IBEW Local 164 completes renovations

Real Estate Weekly, March 5, 2003

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 164 has completed a comprehensive renovation project of its 40,000-SF training academy in Paramus, N.J., announced J. David Milazzo, training director and president.

IBEW Local 164 provides nationally recognized apprenticeship and skill training to its more than 3,400 members, which include electricians active within Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties as well as telecommunications workers contracted throughout the state. With an enrollment of more than 1,000 federally registered apprentices, the new state-of-the-art center is home to one of the largest programs of its kind throughout the state and the entire IBEW.

"Local 164 takes great pride in the caliber of training we offer through our day school program, which was established in 1962," said Milazzo. "We have also expanded our curriculum to a year-round schedule in order to fast track the learning process from five years for electricians to approximately three years."

To support this expanded curriculum, the new center's laboratory capabilities now include instrumentation, fire alarms, PLCs, conveyor systems, structured wiring, fiber optics, electronic key, PBX and advanced computers. Local 164's Training Center also boasts a glass-enclosed technology center that showcases today's highly advanced systems installed by electricians and telecommunications workers, including LON Works and Power Distribution to Voice, Data, Video and Talk-Back Paging.

With its Electrical Apprenticeship Program at the training program's core, Local 164 offers high school graduates, or those who possess an equivalency diploma, a fully-certified program that meets the training needs of today's electrical workers.

Upon completion of the program, electrical apprentices possess the knowledge and training necessary to interpret blueprints; safely work with high voltages; and install, repair and service complex electrical equipment and controls for residential, commercial and industrial projects.