CWA/NETT Helps SBC Workers Ace Test for Job Upgrade

Getting a promotion or raise sometimes means you've got to go back to school. But as a group of SBC workers in Evansville, Ind., discovered, CWA/NETT is making the process of learning far more accessible than trudging off to a college campus with a backpack full of books.

Through CWA's online training program, eight members of CWA Local 4700 recently passed SBC's technical knowledge test, making them eligible for new positions.

The students, all women, work in the SBC TEMS provisioning group, which is responsible for monitoring service problems on fiber optic lines. They use computer software to trouble-shoot and restore service.

While surfing the Internet, employee Amy Higdon, came across CWA/NETT - a non-profit trust that helps provide and coordinate high-tech training and job referral programs. She found a course in electronics that she and her co-workers could take online. In all, 10 women signed up.

The women were determined to take the SBC test the next time it was offered. It turned out that happened when they were only a third of the way through the course, and they weren't sure how long it would be before they'd have the chance again.

So instructor Carroll Lupton offered extra help, communicating with them daily by e-mail, while Local 4700 put together study sessions with videotapes. Eight of the 10 women passed.

"These women were committed, there was no question about it," said Lupton, who estimated that nearly a thousand e-mail messages went back and forth between him and the students over 16 weeks. "They had a goal to pass the TKT and they worked toward that end. They were balancing their family life, their work at SBC and their course work."

Higdon said the course was challenging and prepared her well for her job and, she hopes, a promotion. "I really enjoyed it and got what I needed out of it," she said.

For more information about CWA/NETT programs, available at training centers and online, click on www.cwanett.org.