Phil Trexler spent the summer laying 4-inch conduit, changing electrical fixtures, running teledata lines—a typical regime for a young man just starting out in the IBEW Local 5 apprenticeship program.

Except Trexler isn’t so young. After 23 years in the Air National Guard, including two deployments overseas, Trexler began thinking about a career change after he learned about the federal “Helmets to Hardhats” program.

“I thought I’d try to find something more stable,” Trexler says during a break in classroom instruction at the IBEW Local 5 training center. A few visits to IBEW websites convinced him that he might find that more stable future in the electrical trade.

Trexler, at age 50, isn’t the only older worker trying to chart a course toward a secure retirement. According to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, there has actually been an increase in employment rates for older workers since 2000.

The baby boom generation is discovering it can’t afford to retire.

Trexler believes a union job is the answer. 

“When I was younger, you’d hear about unions,” he says. “Unions have always been around in the Pittsburgh area. When you grow up in Pittsburgh you know what it’s all about.”

Back then, he associated unions with higher wages. Now that he’s older, he sees there’s more to it than that.

“Having that pension for you down the road is a huge thing,” he says.

So here he is, getting down with 20-somethings and 30-somethings to learn a union trade.

It’s a five-year program, leading to journeyman status with IBEW Local 5. And thanks to a joint venture that Local 5 has with the Community College of Allegheny County, he will gain an associate degree in the bargain.

Trexler isn’t the only one who recognizes this is a damn good deal. Local 5 has  200 people on its waiting list for the apprenticeship program.

Once people get in, they work hard to stay in. In a class that may have 70 or 80 people, only one or two will drop out during the five-year program, according to Local 5 Training Director Paul Reinert.

Trexler thinks his 50 years of life experience will help him be one of those who succeeds. He shrugs off the fact that he was working under a journeyman this summer who was 20 years his junior.

“I’m not a young kid—they can’t pull anything on me,” he says with a grin. “It’s all about how your attitude is.” Trexal’s strategy is to keep an open mind and ask plenty of questions. 

Journeymen, he says, “are very good about taking you along the way. If you have a willingness to learn, it’s a good deal here.”