Utility Workforce: Virgil Melton

If you were wondering why the lineman braves the elements, and sometimes drives the truck across states to join the fight, read on. It'll be easy to see then that they are truly the passion of power.

PUF: What does Alliance do and what is your role there?

Virgil Melton: I came to work for the Alliance as a curriculum specialist. We write training materials for apprenticeship programs. Right now, we have between forty-five thousand to fifty thousand apprentices across the U.S. that we're writing this training material for.

PUF: Why is Alliance so important to the industry and the country?

Virgil Melton: We write training materials to make an individual, skilled, productive, and safe in his or her work. The Electrical Training Alliance formerly was the NJATC for many years, but now we've rebranded our name. We have two hundred and seventy-five inside programs that we do the various work for, and then we have nine, outside, area wide programs, which handle all of the U.S.

PUF: How did your background lead to this role?

Virgil Melton: I'm a third generation IBEW member. My dad, granddad, and other family members were all IBEW members. I started on the inside and went about a year and a half into the inside program.

It was good stuff, but it wasn't for me. I got into the outside program. I went to the union hall and became a groundman. Shortly after, I knew that was what I wanted to do, and applied for the Apprenticeship Program.

Once I got into the Apprenticeship Program, I worked for various contractors and traveled throughout the United States, working in different states. Once I became a journeyman, I continued to do that and then had the opportunity to become a trainer. I was a weekend instructor where the students come into class for weekend training to go over all the curriculum that we write.

I enjoyed working with the apprentices. Then, I had an opportunity to work for a training program full time. I trained several thousand apprentices through my career and became a Training Director. I kept moving until I became a Curriculum Specialist for the Electrical Training Alliance. I recently was promoted to a Director.

PUF: What advice do you give young people who want to work in this field?

Virgil Melton: This field is a very safe field to get into if you do things correctly. Normally, you don't get a second chance. In the line industry, if you mess up, it could be fatal. It's important to do it correctly the first time.

What I used to do, and still do today, is talk to a lot of young apprentices who have recently joined the programs. I tell them that I highly recommend putting a picture of your family in your wallet. Any time you think about working unsafe, pull that out because that's the number one reason for working safe. You want to go back to your family every day.

We highly stress and teach safety. It's one of the most important things we teach in the apprenticeship, making sure they understand how to work safely and correctly. Our apprentices can't do what we consider energized work until they reach the third step in the program.

They have an opportunity to see a lot and understand it before they get to it. Our curriculum is built to go along with hands on learning and classroom instructions.

PUF: If these new workers are distracted by their phones and playing computer games, how are they as far as being attracted to this field, being enthusiastic, and being able to make it through?

Virgil Melton: With today's young people, you have to get through to them with a computer, but then transition to a hands-on approach. That's one of the reasons we have a Learning Management System.

We use that to teach the student, and they can do their homework. We have simulators in the LMS, and instructional videos in there. We have all kinds of quizzes at the end of lessons. We then bring them into the classroom, and we have more time to do hands-on training. 

It gets the younger generation in the trade and helps them understand the importance, because they're notorious for using their thumbs to push buttons. If we can get them to where they understand what they're doing while looking at a computer, and then bring them into a live situation, it's so much better.

We find people are probably smarter than what they think they are, but they're nervous about the computers. However, once they get into the system and start using it, they give us great feedback.

PUF: Are women getting involved too?

Virgil Melton: Yes. We have a lot of females in the programs. I had a female one time when I was a Training Director. I had a contractor call for apprentice and all I had was a young lady that was super good.

He and I went through this thirty-minute ordeal when he heard that she was a female. I explained how good she was, and said, please give her the opportunity. I said, if you don't like her in a week, send her back. I'll find you somebody else.

He called three or four days later and said, I'll take ten more just like her

That young lady was unbelievable. She could be at the top of a tower before most of the guys got their tools on.

PUF: I guess the companies realize that with all the training that IBEW works with, that they gain a huge amount in terms of not just safety, but productivity too.

Virgil Melton: Yes. We have a contractor group called NECA, the National Electrical Contractors Association. They utilize all of our apprentices, forty-five thousand to fifty thousand of them. 

When they call that hall to get an apprentice, they're confident that they're going to get somebody that knows the safety part of it. I spoke earlier about the steps. For example, if they know they need a hot apprentice, they'll call for a higher step apprentice that can work primary, or transmission lines.

They know when they get somebody there, that they've already come through this curriculum. They're a part of this board. All of the programs have a committee that has an equal number of contractors and IBEW representatives.

Everybody knows what's going on. They've seen the curriculum built over fifty plus years. They know what they're getting. They know what's expected of an individual that's coming to them. They're comfortable with knowing they got a good workforce.

PUF: When someone asks you, what did you like so much about being a lineman, how do you answer that?

Virgil Melton: I answer it by saying the truth. If it's something you want to do and you get into it, you're not going to find a field any better. You can see the country, make good money, have good health benefits, and work for good individuals who will take care of you.

You can go to college for five, six years, and probably start somewhere at fifty thousand to sixty thousand dollars a year. There's nothing wrong with college. However, our first-year apprentices are making a hundred thousand dollars a year when they start out.

I've raised my family and we've had good health insurance. The only worry, out of my thirty plus years of this industry, has been where and how fast I could get to the next job because there's no end to the opportunity of being a lineman.

PUF: Is there a story that you will always remember from your career?

Virgil Melton: I could sit here and talk all day about stories from my career. However, my number one story is, we were working an ice storm one time when I was a foreman. I climbed the pole with my apprentice, and we were on the pole for eighteen hours straight trying to get that thing back together. We finally got it all back, and this was before OSHA started mandating sixteen-hour workdays. 

I also remember a snowstorm when we worked forty-eight straight hours before we ever laid down. There's no better feeling to go somewhere, with people standing out there, watching you work. 

I've worked hurricanes, with people losing the food in their freezers. You get that power back on, and there's no better feeling than seeing and hearing people out there screaming and hollering with happiness.

It's just touching. I'm an old burly lineman, but it brings you to your knees a lot of times, especially when you see little kids and folks so happy that they got their power back on. 

Saluting the IBEW and Utility Workforce conversations:

• Jerry Bellah, VP for the IBEW Eighth District (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming)
• Donnie Colston, IBEW Utility Director and Mark Brueggenjohann, Media Director
• Drew Stover, Business Manager for IBEW Local 84 (Atlanta)
• Virgil Melton, Curriculum Specialist at the Electrical Training Alliance
• Kris Anderson, Representative for the IBEW Third District (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania)
• Rich Meisinger, Business Manager for IBEW Local 111 (Denver)