Many Paths, One Trade: Stories from IUEC Local 4, Maine

We spend a lot of time thinking about how people find their way into the elevator industry. There’s no single door in, and some recent conversations at IUEC Local 4 in Maine reminded us just how true that is. We recently sat down with a group of people whose stories provide a snapshot of why our recruitment work matters, and why we build so many different pathways into the apprenticeship program.

Labor Partnerships Open Doors

We spoke with Sam Boss, Apprenticeship, Workforce & Equity Director at the Maine AFL-CIO, a federation representing more than 200 unions and over 42,000 members and retired workers across the state. Through the Maine AFL-CIO, career pathways are opened to people from a wide range of backgrounds, which underscores the key role played by Sam and his colleagues in reaching people who might never have considered a career in the elevator industry otherwise.

Recruiting Through Shared Experience

NEIEP’s Area Coordinator for Region 22 Jeff Handibode is a veteran, and he’s seen firsthand how powerful it is when veterans recognize something familiar in this trade: structure, safety, and camaraderie. Jeff met Omar Omarzai through an AFL-CIO trade class, and the two connected instantly over their shared military backgrounds.

Omar’s path to the IUEC was anything but typical. Before becoming an Elevator Apprentice at Local 4, he worked as a pilot alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan, living on a nonstop schedule with no steady career prospects. When he met Jeff, something clicked. Omar told us that the sense of community within the IUEC resonated with him immediately. It was just the type of camaraderie he’d been missing, and he’s been thrilled to build the kind of local community he’d missed since leaving Afghanistan. 

Jeff put it plainly when he told us that success in this trade comes down to buying into safety and buying into the program and, according to Jeff, Omar embodies both. He also spoke about his own gratitude toward Omar for his military service, a reminder of how many of our members carry that same respect for one another into the field.

From the Welding Bench to the Elevator Hoistway

Not every pathway into the IUEC has the same origin. Liz Capodilupo, a first-year Elevator Apprentice at Local 4, came to us through welding. Her father was a welder, but her own start came through People’s Inclusive Welding, an organization that helps members of the underserved and underrepresented community find pathways into welding jobs.

She told us that she appreciates how NEIEP’s apprenticeship program lets her apply what she learns in the classroom directly in the field. Liz’s welding experience gave her the foundation she needed to earn her spot in the IUEC, and that’s exactly the kind of trade-to-trade pipeline we want to keep nurturing.

Alongside her mentor Ashley Magnus, Liz helped build the first all-women-built elevator in Maine, and the two later earned a company-wide safety award together. 

From a federation representing tens of thousands of workers, to a veteran-to-veteran connection, and a welder forging herself a career she is proud of — these success stories remind us that recruitment isn’t one single strategy. It’s countless open doors, and it’s our job to keep building more of them.