davidc@ccr-mag.com
August 15, 2018
National Electrical Contractors Association executives joined President Trump and other officials Tuesday at Tampa Bay Technical High School in Tampa, Fla., to team up with the country’s leading companies and trade associations and sign the Pledge to America’s Workers.
As NECA works toward growing the electrical construction industry, we are fully committed to meeting President Trump’s goal by pledging to create career opportunities for 60,000 American workers over the next five years,” NECA President David Long said. “With this important step forward, NECA continues to make progress in securing our future by making ourselves sustainable, viable and imaginable."
NECA contractors perform work in all areas of electrical construction, including high-voltage power transmission and distribution; energy efficiency and power quality; and smart cities and integrated building systems solutions for institutional, industrial, residential and commercial facilities. Numerous studies show that every dollar of investment in apprenticeship produces $28 in taxpayer benefits.
“NECA is proud to stand with President Trump in signing the Pledge to America’s Workers,” NECA CEO John M. Grau said. “On behalf of our association, I want to applaud President Trump for recognizing the skills gap brought on by our thriving economy and for taking measures to address it. New jobs are being created, but the careers of tomorrow will require retooling our training so that the American workforce is prepared for those opportunities. Business leaders must make significant investments in this area.”
President Trump recently established the National Council for the American Worker. Led by senior White House officials, the council is charged with developing a national strategy for training and retraining the workers needed across high-demand industries such as electrical construction. It will convene voices from the public, private, education, labor and not-for-profit sectors to enhance employment opportunities for Americans of all ages.
“The National Electrical Contractors Association is contributing to the growth we’ve seen through our members’ annual investment of $320 million in private funding to train more than 41,000 apprentices,” Grau said. “We look forward to working with President Trump to advance our industry as we develop a technologically advanced workforce that will empower every American.”
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
NECA is the voice of the $160 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light and communication technology to buildings and communities across the U.S. NECA’s national office and 119 local chapters advance the industry through advocacy, education, research and standards development. Go to www.necanet.org for more information about NECA.
