Loading...Klein Tools Million-Dollar Pledge
There’s lots of PR and marketing done in this day and age, and it can be tough to separate when a company is doing good to do good, or doing good for good press.
But there’s no doubt that when Klein Tools says they’re committed to world class training for IBEW electricians, they really mean it. And with a 150-plus year track record of American manufacturing, it’s clear that Klein’s partnership with the IBEW is one for the long run, not just a headline.
Well money may not be everything, but the one million dollars that Klein tools just pledged to the NJATC for training sure does help a lot. Here’s Dominic Giarratano with the story.
For 152 years, Klein Tools has been a name that’s as much a part of the electrical construction process as the craftsmen or women themselves.
Called on rain or shine, in the bitter cold and the sweltering heat – a pair of Klein’s has always stood for quality and craftsmanship, for safety and reliability, and has always been American made.
The NECA-IBEW team has been around about as long, and also wears the same values on their sleeves, and it’s why their partnership is more than just dollars and cents.
For confirmation and further information – we turn to Mathias Klein, III.
Dominic Giarratano: Thanks for having us here to your headquarters, just outside of Chicago. We appreciate your time. Just talk about your commitment to manufacturing, to American jobs, and how that correlates to the IBEW-NECA team.
Mathias a. Klein, III – Chairman and CEO, Klein tools: Klein Tools, our pliers, screwdrivers, nutdrivers, we’ve always made them in the US. You know, it’s not easy always to compete, making a product in the US. We compete by making great quality, we think, I’m biased, but the best quality tools we can make. We’re not the cheapest tools, out there either. If somebody wants to go out and buy a plier, they can certainly buy a much less expensive plier, but the skilled electricians now the value of buying a better tool that gives them better performance. Just like hiring somebody to do a job, an electrical job, with higher skill levels and training, is ultimately going to be the better choice. I meet all kinds of electricians, their father was an electrician, their grandfather was an electrician, they have even passed down their Klein Tools from generation to generation. So we know the tradespeople really value our tools. And we feel the same way. Our name’s on it, and we always want to make the best and we know that people expect that from us. We can’t let them down.
DG: You’re long-standing relationship with the IBEW-NECA team and the NJATC, their training arm, really goes back many years. But recently, you’ve reaffirmed that with your million dollar pledge. Just talk about that in context, and really what it means – that it’s more than just money, that it’s a real partnership that you are forging as you go forward.
MK: We’re using the money for some new programs, some more interactive programs, that I think the younger generation electricians coming in will be very adaptable to. The virtual boot camp, and other programs like that. It’s not just money, it’s manpower, it’s cooperation, it’s over five years, and I think that over that time frame things will develop that we aren’t even envisioning today. There will be that interaction between the NJATC staff and the NECA staff and our own personnel.
DG: Your support, your partnership with the NJATC, this program really sends resources and provides local JATCs with the tools and the resources to really move that forward. That’s really where the rubber meets the road on the local level. Do you believe that’s the case?
MK: Yeah, that’s true. If we can help train the next generation of electricians and upgrade the skills of the current generation of electricians, that’s got to be good for both parties. For all parties – NECA, NJATC, Klein Tools, and the customer who’s actually getting the service. Some of the money is in the form of tools that are going to be in labs at the local training centers so they can be used for hands-on training. The goal is to get it to the local level where the resources are most needed, and I think the most effective.
And at the end of the day that’s why owners and general contractor’s count on the NECA-IBEW team for a nationwide network of local, ready, willing and not only able – but expert electricians.
Thanks to dedicated partners like Klein Tools, industry support and resources will continue to help NECA-IBEW training programs for years to come. We can’t say enough about our partners and the products they deliver to contractors and building owners, day in and day out.