Veterans Report — August 2022

Fellow Local Union 11 Veterans,

Over the past year and a half, Local 11 along with our industry partner, NECA, has been diligently working on the establishment of the Veterans Electrical Entry Program (VEEP). This is a great program that will serve our veterans that are currently residing in underserved and disadvantaged communities and facing possible homelessness.

The program started with an interest between both Local 11 and NECA to explore the benefit of this national program. It was presented to our Joint Apprentice Committee for approval.

Once that was accomplished, the Electrical Training Alliance had to register us with the Department of Defense as an authorized SkillBridge Program so that we could recruit veterans from communities and military installations. Once that approval was in place, the heavy lifting took place between both our Electrical Training Institute and the Electrical Training Alliance to create and tailor a pre-apprenticeship program that would meet the needs of Los Angeles regarding our work picture and market share.

The final piece of this puzzle was the recruitment of veterans to include reservist, that would participate in our 10-week unpaid pre-apprenticeship. To date, we have successfully fulfilled that requirement. Our initial cohort will consist of 20 people. Our inaugural class will convene on October 3 and conclude on December 2 with 50% of the class staying with Local 11 and the other 50% joining other receiving locals across the nation.

Local 11 and NECA continue to press forward as industry leaders to help set the example of our inclusiveness to our communities.

Mike Kufchak
Director of Veteran Affairs