• Posted: November 10, 2020
• better careers, Joseph Welles

As a high school football player, Joseph Wells harbored ambitions of athletic stardom but had an appreciation for blue collar work as a student at Simeon Vocational High School, where he got hands-on experience in the school’s machine shop. After graduation, Joseph enrolled at Alcorn State University with the intention of continuing his football career, but found that college was not for him. Following in his father’s footsteps, he decided to join the Navy.

He completed boot camp in 1982 and was soon serving aboard the USS Duluth, a transport ship that carried approximately 1,000 U.S. Marines. Though Joseph had done well on his entrance exam when he enlisted and had a number of occupational specialties available to him, he was unsure of what exactly he wanted to pursue. Aboard the Duluth, however, he met an older sailor whom he befriended who encouraged him to become an electrician. Reflecting on his experience at Simeon, Joseph knew that he enjoyed working with his hands. After reading a few books about electrical work and learning through additional research how multi-faceted the electrical industry was, Joseph decided to give it a shot. After taking courses and qualifying, he was placed into the electrical division.

“There are lots of motors and pumps on ships and when you’re at sea, they tend to go out often,” Joseph says. “I was responsible for keeping them running, and that’s how I spent most of my time. I did some work with lighting and ventilation, and for my last year and half I was also a damage control petty officer in charge of all of the electrical equipment on the ship.”

While serving both on active duty and later in the reserves aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, Joseph saw much of the world, including Alaska, Africa and many places in between. He also got to see firsthand different cultures and customs that pushed him out of his comfort zone, one of the benefits he cites from his time in uniform. With his positive experiences and the opportunity to gain an introduction to what would become his career, however, came a life changing experience during combat in Lebanon.

“To witness that and to be there at the ready, it changes you,” Joseph says. “Obviously war can mean death, and once you’ve experienced that, it has an effect.”

In 1985 when he left active duty, Joseph applied to join the apprenticeship program with IBEW Local 134. Four years later, after he had completed an enlistment in the reserves, he was accepted into the program and transitioned into his long-term career. In the years since, he worked for close to 40 unionized electrical contractors, but it was the first one he worked for that he credits with preparing him for a successful career in the industry.

“What was unique about Block Electric is that they train all of their electricians to eventually become job site foremen,” Joseph notes. “When I moved on and went to work for other companies, I was already primed and ready to go into supervision. I ended up spending close to 17 years as a foreman, including nine years at Evans Electric, and that first experience with Block ended up changing my career.

It is a career that has taken Joseph all over the City of Chicago and suburban Cook County as he’s had the opportunity to work in a variety of settings, including Soldier Field, the United Center, University of Chicago Hospital, the Air and Water Show, at the Special Olympics, and at the annual Polar Plunge. Having experienced all types of electrical work, including residential, commercial and industrial, Joseph is now an inside wireman for the Chicago Park District where he’s a part of a team of 20 union electricians responsible for keeping the electrical systems for 570 park district facilities across the city running smoothly. It’s a role that has continued to provide Joseph with the variety that has been the hallmark of his career.

“Many of the buildings are more than 100 years old, and our work is to either maintain, repair or replace equipment that wears out,” he says. “That can mean ventilation, lighting and anything else that uses power. Much of the time I’m responding to emergency calls. Two weeks ago, I was at the Garfield Park Conservatory fixing a motor that opens and closes the windows in one of the greenhouses. They have giant palm trees there and the windows were stuck open as the temperature outside was starting to drop. That’s pretty typical of the day-to-day work.”

An ability to adapt under pressure and the discipline to see his work through with the highest degree of quality are the results of Joseph’s experiences early in life. His father, a Chicago Police Officer, made sure Joseph and his brothers did things the right way. This was reinforced by Joseph’s high school football coach at Simeon, Al Scott, and solidified for life during Joseph’s time in the Navy. 

“My father was a Chicago Police Officer, and he shaped my outlook on life,” Joseph says. “My high school coach was also a very disciplined guy who preached discipline to his players. When I joined the military, I was already trained to follow orders and execute my tasks to the best of my ability. It became a part of my character. That stayed with me when I transitioned into Local 134. My time in the military also taught me how to deal with people and to keep my cool under pressure, which is a constant in this industry. From a technical standpoint, the troubleshooting I learned in the Navy has also been invaluable. When you’re on a ship, most of what you’re doing is troubleshooting. The techniques that I was taught then are still the same methods I use today.”

Aside from the career opportunities he’s had in the field, union membership has enabled Joseph to achieve more than he ever thought possible when he was first exposed to electrical work aboard the USS Duluth. He’s currently a member of the Executive Board for IBEW Local 134, the union’s governing body, and is a longtime board member of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus.

“The Caucus is an organizing mechanism to recruit minorities into Local 134, but it also exists to help minorities navigate careers in the industry and develop skills,” Joseph explains. “Within Local 134, there are way more opportunities for minorities to get a foot in the door than there once were. [Business Managers] Terry Allen and Don Finn have managed to bring groups together for the betterment of the union as a whole.”

With retirement on the horizon, Joseph plans to continue working to expand opportunities for young people to pursue careers as union electricians through the Electrical Advancement Resource Network (EARN), an incubator for the electrical industry that he was previously involved with that is no longer active. With plans to revive it and help guide young people into careers in the industry, helping them decide what path they want to pursue in the trade, it’s a certainty that the next generation will benefit from Joseph’s decades of wisdom earned through hard work and dedication to his craft.  

To learn more about the unionized electrical industry’s support for veterans, contact us today.