Need For Tower Workers With Todd Shlekeway

Episode 12: How NATE is tackling the 5G Labor Shortage

Guest Todd Schlekeway, Executive Director of NATE

It’s a slow climb to train enough tower technicians. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says the U.S. 5G rollout requires 20,000 of them. Unfortunately, that many technicians simply do not exist today. As a result, rollouts are stalling.

This week’s guest, Todd Schlekeway, is well-acquainted with this problem. Todd is the Executive Director of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE). And he says not a week goes by without someone calling to ask where they can hire more workers.

There are several hurdles to bringing climbers on board… the heights, the travel, and the competition from the other construction trades.

But a wider reaching problem is the industry hasn’t done a good job of talking about career paths and progression.

NATE aims to change this story.

Todd describes its upcoming initiatives to:

Tell a better industry story to new entrants to the workforce. Reach out to high schoolers who have grown up wireless-savvy to share the story. Work with community colleges and technical institutes to launch programs specifically for our industry. Keep supporting Warriors for Wireless as the organization begins to scale its training.

Beyond workforce training, NATE has a busy 2020. The year marks its 25th anniversary, which will be celebrated at the NATE UNITE conference in Raleigh, NC, February 17th-20th.

Todd shares details about the event, as well as what else is in store for NATE this year.

Listen now and don’t forget to sign up for future episodes!

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NATE’s been an industry leader for 25 years. Executive Director Todd Schlekeway talks about the hurdles to hiring enough climbers, the initiatives NATE’s working on to alleviate the strain, and what’s in store for NATE in 2020. Listen now to this week’s episode!