The planned parking lot addition next to the IBEW electrical worker training center on Freeport Street might end up as a stretch of asphalt and some yellow striping, but it will represent an historic expansion of the apprenticeship program – built on efforts over the last few years to recruit more women and people of color.
“We’re growing and we’re expanding, and our membership is growing and we’re pretty limited with the buildings we have,” said IBEW Business Manager Lou Antonellis. “Our apprenticeship school is doing so well to where we now have about 1,600 full-time apprentices in day school. Our footprint needs more space. We’re trying to maximize all adjacent property between the two buildings we have.
“We really want to be able to grow and be good neighbors to the community at the same time,” he added.
The expanded parking lot would be located next to I-93 and include parcels owned by IBEW and MassDOT, a state agency that the union is in talks with to secure rights to use the space. The space would accommodate an additional 65 to 80 cars for apprentices coming to the school six days a week. There are some environmental accommodations needed within the lot, and those are being worked on now in meetings with the Conservation Commission.
Neighbors in Clam Point weren’t previously aware of the expansion planning, but said they had no qualms at all with IBEW’s goal as they have been responsible neighbors for many years.
Beyond abutting neighbors, IBEW seems to also be popular with trainees looking to attend the apprentice school. Antonellis said their 1,600-person enrollment is “an all-time high,” noting that when he attended the program about 30 years ago, there were about 500 apprentices. The growth, Antonellis said, is in a concerted effort to recruit those not historically involved in the electrical union.
“We’ve been actively organizing the past few years and we’ve been really recruiting women and people of color to join our schools,” he said. “That’s driven a lot of the growth we’ve had in the last few years. That’s good for the community, and good for IBEW.”
Antonellis added they have purchased a training building in Wilmington for apprentices from the North Shore to take some of the pressure of expansion off the Dorchester campus.
