History

The 1920s
Western Electrical Contractors Association, Inc. (WECA) started with eight members on April 9, 1929 as the Electrical Contractors and Dealer Association of Sacramento and was affiliated with the Association of Electragists International (now known as NECA). In December 1929, the name was changed to Sacramento Electragists.

The 1930s
The Association incorporated on October 28, 1937 and the following names appeared on the Articles of Incorporation: Rex Moore, E.L. French, George C. Foss, J.D. O'Connor, C.E. Vorlander, Sam Bissett, and C.S. Donley.

During the early Thirties, W. H. "Bill" Welch was hired as the first manager of the Association. In the Late Thirties, the Association became a part of the Northern California Chapter which covered most of the West Coast.

The 1940s-60s
In 1946, the Association was chartered as the "Sacramento Valley Chapter, NECA." In July, 1958, the Association suffered the loss of its manager, Mr. Welch, in an automobile accident, ending his nearly 30 years of devoted service to the Association. Joseph T. Krivanek became Association Manager and served until 1961. Mr. Kenneth W. Carlson was then hired by the Board of Directors and served from 1961 until 1990. During that time, his efforts reserved a historical place for the Association in the Electrical Industry.

The Association opened its office in Sacramento on Elvas Avenue in 1960, where it remained until 1990, when the office was moved to 14th Avenue.

The 1970s-80s
In 1979, the National NECA organization threatened to pull the Sacramento Valley Chapter’s charter because the majority of its C-10 members were non-union contractors. After enduring several IBEW worker strikes in the late 1970s, Sacramento Valley Chapter NECA member Rex Moore Electrical Contractors and Engineers decided not to ride out the latest strike in 1981 and instead hired replacement workers and subbed out to non-union contractors, the first time in history that a NECA company had done so. Several other members followed suit, further angering the union and NECA and jeopardizing the chapter’s charter.
Despite receiving threats and suffering damage to property at their offices and job sites, the NECA members who resisted the IBEW strike persevered in the face of extreme pressure from the National NECA office and local labor leaders. These members included Rex Moore, Royal Electric, Slater Electric, Nutter Electric, and Carlson Electric. Slater Electric was owned by Edward J. Miltner, a member who resisted the IBEW strike until his business went bankrupt, rather than give in to union demands.
Sadly, Miltner died soon after the conflict between the Sacramento Valley Chapter and NECA and IBEW moved to the courts. The WECA Man of the Year Award, which was named after Miltner, was given each year until 2010 in honor of his untiring efforts  toward elevating the principles of the merit shop electrical industry.

The 1990s
Finally, the last lawsuit was settled and the charter for the Sacramento Valley Chapter of NECA was revoked in 1990. As a result, the former Sacramento Valley Chapter membership voted that year to change the name of the Association to “Western Electrical Contractors Association, Inc.”(WECA). During this period, WECA began the demanding process of establishing a State Approved Apprenticeship Training Program offering insurance and pension benefits to its indentured apprentices. The Association’s Commercial apprentice training program standards were approved in 1992; the Residential program standards were approved in 1998 and the Voice-Data-Video (VDV) standards were approved in 2005.
In 1997, WECA joined the national association of the Independent Electrical Contractors, Inc.(IEC) as the Sacramento Chapter of IEC.. The Board of Directors restructured the management team and hired an Executive Director and an Apprenticeship Director. These two positions reflected the Board’s vision and desire to (1) manage local and national priorities for a rapidly growing Association membership, and (2) expand the Apprenticeship Training Program.

WECA has actively been involved in Government Affairs and has monitored the political activities within the state and lobbied on behalf of its electrical contractor members and the merit shop community since 1997.  WECA members long realized the need and value of a Government Relations program – one that focuses on both advocacy for merit shop contractors and a strong Political Action Committee (PAC) – as a complement. WECA is the only statewide organization exclusively representing the political interests of merit shop electrical and communications contractors in California. 

The 2000s
In 2002 the Board of Directors hired a new Executive Director and CEO, Terry Seabury, to oversee both membership and training for the association. The focus of the Association shifted to expanding its training programs throughout the state. At the time, WECA was limited to indenturing apprentices in 11 of the state’s 58 counties. A four-year long battle followed against organized labor interests intent on preventing WECA from expanding its programs statewide.

Also in 2002, to meet the demands of increased membership in the Southern California area, WECA opened a second location with an office, classroom and lab facilities in San Diego, CA. WECA hired a Southern California Membership Manager and one full-time Instructor.
With a full-time instructor on-board in San Diego, WECA was ready to implement a one year trial of a 2-week related and supplemental instruction formatted program to meet the demands of an ever-changing workforce. This 2-week format consisted of two weeks of classroom instruction per semester requiring students to attend classes twenty 8-hour days per year instead of the traditional format of 2-nights per week for 2 ½ hours each night for 73 nights. In November, 2002, San Diego Commercial 4th year students reported to class in this new format.

In August 2003, as a result of an unwillingness by the State of California California Apprenticship Council to allow the merit shop industry to add new or expand existing training programs throughout the State, WECA received approval from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, to federally indenture apprentices statewide into Commercial, Residential, and Sound & Communications Installer training programs. This approval was a historic move by the Department of Labor and as well as a huge victory for California merit shop contractors. However, WECA was limited to using Federal apprentices on federal public works projects due to the State of California refusing to recognize them, which limited the use of WECA apprentices on state jobs.

The 2-week trial program in San Diego was so successful that on May 8, 2003, WECA’s Board of Directors approved to change the traditional 2-night per week format to the new, concentrated and focused learning environment of the 2-week per semester format in its Sacramento apprentice program classes. Five additional full-time instructors were hired to teach at the Sacramento Training Center, and classes started in the fall of 2003. In that year, the Association also added a three year Voice Data Video apprenticeship program.

WECA classroom and class in session, circa early 2000's.

In October 2005, after a protracted battle with the union-dominated California Apprenticeship Council (CAC), WECA finally won the right to indenture and train apprentices throughout California when the CAC unanimously voted to approve statewide expansion of WECA’s Commercial Inside Wireman, Residential Wireman and Voice-Data-Video Sound and Communications Systems Installer training programs. As a result of receiving approval to indenture and train apprentices statewide, WECA boasted an all time high of more than 600 indentured apprentices in 2007.

Another leap forward in WECA’s growth came with the passage of the Electrician Certification law in 1999, which took effect on January 1, 2006. This law, which requires electricians to become certified in order to legally perform electrical work for a C-10 contractor in the state of California, created a new category of electrical worker: Electrician Trainees. An electrician trainee is an electrician who is not indentured in a state-approved electrical apprenticeship program and who has not yet taken and passed the State Electrician Certification Exam.

In order to legally work as a general electrician in California after January 1, 2006, or as a residential electrician after January 1, 2007, an electrician must either have passed the state exam or be registered with the state and enrolled in a state-approved electrician trainee program, or indentured in a state-approved apprenticeship program. WECA established our Electrician Trainee (ET) program in December 2005 to meet the needs of uncertified electricians, and the program has consistently been the largest program in the state since its inception.

Also in response to the certification law, WECA established its Continuing Education (CE) program to provide the classroom continuing education hours required by the state for certified journeyman electricians. Between the ET and CE programs, WECA is positioned for even greater growth in the coming years.

A WECA apprentice works on a hands-on lab, part of WECA's original curriculum. WECA has developed curriculum for not only electrical apprentices and trainees, but also continuing education courses for journeymen.

For many years WECA utilized curriculum developed by IEC.  In 2007, the Association determined that in order to assure top quality training and up to date courseware it would be best for WECA to develop its own curriculum based on industry standards, required competencies, and utilizing a systematic approach to instructional design that has been proven by educational research to be measurably effective.

WECA has also taken the lead to create enforcement of the States’ electrician certification law. This culminated in 2008 when WECA collaborated with IBEW and NECA to pass SB 1362 that, for the first time allowed the Contractors State License Board to enforce the EC requirement. To help the CSLB with enforcement, WECA members created the Construction Trades Compliance Program (CTCP) [ctcp.us] in 2011. CTCP investigates anonymous reports of non-compliance and submits these to the CSLB and other state agencies for administrative action. It also partners with a variety of other contractor groups to fight the damaging effects of the underground economy.

The 2000’s were a busy decade of improvements.  Also in 2002, WECA identified a need for a more comprehensive data management system. Faced with an archaic database that required constant programming changes and no longer met the minimum data and reporting requirements needed to properly administer a World Class Training Program, WECA hired a programming consultant and started research in October 2002. Several key steps were involved in the decision to create a custom database for WECA’s Apprenticeship Program including a needs assessment, existing product research and review, specification development and review, programming and finally testing.

The result of this two and a half year effort was a database designed for apprenticeship programs by those who administer and work with apprenticeship on a daily basis in a format that was secure and easily upgradeable. Implementation of WECA’s new database WECABase took place in 2005 and since then WECA has continued to make upgrades that continue to increase efficiencies, provide students and member contractors with access to critical data and continue to make the administration of an apprenticeship program an enjoyable experience.

In order to better support and protect the rights of our members, the WECA Board of Directors voted to have political action funds to be included with member dues and make them mandatory for all contractor members in September 2007.

In June 2007 the Redwood Empire Chapter of IEC, who were affiliates of WECA utilizing our training programs, dissolved and chose to join WECA as contractor members. This increased WECA’s membership and a Santa Rosa Area Committee was formed to mirror the San Diego Area Committee so members could stay informed and give their input.

In June 2009 WECA licensed its database WECABase (named AMPS for re-sale purposes) to Northern New Mexico IEC (NNMIEC), followed by Mid-South IEC, IEC Cincinnati, IEC Rocky Mountain and IEC Washington.

2010-Present
In July 2010, WECA’s Board of Directors voted to end the Association’s affiliation with IEC National in order to invest more resources locally to better serve the needs of our members and students by expanding and improving WECA’s programs and services. As a result of this decision, the Association changed its name back to “WECA”, changed its logo and established a new website address at www.goweca.com.

In order to better meet the growing needs of its students and members in Southern California, WECA opened its Riverside Training Center in August 2010. The WECA Riverside training facility is co-located at the current Associated General Contractors (AGC) apprentice training center at 1180 Spring Street in Riverside and includes a classroom and lab. Sharing space with AGC allows for WECA apprentices to get more exposure to the other trade crafts currently taught in the AGC apprentice program: carpenter, cement mason, drywall lather, drywall finisher, heavy equipment operator, painter and laborer. The Riverside site is WECA’s third training facility.

In October 2010, WECA’s Apprenticeship and Training Plan was able to purchase a training facility.  WECA  moved its Sacramento Region office and training center into the new building that offered  more classrooms and expanded hands-on lab training facilities.

WECA's new Sacramento Region training facility.

The WECA Sacramento Region training center and administrative offices are currently located in this 47,000 square foot facility at 3695 Bleckely Street in Rancho Cordova, on the site of the former Mather Air Force Base. The new location is just one exit East from the Association's previous location on Lincoln Village Drive off Highway 50 in Sacramento.

Through the years, WECA has developed and/or acquired top quality classroom and online/self-paced courses to meet the needs of journeymen and electrical contractors.  WECA provides courses to contractors at their locations and/or at WECA facilities for teams of their employees on a variety of topics and skills sets to assure consistent training for contractors' employees.  This specialized training is available to both members and non-members who want their employees to be trained together in a private venue..  In addition, WECA offers Get Wired! Connect to Learning, a Blended-Learning Program.  WECA uses Get Wired! to teach its live webcast courses to students throughout the state of California. Through a combination of lecture and discussions taught in a virtual classroom environment, with hands-on lab activities conducted in person, students are able to complete all required hours in a cost and time efficient manner. 

On the governmental advocacy front, WECA regularly partners with ABC Chapters as well as the other merit-shop contractors groups and the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction – whose sole focus is on fighting Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) (and their various permutations). After WECA ended its affiliation with IEC, it joined the US Chamber of Commerce as a sustaining member and serves on the Chamber Labor and Public Affairs Committees to represent WECA member interest on Federal matters.

Because of the dedication and commitment of its members, WECA collects more money per-capita than almost any other contractor/construction entity in California. This has allowed the WECA PAC to support both regional and state-wide candidates who support open competition AND efforts throughout the State to stop PLAs and other discriminatory agreements.

WECA has joined with its merit-shop allies to enact local restrictions on the use of PLAs that keep many contractors from performing public works. These efforts led to three bans in San Diego County and ballot measures in Sacramento County.

But, much work remains and the challenges are considerable. With a Legislature dominated by union-friendly members and a new Governor who enjoyed considerable public employee and construction union support – WECA and the other merit-shop groups will be playing a strong defense for several years. In just the past months WECA has enjoyed new support from contractor groups and public agencies who oppose the over-reaching efforts of the Construction Trades Council to push more public works into PLA constraints.
Today, WECA proudly represents a diverse membership of nearly 200 independent electrical contractors employing approximately 6,000 people throughout California. WECA looks forward with optimism and confidence to the challenges and opportunities coming to us in the new millennium.