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alright we are going to talk about living in a small community
Many of you will graduate and go on to join a union,
most likely, one of the many locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
You need to realize that you will be living in a small community
IBEW local 11 has a little over 5000 members,
IBEW local 47 as about 5600 members.
Imagine living in a town that is so small that it only has 5000 people living in it.
Now imagine if you will, that you live in a very small town, and you go to the local gas station
When you go to pay for your gas most likely the man behind the counter knows your name before you get to the counter.
Most likely, he knows everything about you.
In a small town you know everyone else's business
In a small town you know everyone else's business
you know who's been charged with a DUI,
or has gotten a ticket for possessing marijuana
You know everything about everyone in a little town.
Like a small town, a union, is a small community.
Unlike most other small communities, a union has a meeting every month,
and many of the members get together at the union meeting once a month,
what people do people like to do when they get together, TALK
that's right, do you think they talk about each other
of course they do, let me give you an example
I was once the SGT at arms at the General Meeting of
IBEW Local 11 and we have a member
I've seen his union dues receipt many times
I do not recall his last name, because everyone knows him as
Trash Can Al. Al was a Forman, on a job,
where the batter boards were not up on the project.
And since the batter boards were not up,
Al had his men tie strings to a trashcan to do their underground layout.
Overnight, someone emptied the trashcan.
As a result the many underground conduits, stubbed up in the wrong place.
And that was 20 years ago and he is still known as Trashcan Al.
Then there is my friend Bank Robber Randy,
and my other friend book jumper Steve and on, and on
so you can see that in small community
your reputation stays with you for a very long time
So you should also know that, as an electrician you will be drug tested more often
than almost any other career you could have.
Some employers go so far as to use a
pre-employment hair follicle drug test and they will tell YOU
what drugs you've done in the last two years. So you need to begin
protecting your reputation now.
How many of you here
are willing to work with another electrician on energized circuits
if your tool partner is ***
I know that none of you are saying that that would be okay
Even if recreational marijuana becomes totally legal,
because the dangers involved with electrical work employers will terminate
anyone failing a drug test no matter what
so if you have any bad habits now, NOW IS the time change your habits
what am I trying to tell you ?
Your reputation begins now.