped out of college. It just wasn’t for me. I was looking at my future and couldn’t see how I was going to make a good living out of what I was studying. Also, I am definitely much more comfortable working with my hands than I am sitting at a desk.

I needed a job fast, and my brother was an electrician, so I went to work with him. I started as a helper and worked my way up, and I was at the same small commercial electrical company for more than 10 years. It was good money, but there was no health care and no retirement. My day-to-day was good, but I didn’t know what my future would bring.

I always knew that union life was better and always had the idea that I would try to join the IBEW at some point. But change can be scary, and sometimes it’s easier to just keep on with what you’re doing.

In 2020, I started dating my now-wife, a union organizer who has been in the labor movement for years. She made it clear to me that if I wanted to be serious with her, I had to be serious about myself and go union. So I started looking at different options, like trying to test into our area’s inside local.

Living in Philadelphia, I had a lot of great choices of locals to join. When I weighed all of my options, I decided to apply to SEPTA, the region’s public transportation system. I took the test, had an interview and started shortly after.

There’s a lot of interesting history to my work with SEPTA. A lot of the areas where I work are the old Pennsylvania Railroad facilities. We talk about that in our work — you know, I’m working on a project that was started by a guy who was alive 100 years ago. And a lot of people don’t get to work on things like this.

Being an IBEW member has changed my life and my family’s lives. I’m so proud of what I do for work and very proud to be union. Sometimes, if you haven’t worked nonunion before, you don’t know how big a difference there is. My local’s small, but I still try to go to as many meetings as I can, and I am always talking to my co-workers about the importance of our union. It’s important for each and every member to get involved.

The biggest change is the security of knowing I have the paycheck and good benefits for myself and my family. I have a toddler now, and I’m glad I can be an example for my son.

Also, I know there’s a finish line. I’m only 38, so I’ve got some time, but before I went union, the idea of retirement was something that wouldn’t be in the cards for me.

Now, I know there’s a date, and at that point, I’m done! I’m hanging up the tools and I won’t turn the wrenches anymore. And that never even seemed like a possibility before.”