Follow Up: Heart-Wrenching Events at the Local 26

In our latest episode on March 7, 2024, Two Students Stabbed at Local 26 Electrical Training Center: Bullying and Mental Health in the skilled trades we discussed the tragic events which occurred on Feb 13th 2024 in Manassa, VA.  

In this episode of the Sparky Life podcast we follow up on the heart-wrenching events that have shaken our community at Local 26. I sat down with a courageous member of our team, who, for their safety, remains anonymous, to discuss the recent tragedies that have left us all searching for answers and longing for change.

Our guest shares personal experiences and insights, shedding light on the atmosphere that seems to have taken root. From the disconnect between students and instructors to the concerning instances of bullying and harassment, it's clear we need to take a hard look at ourselves and the culture we're part of. It's time for a shift towards a more equitable environment.

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Transcript

Anonymous (00:00:00) - I was informed on Friday that a,, an apprentice on his way into work. 540 in the morning as he was driving in. He,, his form was walking in the middle road. He didn't see him, so his left, his passenger mirror rushed to form his hand. Understandably, the foreman was upset about it, but he let his emotions get the better of him. He ran over. He started pummeling the guy's car, ripped his mirror off. Then the fender started trying to break the window open and the apprentice opened his door and he was apologizing the whole time. The foreman punched him across the face, and then proceeded to drag him out of the car and to beat him into the ground, kicking him in the back of the head. And the whole time this was occurring, the The apprentice did nothing but apologize for what he had done. For what? The accident that had happened on the street. And this,, some of the other guys broke the fight up.

Lia (00:01:00) - Welcome to the Sparky Life podcast.

Lia (00:01:03) - I'm your host, Lia Lamela, and here I share skilled trades conversations with those I've met along the way.

Lia (00:01:15) - The content discussed in this episode is sensitive and disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Today on the Sparky Live, I sit down with a brave local 26 member. On February the 13th of this year, an apprentice at the local 26 Jack in Manassas, Virginia, stabbed two other students. The police responded and the apprentice was shot and killed when the police instructed him to drop his weapon, and he declined to do so, according to students and coworkers of the local 26. The perpetrator may have been bullied by the students he attacked. Now, a little more than four weeks later, another apprentice, a part of the local 26 whose identity is being withheld at this time, was assaulted by his foreman on the job site. I am joined today by a brave local 26 member whose identity is being withheld and voice altered for his protection, so he can share his experience and opinion on the events that have occurred at this IBEW local 26.

Lia (00:02:30) - Sparky. Life is a safe space for people to have a voice in the skilled trades and construction industry. Today's guest discusses with me the environment at the local 26 JTC, what the JROTC has done in response to these events, and what changes he feels needs to be made. Welcome with me our guests today. Thank you so much for being so brave and coming on the Sparky life to talk about this tragedy and be open about what is going on regarding what has happened at local 26. What has been done to try to ensure something like this will never happen again, and share your opinion and your thoughts about some of the events that have been going on. So thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the Sparky Life. Since the event that occurred with the student, Phillip stabbing the other two students, what information has come to light since then?

Anonymous (00:03:44) - So I knew from an apprentice on the job I was with that in Lantern day after they kept having classes that whole week, and apparently the training director had a quote unquote safety stand down to inform everyone of what happened regarding that.

Lia (00:03:59) - What did they say happened?

Anonymous (00:04:01) - They said that he that Phillip ran for a butcher knife and proceeded to stab one student. Students that were there proceeded to apply first aid to the first stabbing victim, which was Michael Barker. Wow. And that Phillip then went over to Elijah Safadi and proceeded to stab him multiple times. Phillip walked out of the building and was met by the Prince William County Police, and was shot dead after refusing to comply with the command to disarm him.

Lia (00:04:32) - Did you know personally any of the victims? No. When this happened, other than obviously feeling extremely upset and traumatized by the fact that a place of study, a place of growth, a place that is supposed to nurture amazing craftsmen and crafts women. What were your thoughts?

Anonymous (00:05:01) - I felt for the families of the victims and also fell for the family of the perpetrator, because people don't just snap like that randomly as our staff and others for no reason. There's just usually a lead up to it.

Lia (00:05:13) - Right. I was told by several students on site that Philip was quiet, referred to as a little weird, easily picked on and bullied.

Lia (00:05:28) - What is the reason they have discovered for what occurred?

Anonymous (00:05:34) - But you haven't given us a reason. And what has happened?

Lia (00:05:37) - Okay.

Anonymous (00:05:38) - They told us flat out that they. We might never know.

Lia (00:05:42) - Well, to some extent I would agree. Right. Because Philip is dead and can't tell us what he was thinking or what was going on. But many students and coworkers, because they were on the job site together, made mention that they knew Philip was getting harassed and berated by these couple of guys. I was told recently from another friend that during the meeting, Billy Murphy.

Anonymous (00:06:14) - Bill Murphy is the he's the director of the JTC, that he.

Lia (00:06:17) - Said that they didn't have a lot of information of why it happened, that the police were doing an excellent job. However, even though they don't have a lot of information of why this happened, he was going to nip in the butt that this rumor about bullying was just completely untrue.

Anonymous (00:06:36) - He didn't say that. He said they had no reason to believe that bullying would have had any part of what happened.

Lia (00:06:42) - That sounds very disturbing to me, especially because several students have come forward saying they knew Philip was being bullied. That makes me very nervous, because you're not addressing what could have potentially been the catalyst for something like this. Yeah. Going through the program, I've done the courses. The classes had the same teachers and stuff. What is your opinion on the environment at the JTC?

Anonymous (00:07:14) - The JTC perpetuates a toxic environment while they possibly put you down. They tell you if you need help, come to home, but if you go to them for help, you're ridiculed and put down again.

Lia (00:07:25) - Okay. When you say toxic environment other than being discouraged and put down, can you go into more detail?

Anonymous (00:07:35) - They create a sense of separation between you as a as a student and then as the instructor. Even though you're both brothers, they'll constantly tell you that you you're 1%. There are 2% because of the working dues they pay. They'll tell you that you're not to say, even though you're friends with 26 brothers because you're an apprentice and they're an instructor.

Lia (00:07:55) - There's a hierarchy. Yeah. And it's a mentality of I'm above and you're below. Yes. Very poor leadership.

Anonymous (00:08:03) - The instructors themselves will actually pick on students as well.

Lia (00:08:08) - From my personal experience that instructors definitely would tease. Some of the things they would make. Comments I felt weren't the best. Teachers have to be very careful in how they address certain things in the classroom. You want to be fun and engaging. You should be fun and engaging as a teacher. But you're also a leader and the students are going to look up to you. So how you handle certain situations will determine what the students think is okay and what they don't think it's okay.

Anonymous (00:08:43) - Yeah, I can give an example to expand on what I was saying about them picking on students. Like I had an apprentice telling me that he that he in the class and one of the instructors saw one of the other apprentices there learn something I don't he didn't agree with or something or. Some political thing in. The instructor looked at the apprentice and told him, I hope your wife is at home cheating on you right now.

Lia (00:09:04) - What? Yes.

Lia (00:09:06) - That's very upsetting to hear. That's very disappointing. Now, I heard that the JTC, the local 26, they did make some really great improvements. They do to try to prevent something like this from happening. You want to talk about some of the good things that have been done.

Anonymous (00:09:29) - Yeah, they have in every room. Now they have the address of the GTC. So if anything like this would happen again you you know where it's an emergency services. Do they have first aid kits and more first aid kits. And they've actually expanded to add trauma kits as well. So something like this sort of happen again. They have enough resources to handle it. It's hard to say why they're going to go over. Evacuation policies and drills to tell you where you should evacuate to, where you should muster in case of an emergency.

Lia (00:10:02) - That's fantastic. That's very good to hear. Now, one of the reasons why they put the school address everywhere was because at the time during the event, students couldn't remember the address.

Lia (00:10:17) - Now, I'm sure that has a lot to do with being in a state of panic. Yeah, that's a great improvement. And the fact that the trauma kits that they've put in place, you know, to help handle any severe event because something like this should never happen. No, never. You reached out to me regarding an issue that just recently occurred. Yeah, it's very, very upsetting to hear because here we had some really heartbreaking, traumatic, violent events at the school. And then now there's another assault that has occurred. Yes. Can you tell me about what happened?

Anonymous (00:11:01) - I was informed on Friday that a an apprentice on his way into work, 540 in the morning as he was driving in. He,, his form was walking in the middle road. He didn't see him, so his left his passenger mirror rushed to form his hand. Understandably, the foreman was upset about it, but he let his emotions get the better of him. He ran over. He started pummeling the guy's car, ripped his mirror off.

Anonymous (00:11:26) - Then the fender started trying to break the window open and the apprentice opened his door and he was apologizing the whole time. The foreman punched him across the face and then proceeded to drag him out of the car and into the ground, kicking him in the back of the head. And the whole time this was occurring, the the apprentice did nothing but apologize for what he had done. For what? The accident that had happened on the street. And this,, some of the other guys broke the fight up.

Lia (00:11:53) - I'm happy to hear that. That's encouraging. That's what I want to see brothers do. Stop the violence. Okay.

Anonymous (00:12:00) - They broke the fight off. They went in to work.

Lia (00:12:03) - Wow. So then they. They all just go into work, okay?

Anonymous (00:12:06) - Sure. They wanted to work to start working in the. You know, it was still early in the morning just after start time. And the foreman kept yelling. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me. And the apprentice reported to him what he had done to him.

Anonymous (00:12:20) - So the foreman then proceeded to attack the apprentice again on the job, tried to suffocate him, and the other guys pulled him off of there again, and then one of the higher ups came around and said, they're fighting. There's no fighting on this job. And the apprentice was fired for fighting, even though he never fought back. And the foreman was given a three day suspension.

Lia (00:12:42) - Oh my goodness. See this is the problem. If there's no consequence to being physically violent, then you're going to continue to be physically violent. If you're of that mindset because there's no consequence. Yeah. How is the Apprentice doing?

Anonymous (00:13:03) - He's on. He's understandably shaken off. He's having trouble remembering. And he went to the ER. He was diagnosed with a concussion and he was given instructions for post-concussion care, certification care. And he's got a blind spot in his vision now that he was told to hopefully go away. But they're not 100% sure if they will or not.

Lia (00:13:20) - Wow. So he like he just went full throttle beating the living daylights out of this kid? Yes.

Lia (00:13:30) - Has any of the leaders at the GTC spoken about this or addressed this in any way?

Anonymous (00:13:38) - As far as I know, none of the GTC leaders have mentioned it. I know somebody brought it up at one of the meetings, and it was just quickly hushed up and shot down.

Lia (00:13:48) - What do you think it's going to take for the leaders at the local 26 to make changes, to improve the environment and discourage violence?

Anonymous (00:14:03) - I honestly don't know. I don't know if it would. God forbid another tragic event would change it, or it's the leadership themselves. Just need to change the leaders.

Lia (00:14:13) - The IBEW is vast. There's tons of different locals all around the United States. I have friends at different locales, and they have amazing experiences. They feel like it's a real brotherhood. Sisterhood. When I was at the apprenticeship program at local 26, there was tons of great experiences that I had. My electrical background is strong because of starting the apprenticeship. However, there was a lot of violent behavior, toxic behavior that was not something I wanted to be around.

Lia (00:14:55) - I felt that it was not a no tolerance policy, meaning you could be violent. It was like accepted. Oh yeah, the guy just beat the shit out of this other guy. And they have this old school mentality, kind of like that 1950s mentality of, well, you know guys, we're going to scrap it out. And I understand that. And I can I can wrap my mind around it. But there was manners. There was some kind of gentlemanly like behavior in the sense of if another man disrespected another man and they got into a scrap, if someone went down, that was it. Yeah. You walk away. It wasn't beat someone into oblivion. There was conduct in place. I just feel that a lot of the guys don't have the self-control. And if you don't have the self-control, you should not be engaging. Period. Yeah. You're very brave to talk about this. Are there other apprentices that you've spoken to that are willing to come forward.

Anonymous (00:16:03) - As of right now? No.

Lia (00:16:05) - Why do you think that is?

Anonymous (00:16:07) - I think it is. And I can I can tell you one of the reasons it actually is, is because if you speak out against the GTC, if you speak out against the local, you speak out against the contractor, you will be kicked out of the apprenticeship program. Right? That is in their policies. If you make us look bad, we will throw you out. Right? And then there's a chance you'll never be able to work in local 26 again.

Lia (00:16:28) - I know like how hard you guys work to, you know, get through the apprenticeship and get your journeyman license and top out. And when you're investing years in something, you don't want to risk it. You don't want to risk being penalized for speaking out. I mean, this puts you between a rock and a hard place because it's like, okay, if you see something on the job site that you feel is wrong and you don't want to see that behavior, you risk being penalized by saying something.

Lia (00:17:00) - Yeah.

Anonymous (00:17:01) - Because I know of apprentices that have seen things on the job site that aren't right. Jack tells you if anything's wrong, reach out to us for help. They reached out to the JCC for help and they're told, oh, you got to talk to the company's HR. I'm going to handle it in-house. But that's what the JTC is there for, is they're supposed to help faculty apprentices and they're just not.

Lia (00:17:19) - .

Lia (00:17:20) - Yeah I know a lot of apprentices that feel this way. And the whole purpose of a union is to support the employee is to create a brotherhood, a sisterhood, a camaraderie where you protect each other, you stand up for one another, you want equity, you want everyone to have an opportunity. And it's this, you know, beautiful idea. And the locals that are really passionate about the definition of union and what that means, they can be incredible places. Yeah. Have you met amazing people in the apprenticeship? Right, right. And have you learned a lot towards becoming a great electrician by being a part of the apprenticeship? Yeah, yeah, I felt that way too.

Lia (00:18:11) - I felt there were amazing people and, and then I felt like there was also very toxic people. A lot of those toxic behaviors are allowed to continue. Just because I don't approve of the environment or the behavior that I've seen, doesn't mean that I don't find value in the local. Doesn't mean that I'm anti-union. You want to improve. You want to create a great environment in order to create great electricians. Yeah. If you're not constantly trying to improve and if you're not recognizing that there there's an issue here, clearly there's an issue. There's a lot of violence happening. So address it in a positive way. Have a conversation. Okay. What is encouraging this type of behavior. How can we discourage this type of behavior. Having a no violence policy. Could potentially do something like that if everybody knew that if you went fisticuffs, you would be immediately terminated. Whether you were a journeyman, an apprentice, a foreman, a supervisor, if everyone knew that. I highly doubt there would be a lot of fisticuffs going on because no one would risk permanently removed.

Lia (00:19:31) - Yeah, if you were to completely remove them from their local or kick them out, or, you know, they're no longer welcome to work at any of the companies, that's going to send a big message. That's going to be a big incentive to not allow yourself to lose control, to walk away. Yeah. What would you like to see for local 26?

Anonymous (00:19:55) - I'd like to see local 26 turned away from being a quote unquote contractors local and actually have its manpower. The individuals that people, the people in the field feel like they can trust and go to if they have an issue on the job and know that it will be handled properly. The same for Jake.

Lia (00:20:11) - And what about the perpetuation of violence that we're seeing?

Anonymous (00:20:16) - I'd like to see that handled in an address in some way, shape or form. He shouldn't be getting piling on the junk. It's not worth it.

Lia (00:20:22) - No, of course not. And you said that gentleman that was a foreman with the altercation with the apprentice. Why couldn't he just say, look, obviously you're not paying attention.

Lia (00:20:32) - You need to go home. If somebody hit me accidentally or on purpose, I'd be furious. But as a foreman, I would just basically say, look, you're not paying attention. You obviously need to go home and, like, sleep or figure it out, but you're not coming on the job site today. And that would be that. I wouldn't just violently attack them. There's a million different ways to handle it. Yeah.

Anonymous (00:20:57) - The only thing I can think of for that is the stress of the job, the stress of the commute, the any stresses at home. It just builds up. The biggest things are usually the stress of the job and the stress of the commute.

Lia (00:21:08) - This is a key point when you're working and you're traveling long distances, and you have a lot of stresses within the job and home, and you're in school and you're learning and you're with different people on different at different sites, different companies being humane, being compassionate towards people, going through, you know, a stressful experience is key to helping them be successful.

Lia (00:21:35) - Yeah. One of the things that creates a lot of pressure in a very negative way are some of the rules and regulations that they enforce. I know people who got hurt and then were held back a year and weren't able to continue. It took them longer to finish. I know people who had a death in the family and then were kicked out because they missed too much time, like very reasonable human experiences, life experiences that would cause you to not participate or get too many absences. There doesn't seem to be a lot of compassion. It doesn't seem to be a lot of empathy for certain situations. What has been your experience with that?

Anonymous (00:22:25) - Well, it's been pretty much the same. I've seen people that get injured and they're out of work for a while to come back, and the apprenticeship wants to hold them back a year because they were hurt, even though they wasn't. It wasn't really their fault. They got hurt.

Lia (00:22:38) - By accidents happen.

Anonymous (00:22:40) - I worked with a guy that they threw him out because he wanted to stay home to be with his wife, and after they had just given birth to a newborn.

Lia (00:22:48) - Or.

Anonymous (00:22:50) - It's it, it's it's like you said, it's a lack of compassion. It's a lack of understanding. It's it shouldn't be like that.

Lia (00:22:56) - No. You're creating an inhumane environment with these very rigid, very imperial structure of rules and regulations. And look, some people are going to take advantage or try to take advantage of the system, right? Of course, there are people like that, but you can't penalize everybody. For those people. It should be assessed. There should be things put in place to recognize that we're humans. Life happens and apprentices are working very hard to top out, and they're already under a lot of pressure going to school and working and learning their craft. How do you think the apprentices are emotionally handling the situation that occurred?

Anonymous (00:23:50) - I don't know because they just don't really talk about it.

Lia (00:23:53) - I heard that their big solution to this was offering counseling, so no one's talking about it. Is anybody going to counseling? Do you know, have you heard of.

Anonymous (00:24:02) - I haven't heard anyone heard of anyone going to counseling, but I've heard a lot of people ridicule the idea of having the counselors in the school.

Lia (00:24:10) - Really? So they don't like the idea of having counselors there?

Anonymous (00:24:14) - No, I've heard from apprentices coming from journeymen that do that on your own time. Don't waste the whole money on her.

Lia (00:24:20) - Wow. Wow. Yeah. There's a big stigma in construction about mental health and counseling and self-development. And again, it creates a pressure cooker situation when people are not allowed to express emotion in a healthy way and they just bottle up and keep it in. It's asking for trouble. Yeah. I knew that the counseling wasn't going to work, because you've created an environment where people are taught not to talk about it. When I joined the local 26 apprenticeship program, the advice that was given to me from journeyman after journeyman was to keep my head down. I mean, that's all I constantly heard was like, keep my head down, be invisible. And it sounded so oppressive.

Lia (00:25:08) - Just be.

Lia (00:25:09) - Invisible. Keep my head down. Not study hard. Ask questions. No, no. Keep my head down. I couldn't believe how many journeyman that was.

Lia (00:25:24) - The instructions.

Anonymous (00:25:26) - I know another piece of instruction I've been given was for the next five years. You need to eat, sleep and breathe. JTC. And that's it.

Lia (00:25:35) - That's not realistic. It's not realistic. And you can't have a healthy life balance like that. And you can't be a great electrician like that. No, you can't do good work like that. It's ridiculous. It is one great advice that I got from a journeyman, one of my actual bosses. He was like, it's all about spotting the right opportunity. Keep your eyes open. You're great. You work hard, and once you see the right opportunity, go for it. That was great advice. Have you gotten good advice from someone?

Anonymous (00:26:16) - Honestly, not. Not really. No.

Lia (00:26:19) - No. I'm sorry. It makes me heartbroken to hear something like that. Do you think that people are going to be more willing to stand up against bullying and harassment and violence and, and injustice at the local since what has happened?

Anonymous (00:26:39) - Honestly, I don't think they will because they're just stuck in their ways.

Lia (00:26:44) - I think a lot of them are scared to, like you said, there's consequences. If you speak out, you get penalized. Thank you so much for being so brave and sharing your opinions and your feelings regarding the situation, talking about what is going on. They're talking about events that have happened. You know, if we're not having conversations about this, it's not going to change. This is a platform for safe spaces for brothers and sisters to come together, to unite. I want skilled trades men and women to feel empowered, feel that they can speak up if they don't agree with something. If you could give advice to your brothers and sisters, what advice would you give them?

Anonymous (00:27:38) - Stand strong to stand with one another. If it looks like they're getting her Aster balloon, go give them a hand and stand up for them. Just be there to support one another. It's. It's a brotherhood. It's the families. What we're supposed to do, right? We're supposed to uplift and empower one another, right? It's what we need to do.

Lia (00:27:56) - That's right. You're 100% right. And you don't have to like everyone. But you do need to respect everyone. Yes. All right. Thank you again so much for coming on the Sparky life. You're so brave. You are so brave. And it's people like you that are going to help make changes. Sparky, life has no tolerance for violence or violent acts. Sparky, life does not condone behavior of this nature. We ask you, remember, this is about having conversations to bring about change. In no way, shape or form is Sparky life anti-union or the IBEW or anti the apprenticeship program? The discussion today has left me with more questions than answers. A no tolerance policy for violence, with strong consequences for those who cannot follow this protocol, is something that needs to be seriously considered. With the skilled trades labor deficit. How does hazing and negative behavior influence qualified people from not entering the skilled trades or making it through their apprenticeship program? When I was at the local 26, it was something that they were proud to say that the amount of people who began the apprenticeship and the amount who actually completed, was significantly lower.

Lia (00:29:29) - I never understood why. Is that something to be proud of? You are lacking in some way. How come you have so many people start and then so many not finish? That's something to seriously consider. Is there a self-policing mechanism in the union for journeymen? Is the local doing its own investigation on what is going on? Why these things are taking place? What is the difference between a union that is a construction company focused supporter versus a union that is an advocate for journeyman? I'd like to personally thank our guests today for being so courageous and willing to have a conversation about very difficult topics. It's important that we ask ourselves these questions and that we keep moving forward to build the world we wish to live in. Thank you for joining us.

Lia (00:30:32) - If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up, take what resonates with you, and if you'd like to hear more of the Spark Life, please subscribe, like, follow and share.

Lia (00:30:47) - Until next time, create the sparks in your life.