PRESS RELEASE
VOLTA On Line
NWLine introduces VOLTA: The Vocational Outside Line Training
Academy will be the first professional school of its kind in Oregon. Its objective
is to prepare new workers for industry employment.
This new school fulfills a longtime ambition of NWLine to broaden its value to members
and the industry. The Oregon State Department of Education recently certified the
application for the vocational program. Designed for new job entrants, VOLTA
augments NWLine's apprenticeship program and will respond to growing demands for capable
employees.
In describing the objectives of the program, NWLine Director Bill Stone notes that, "The
addition of an entry level training program will educate and train students in basic
outside line construction skills and knowledge, readying them for success as they progress
toward apprenticeship and journeyman standing in the outside electrical construction
industry."
Having received Oregon's certification, organizational efforts now focus on marketing
the program, enrolling students for the initial session, and preparing a professional
course of learning to a new generation of line workers.
Program Highlights:
Sponsored by the IBEW and NECA, VOLTA offers students a solid, initial career
step toward multiple opportunities in the Outside Electrical Industry. Program content
addresses the needs for electrical linemen, power line clearance tree trimmers, and for
related and ancillary workers. This includes such skilled and semi-skilled positions as:
equipment operators for digger/derricks, cranes, backhoes, and apprentice line workers.
·
The course lasts 10 weeks at Camp Rilea near
Astoria and Warrington, Oregon.
·
The curriculum covers: equipment use and
practice, instruction on basic electricity and electrical systems, circuitry, mathematics,
plan reading, rigging, and tower assembly as well as climbing, safety training, and 1st
Aid
·
Career planning, responsibilities, and
opportunities are a central highlight of the orientation for new members of the industry.
·
Camp Rilea facilities include fully equipped
classrooms, state-of-the-art electrical equipment, and both indoor and outdoor mock-ups of
tower, pole, and line structures for hands-on skill practice.
·
VOLTA is a certified, private vocational
program under the auspices of the Oregon Department of Education. The new school will be
guided by a four-member Advisory Board. Board members come from the electrical and
vocational education industries.
·
NWLine's very experienced teaching staff will
conduct the training.
The VOLTA catalog and registration packets will be available in the Spring of
2005, in time to target recent high school graduates and workers in transition from other
trades. Interested persons are encouraged to contact the NWLine office to be placed on a
list for future mailings.
Members of NWLine are encouraged to share VOLTA information with their union
members, clients, communities, colleagues, students, local educators, and placement
counselors.
For more information, contact:
JATC - Northwest Line
6162 NE 80th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97218
503-253-8202
claudia@nwlinejatc.com
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Training Program
