Electrical Workers Without Borders North America (EWWBNA): Projects

Northwest Linemen Share Safe Practices on St. Kitts

by Len Shindel

Seattle-based linemen

They are separated by nearly 4,000 miles. But, linemen members of Seattle-based IBEW local 77 and utility workers on the West Indian island of St. Kitts, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, share the same need—to return home to their families at the end of their workdays safe and sound.

“Honestly, we could have filled up a whole week on rigging and tying knots,” said Brian Wheeler, who, along with Local 77 linemen Russell Smith, Casey Slater and Brady Hansen, joined an EWWBNA-sponsored trip to St. Kitts in April where they conducted training sessions and attended a lineman rodeo.

The initiative was made possible by the foresight and goodwill of Ed Hill, former President of the IBEW and EWWBNA. President Hill, who passed away last December, “would have been enormously proud of the EWWBNA volunteers sharing their know how with the Caribbean linemen”, said EWWBNA President Don Siegel, who is also the retired Vice President of the IBEW Third District. He added, “Participating in the St. Kitts training and safety workshops and rodeo was all about improving skills and, in a very real sense, saving lives”.

The Americans were hosted by CARILEC, a Caribbean association of electric utilities and the CUEA, the Caribbean Utilities Employees Association.

Hansen, who made the first contact with CARILAC is a veteran and leader of cross-national worker cooperation.

Hansen’s flight to St. Kitts was delayed. Arriving a day after the other Local 77 members, said Hansen, “I saw three Northern Idaho guys who needed sunscreen and had smiles ear-to-ear.” The smiles, he added, were from the “relationships they had already started building, finding out how alike were they and their fellow electrical workers in the Caribbean.”

“We noticed a lot of areas where the lineman were proficient, but a number of areas where exposure to training or safe work methods was lacking,” said Wheeler.

“Our Caribbean friends are adrenalized talking about storms, like Hurricane Maria in 2017,” said Hansen. With a storm surge of one meter across the island, workers were left without materials for a month and a half.

“The Caribbean workers were able to teach me about culture and comaraderie as much as I was able to teach them about rigging and safety advances,” said Slater.

“I want to thank EWWBNA for the opportunity to travel to St. Kitts. This was my first training opportunity since becoming a journeyman, so I benefited greatly from the teaching experience. I better understand the term ‘brotherhood,’” said Smith.

“I’m looking forward to many more opportunities to bring safety and knowledge to others in the trade,” said Slater, underscoring the wider benefits of EWWBNA exchanges.

Editor’s note: Len Shindel (lshindel3@comcast.net) is a retired member and representative of the United Steelworkers at Sparrows Point Md. From 2004 to 2015, Shindel worked as a communications specialist at the IBEW International headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a shop steward representing members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 2. Shindel won frequent awards for his writing from the International Labor Communications Association. He is retired and lives in Garrett County, Md.