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A committee within the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #8, the Latin Labor Council
was formally established three years ago. Council members attend
job fairs, career days, and give presentations at high
schools—averaging one appearance per month. The group also
volunteers to do community service projects for low-income
homeowners and mentors TPS students.
“A lot of the baby boomers are retiring in the next four or five
years and a lot of us are part of that group,” said Ricardo
Jiménez, Latin Labor Council president. “We didn’t see many
other minorities or Latinos getting into Local 8, so we decided
to form a diverse organization. One of our main objectives is to
go out and get the word out, provide information to those that
don’t know anything about the skilled trades, especially the
IBEW so they can pursue a career in the electrical industry.”
Other officers of IBEW Local #8 include: Victor Escobar
(vice pres.), Raúl Jiménez (sgt. at arms), Scott
Diefenbach (recording sec.), and Walter Cordero
(sec.-treas.); also, LLC exec. officers Patricio Covarrubias,
Jimmy Canales, José López, and André Montoya, with
LLC alternates Justin Covarrubias and Jordan Ovalle.
The TPS Career Connect Expo held Jan. 15 and 16 focused
on 1,600 eighth graders who have explored career options
throughout the academic year, along with more than 300 high
school seniors who have taken part in career tech education
programs within the district. Nearly 200 Latino students were
expected to be among those in attendance.
“What we’re trying to do ultimately is put the right kids in the
right programs for the right reasons,” said José Rosales,
a TPS career and technology education student liaison, who
helped to organize the event—Mr. Rosales and Karla Spangler
were the Expo co-chairs. In the photo is José Luna with
students.
The Latin Labor Council first sought advice and counsel
from Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) founder and
president Baldemar Velásquez as members sought to form
the group within the larger IBEW. With his help, the group
pursued official sanctioning from the union and now works
hand-in-glove with IBEW leadership and the Toledo Electrical
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC), which offers
three electrical apprenticeship programs at its Rossford campus:
residential, commercial, and voice-data-video instruction.
“There were a lot of interested parties. The seventh and eighth
graders, a lot of them don’t know exactly where they want to be
in five years, so what you may need to do is fill them on what
they may need to do class-wise to get into the skilled trades—a
lot of math and some science in their academic background,” said
Jiménez. “The juniors and seniors are the ones we’re mainly
concerned with and that’s who we really try to get involved and
get interested in filling out an application and get them into
an apprenticeship program.”
The Latin Labor Council has appeared at both urban and rural
high schools, including Waite, Woodward, Start, Rogers, Genoa,
and Bowling Green, among others.
According to Jiménez, high school students can even join a
“helper” program once they graduate and turn 18. That’s an
opportunity to “earn while they learn” on the jobsite with a
union electrical contractor, guided by a mentor electrician. The
program gives a “hands-on” opportunity to test their interest in
the electrical industry as a career—pretty much a paid
job-shadowing opportunity.
“We’re trying to be as real as possible, telling them exactly
how it is. More or less when I go to these job fairs, I tell
them how I started out and what got me interested in getting
into the electrical industry,” said Jiménez, who originally
wanted to join his grandfather on the job. “Maybe they grasp
what I’m saying. It’s there for anybody, but you’ve got to want
it and be willing to go out and get it. We try to provide them
those avenues and any help they need.”
There are ten officers within the Latino Labor Council, many of
whom also serve in executive capacities within the larger IBEW.
That means a letter of recommendation or a good word on behalf
of a student carries some weight when it comes decision time for
apprenticeships. But a potential apprentice must stay out of
trouble and off controlled substances to have that future.
“We’re willing to mentor them and groom them, help them out and
help get them into the program,” said Jiménez. “We make it clear
we have a drug-free environment. We have to take an annual drug
test, plus we have drug tests on just about every big job in
Toledo. They have their own drug testing. You could end up
taking five or six drug tests per year, plus random drug testing
on the big jobs.”
The inability of many people to pass a drug test has been one of
the biggest problems in workforce development across Northwest
Ohio in recent years. That has kept many employers from being
able to fill available jobs, forcing them to bring in
contractors from outside the area or trying to hire available
labor away from other employers. Jiménez estimates the current
economy will give IBEW members “three or four years of available
overtime” going forward, which means plenty of steady
opportunity for those interested. The Latin Labor Council right
now is working to prepare six or seven potential recruits.
“They’ve got to meet us halfway there. We’ll pull them along,
but they’ve got to want it,” said Jimenez. “They’re not giving
this away. You’ve got to want it, too. You’ve got to make
yourself available and be there when we need you. You’ve got to
come hear us out on what’s expected of you, the questions
they’re going to ask you at the apprenticeship committee.”
Anyone who wants to learn more can find the Latino Labor Council
through its Facebook page or call the JATC directly at
419.666.8088. The website for the JATC is
www.tejatc.org.
There were plenty of other Latino faces on hand ready to guide
students in the right direction, whether it was into the skilled
trades, four-year college, an internship, or a summer job.
Mark Urrutia
and María González stood next to a table for the
Minority Business Assistance Center (MBAC), which is housed
at the University of Toledo-Scott Park campus. Urrutia
and González stated they were ready to guide any student who had
an idea for a side business or talk to them about careers as an
entrepreneur.
Top TPS Latino administrators also were present at the expo,
including Hispanic outreach coordinator José Luna and
Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel president
Emilio Ramírez, the union which represents the entire TPS
administrative staff. Dr. Romules Durant is the TPS
CEO/Superintendent and Thomas Dimitrew is the Senior
Director of Career Technology for TPS.
Schools involved in the successful Expo included: Jones
Leadership Academy of Business, Toledo Technology Academy (TTA),
Aerospace & Natural Science Academy of Toledo (ANSAT), Waite HS,
Woodward HS, Start HS, Bowsher HS, Rogers HS, and Scott HS.
Photo courtesy of José
Luna.
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