Shortly after International Union of Elevator Constructors Local One apprentice Matt Clarke got on the job, he found himself working on a project involving one of the longest escalators in the Western Hemisphere.
After being accepted into the apprenticeship and going through safety training, Clarke nabbed a job with one of the city’s biggest elevator companies working on Manhattan’s East Side Access project, the newly opened Long Island Railroad station underneath Grand Central.
While working on the 182-foot-long escalator that connects the train hall to the subterranean tracks, he realized that there was a lot more to his new work in the trades than some of the “glorified jobs” that society sometimes puts on a pedestal.
“I feel like this is like one of those jobs that kind of flies under the radar,” he told LaborPress.
After hearing about the union, Clarke applied for the apprenticeship program five years ago. On the precipice of graduating, his drive, level-headedness and genuine interest in the field has set him apart. That dedication will be honored at Labor Press’s upcoming ceremony focused on trade apprentices June 13.
His union, IUEC Local One, trains craftsmen on installing, servicing, repairing and modernizing elevators, escalators and other conveyances. Clarke recently took a job with Kone, another of the world’s big four elevator companies. After East Side Access, he went over to work on the northside expansion for the Javits Center. He also worked at One Vanderbilt, the midtown supertall skyscraper, in addition to some small commodities jobs in between.
During the course of his apprenticeship, Clarke said that his co-workers have become like family. “I consider them my brothers inside and outside of the union all because we’ve just grown such a great relationship with each other. We’ve gotten to the point now too where we all know each other’s families,” he said.
Growing up Clarke was always into drawing and art. He said he took a risk on the job at the advice of IUEC business agent Gary Riefenhauser, but it paid off in ways he didn’t expect. Clarke pushed himself to test for many certifications to make himself a viable job candidate, but he found that the most interesting achievements ended up being items like the Secure Worker Access Consortium badge that allows workers to enter worksites like airports or transit projects with security clearance.
“It’s cool to see behind the scenes of a place that you would walk through and not even think twice about,” he said.
The past five years has opened his eyes to the safety precautions that his union provides for his members. Now he’s ready to step up to his new responsibilities as a mechanic, provide leadership from a fresh perspective.
“The saying is that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I think that’s not true in this business. I feel like there’s a lot that can be brought to the table tip from everybody,” he said.
