Dear Senators:

I am writing to you in opposition to Senate Bill 1009.  We are electricians from across the state.  We are journeymen and apprentices who take pride in our work.  It’s not easy to get a journeyman license, nor should it be.  I spent hours in the classroom and hours on the job learning our trade.  As an apprentice I learned from experienced journeymen who taught me not only how to do the job, but how to do it better and safer.  I now pass that knowledge on to apprentices entering the trade.  I honor those who taught us, and those who want to learn from us.  That’s how the trades work.  

Senate Bill 1009 would allow an apprentice to remain in the trade forever, without advancing.  We’ve all gone through, or are now going through, an apprenticeship.  The goal of an apprenticeship is to turn out as a journeyman.  If an apprentice can’t complete an apprenticeship and pass the journeyman exam, perhaps he or she shouldn’t be an electrician.   Senate Bill 1009 would allow unqualified workers to become installers and become barriers to apprentices who are working toward their journeyman license.   

An installer is taking a job away from an apprentice.  Without apprentices, there can be no journeymen.   We often hear that there’s a shortage of journeymen.  If this bill passes, the shortage will be worse.   This bill does not solve a problem.  It creates one.   It drives wages down, and drives standards down.

If you are serious about workforce development and creating paths to careers in the trades, you cannot undermine apprenticeships like this.  I am very troubled that the bill would allow a person with no formal training, who has been an installer, to sit for the journeyman exam.   As electricians, we rely on each other for safety on the job.  We cannot rely on each other if the person working next to us doesn’t know how to be safe.  

Please vote NO on Senate Bill 1009.