BROADBAND NATION EXPO, WASHINGTON, DC – The United States needs way more workers to support the upcoming flurry of federal-funded broadband projects. But the broadband industry’s also got catching up to do with its labor standards.
In fact, BEAD is the first federal broadband grant program with “any type of language” concerning labor practice requirements, according to Marcus Chambers, network telecom technician for CWA and state broadband lead for Maryland.
Both broadband work quality and workers’ safety have been on a downswing for years, he said at a panel discussing the impact of BEAD requirements on state plans.
“With some of these companies, over the past 15-20 years we’ve kind of seen a race to the bottom as profits become more important than the actual work that’s issued or the quality of it,” said Chambers.
“And when you have that quality suffering, it’s also at the safety risk to the employees," he added.
For CWA’s part, it offers OSHA-10 Construction courses to employers and schools that are training broadband technicians. It also encourages new technicians to “shadow” veteran technicians on-the-job, so workers aren’t just learning from “by-the-book material.”
“At a base level, we need everyone to be safe, and we want these workforces to be safe and working in their own communities,” Chambers said.
No need to reinvent the wheel for better workforce standards
All told, it’s in the state’s ballcourt to get workers standards in tip-top shape.
Brian Thorn, director of broadband strategy at Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, said his state is expecting a demand of about “300-350 workers” for its BEAD buildout. That figure includes trenchers, electricians, surveyors, drafters as well as fiber and wireline technicians.
To get its workforce ready for BEAD (even after the program ends), Rhode Island’s plan is to target existing programs to “advance equitable workforce development and job quality” and help build a diverse, skilled labor pool.
The broadband office is working with other state government agencies to help its subgrantees with digital equity and digital literacy training and walk them through the various union programs, community workforce development programs and apprenticeships that are available.
“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” Thorn said. “There are folks in Rhode Island that already understand how to do these workforce programs. We want to empower them with the knowledge about the broadband industry to try and replicate their successes.”
He pointed out Rhode Island’s broadband office is only funded through the end of the BEAD program, so “we don’t want to see all our work go away” when the time comes.
Improving broadband labor practices is also about ensuring companies are held accountable, Chambers noted. Accountability involves asking for safety records and verifying that subgrantees are using the BEAD money to provide the services they say they’re going to offer.
CWA worked with Maryland’s broadband office, the governor’s office and state agencies like the Department of Housing and Community Development to “help them understand the requirements that we’re looking for,” Chambers said, and incorporate them into the state’s BEAD plan. Because the federal language in NTIA’s BEAD guidance is really more of a “guideline [or] suggestion.”
In Rhode Island’s case, Thorn said the state has adopted “the majority” of NTIA’s recommended labor requirements.
“We’re making sure that our program is creating good, family-sustaining jobs and…is also protecting the workforce that’s doing the work,” he concluded.
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