40 Members Get Wired Into the Fiber Optic Future
By Oren Peleg
On a recent weekday evening at the Local 40 training center, Jeremy Bayer is busy pulling equipment: a server tray, a spool of fiber cable. At 4 pm he opens the doors to a group of Local 40 members. Class is now in session.
“So, this is the cleaver,” Bayer begins, showing the class a small device about the size of a deck of cards. “This is the Corning version of it.”
Bayer is lead instructor of Local 40’s Fiber Optics course, 40 hours of hand-on training spread over four weeks. Bayer introduces members to the fiber optics basics, trains them on a variety of machines and set-ups, and even walks them through the paperwork they will need to complete at job sites.
This particular session covered UniCam fiber connectors and the Corning tool kit, of which the cleaver is a part.
“It doesn’t really matter which sort of manufacturer you work with,” Bayer continued. “The methodology is what’s more important.”
Wireman Jonathan Dew steps up first to learn the cleaver. Bayer walks him and the other trainees through the cleaving procedure, repeating aloud the sequence of colored buttons on the device (“red, blue, black”) for reinforcement.
After Dew cleaves one of the fiber optic wires Bayer has queued up, he fits it with a UniCam connector, then attaches it to a metal cassette tray like the ones seen at any number of data centers across the world.
Local 40 has been working to create a Fiber Optics member training program for nearly 15 years, but Bayer and the leadership team needed to first make certain the program was internationally recognized by the Fiber Optics Association (FOA). That, and Bayer said, ensure it prepared Local 40 members, “to capture as much of the fiber work as we can.”
“There is just an incalculable amount of need for high-volume data transfer equipment and materials,” Bayer said. “And, a lot of the people who are out there doing it now—I will say this conclusively—aren’t going to have the same kind of background on fiber equipment as what I am providing here.”
Capturing some of that work is what brought Local 40 Journeyman Victor Ortiz into the classroom.
“We’ve heard there’s a lot of fiber optics going on at the jobs we’re at,” Ortiz said. “This is a great way for us to try to get our foot in, especially now since we’re trying to get more guys certified.”
Back in class, Dew strips another fiber optic wire. “I should be like that guy in the video—one swoop,” he says, referencing the demonstration video members watched in a previous training session.
“Stripping is the hardest part,” Bayer tells members. “Getting good at this is the gig.”
For Local 40 Journeyman Martin Colon, learning these new skills feels like the start of a next chapter.
“I feel like a newbie,” Colon said. “This is an intro for me. I think that itself alone is the best part. It’s not boring; it’s not repetitive.”
After the members practice on the cleaver, Bayer moves onto the splicer. Again, he demonstrates the required steps, but it’s clear this device is easier than one from a previous class.
“The learning curve on the UniCam is a bit shallower than the fusion splicer,” Bayer says with a laugh.
“Jeremy is an excellent teacher,” said Local 40 Journeyman Juan Rivera. “I think he’s one of the best teachers we have in our Local. That alone should be enough for all the apprentices to want to come and take this class.”
