The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

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This is a K U N D Studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Good morning and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan. I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me. Here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started.

Unknown Speaker 0:46
Good morning, Las Vegas and welcome to this first Sunday in the month of March. I'm delighted to be here with you once again and I'm excited about my guest today. someone I've known for a while I respect greatly and I've get great humor from Greg Esposito the Greg Esposito. He has one of my favorite names. I love the name Gregory. Greg is the public relations and Government Affairs Director for local 525 One of my favorite things the union, a union family girl, plumbers, pipe fitters and service technicians local five to five. Greg Esposito, welcome to the scoop.

Unknown Speaker 1:24
Thank you very much for having me. I greatly appreciate it.

Unknown Speaker 1:26
Thank you for being here. I'm so excited. You can do it so early in the morning. How'd you get up?

Unknown Speaker 1:30
It was a stretch. Some mornings are not my thing. Your coffee person? Very much. So. Cool. So

Unknown Speaker 1:36
how many cups have you had before you got here?

Unknown Speaker 1:37
It's not the quantity. It's the quality.

Unknown Speaker 1:39
What coffee? Do you drink?

Unknown Speaker 1:40
deathwish. Valhalla Java, wow. Yes, it's as serious as you get.

Unknown Speaker 1:45
So does that make my Nordstrom random brand blends and they get they sourced them from great places like women and women own companies. And I think I'm being very conscious about my coffee, but you just made me feel like a wimp.

Unknown Speaker 2:00
I feel have some Nordic in me. So you know, anything Viking themed is my jam.

Unknown Speaker 2:05
Well, I'm glad to hear today. Thank you for coming in to talk about what you guys are doing over local five to five. My dad is union retired. So it's very near and dear to my heart.

Unknown Speaker 2:15
I remember when we met, you had come in to speak to some union members. And we were very impressed with your backstory. One of the things that I look for, in the people that I work with and associate with is their Union Kitchen Table story. You know, did you have a dad or a mom who raised you? And did you have health insurance? Because they were union? Did you have a better schooling experience because they were union. And so it's, it's important when I when I talk to people about their background?

Unknown Speaker 2:46
Yeah, my dad is my hero. We are two peas in a pod. Very much twins. Danny has a strong personality. He's very straightforward, a straight shooter. And so over the years, I've tried to filter what I need it because I'm like him. But he is so honest, that it will hurt your feelings, right? So I've learned to censor the portion that I got from my mother is my dad's a Scorpio. My mom's was a Sagittarian. And so the two of them together were like, not hot and cold. But he was just like on it. And she was measured, if you will. So she was kind and gracious. And he was if you can't take it, you know, too bad. Not going to be worried about how many tears you are shedding. And I had friends who share it with me well, sometimes you could just say things in a way and you know, it's just really what it's just harsh. Like you don't you know, think about that was like oh, you my dad's name is Tommy middle name is Lisa. I gave you Tommy Lee. So over the years, I've learned when to give people Tommy Lee and when to give them Loretta. So dad is my hero. But union we're talking about plumbers, pipe fitters and service technicians local five to five today and you've been in this space for a long time. Why have you know how long because the union was established in 1938, which is also my dad to your birth. So I know for a fact that it's 85 years old, it's very easy for me to remember that. And it was chartered by 12 You know, people who were a combination, I suppose of the trades you now represent. Yes. What drew you to it?

Unknown Speaker 4:21
When I was growing up, my my dad made it very clear that people need to do two things, die and use the bathroom. And so if you wanted a lifetime career, you want to become a mortician or a plumber. You're

Unknown Speaker 4:35
not never lied about that. morticians Whoo, yeah. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 4:39
And so, um, when I moved out to Vegas, I was working hourly wage jobs, kitchen worker, Carpenter, grocery store clerk. And as I was a grocery store clerk, plumbers would come in and tell me about, hey, you're wasting your time. You're the primary Ah, where you should join a trade. And so once I left that grocery store, I did actually go to a plumbing company. And I just brought in a bucket of tools and said, Hey, put me to work, I had worked with my hands before, with my dad back in New York. And they gave me a shot wasn't a good wage, but it was enough. And they gave me a chance. And I really took to it. Two years later, I applied for and was accepted into the apprenticeship program. So that was 1998. The plumbers and pipefitters apprenticeship program. And the funny thing is, is that, you know, I'm figuring I'm pretty smart guy had done plumbing for two years, I figured they should just take me as a journeyman because I knew what I was doing already. And fortunately, the organizers that I spoke to, said, You know, you don't know what you don't know, go through the apprenticeship program, because you're going to learn a full spectrum of what this industry has to offer. Not only you, but the community as a whole. And he was very right. It's a five year apprenticeship program is a five year program. And you learn plumbing, no doubt about that. But it's so much more, you learn process piping, if you think of like, for example, the Ethel M Chocolate Factory, and all of the piping that goes into heating the chocolate, transferring the chocolate from that, to that forming the chocolate. Food processing plants have immense amounts of piping, well, somebody has to install it, somebody has to maintain it, and somebody has to train to install very fine, highly high purity pipes. That's that's what we do. powerhouses, you know, you had it, you had North apex, and you see power alley out there, gas fired power houses, there's 50 60,000 psi pipes out there, three, four inch thick chrome pipes that need to be welded together, maintained. And if something goes wrong, it could be catastrophic for the workers on the factory. That's all plumbing and pipe fitting. And so after five years, I had learned the spectrum of what it is that we offer. And every year, there's more, like shortly after I shortly after I graduated, they started orbital welding, which is an entire process that you need for CHIP plants. Down in Phoenix, you have Intel up in Oregon, you've you know, you've got different chip plants. And of course, you know, with the chip sectors, that's going to be a booming industry in America, and video, you know, topping the top of the news these days for becoming one of the largest companies in the world. All of that requires processed piping, very high purity stuff, either to keep the factory cool and clean, or to provide cooling fluids for the processing manufacturing process. And so, technology is always advancing. And we have to advance with it. And that's one of the things that makes my trade so interesting. You never stop learning. And then once you've learned once you've mastered how to build it, then you have to master how to maintain it. And that's a whole different portion of our training, right? Pump maintenance, electrical, low voltage electrical diagnostics, because everything you know, runs off of switches and, and solenoid valves and things like that. So it's a trade that has a lot of facets to it. And I've enjoyed involved evolving with it.

Unknown Speaker 8:36
I have enjoyed listening to what you're talking about. Because as I thought about our time together this morning, I want you to paint a picture for listening audience that's relative and relevant in terms of what you do. Because people think of plumbing. And of course they do they think they're commode, the nice name for the toilet, the toilet. And that's what it's an immediate thing that you can relate to. But it's a career in a space that creates safety for so many people in our everyday lives. And we really don't think about it. And so I'm glad that you were talking about some of the jobs and visual things that people can connect to in terms of what you do. And the training. Um, you mentioned being an apprentice and being a journeyman, you said about five years. So is that a saying that that's a five year process? Or is there a different timeline for the person out there thinking? Hmm, I never thought about this or understood it from this perspective, or the person who's thinking and listening to or thinking about their son or even their daughter coming into a space as we see things change and we look at career spaces for people. What I'm hearing is this is one that will always have some relevance. And as people are figuring out what to do, it will stay relevant because we see automation and we see Changing, we see jobs being eliminated and we see the need to create opportunity.

Unknown Speaker 10:05
Yeah, it's a five year apprenticeship. From start to finish. There are a few occasions where you can skip a year, let's just say you were in the military, and you did a lot of plumbing, or pipe fitting welding in the military. You go through the Veterans and piping program. And then you'll you can get like a direct entry into the second or third year. Because you've already more or less mastered the basic stuff that you learn the first year. There are some programs where we help people reintegrate after serving prison sentences. And sometimes they have skills that they've learned either prior or during their incarceration. And sometimes they can slide in at an advanced level. But typically, you want to do the five years really, because first of all, you're making a fine wage as a first year apprentice. And so there's no there's no real desperate need to jump. And you learn so much more. And you build that camaraderie and you build that reputation for being a good craftsperson. And you wind up working more solidly, when you have that reputation. Once you finish that five years. And by the way, this goes for all of the building trades, that I think there are 15, or 16 different types of building trades unions here in Southern Nevada. And pretty much everything I'm saying goes for almost all of them. Once you graduate your program. The classic definition of journeyman means you can travel you journey, right with your craft. That's actually where the phrase masterpiece comes from. Once you have once you're a journeyman, and your apprentice, you create your masterpiece, whatever, whatever it looked like, whatever it was, and then you can journey with it and show the next city over, hey, this is the sort of craftsmanship I'm capable of. And then they would they would accept you into their guild and then you could work in that trade. That's sort of the language to it all, it's

Unknown Speaker 12:08
really cool to learn the history of where the term come from, and what they mean. Because I don't think people really know most of the time, we just see you as a necessary component to make our life and the things around us work. The programs that you guys offer that help people you mentioned, you talked about veterans and formerly incarcerated people. And that's huge. It's really huge. And for me, because we are grateful to our veterans for the time that they've served with a lot of times the transition when you come back and making sure there is a space for them to land life after time in the military. And then also those who have been convicted of crime and serve their time. That having continuous punishment and having a way to accept them and help them reenter into society and earn just a reasonable livable wage and then go on to live the rest of their lives. There's programs within your apprenticeship programs for them. Yeah. And

Unknown Speaker 13:09
they're not as broad as I would like, you know, we do try to reach out to as many people as we can. We do take in as many people as we can. But we only taken as many as we can put out to work. I'm not a fan of false hope. And so yeah, there's there are plenty of people who apply and don't get in. Trust me, I would fill my school every day every night. If if there was work for everyone. But since we limited to the to the jobs we have available, this way you earn while you learn. But back to the programs. Yeah, so the United Association has the veterans in piping, and all the other trades have what they call Helmets to Hardhats as it helmets, harnesses sort of operates in the same way. If you've been in the military, and you're an electrician, even in military and you're a painter, whatever it may be. There are ways to integrate and get credit for years time served as a service person into getting into an apprenticeship program. Because every apprenticeship program, application process works on a point system. Ours you take a math tests, you get points, you come in with working on the job experience, military experience, certifications, those all add up to points. And then you're given a live interview. Pretty much all the billing trainees work that way. That way, same way.

Unknown Speaker 14:29
Trade has been around for a long time Michigan's been around 85 years. Vegas has changed tremendously with the growth casinos, hotels, businesses. Some of the major things that you guys have worked on all of them, some of them every major project.

Unknown Speaker 14:46
Yeah, there's there's really, it's just there's really no major project that you see as you as you look at the biggest landscape that the unions didn't build. All the major road work that you see infrastructure projects, powerhouses, as I mentioned, that's that's all been built union. And it's great for the community. I mean, if you if you think about what a union does for the community and brings the community sort of rises, all tides are all ships in the tide. Because if you are a contractor and you want to try and pay substandard wages, and the craftsperson you're trying to employ, knows, they could go to a union and get better wages, they will, right. And so you have to you have to rise your labor, what you're paying labor, because unions exist, it creates,

Unknown Speaker 15:38
it creates better competitiveness in the market, where you see a lot of jobs that are non union, they get people from all over the place, which means you don't have skilled labor. You don't have someone who's trained and proven in that training to know what they're doing. When they go in, and they're doing the piping, and they're doing stuff with your housing. Well,

Unknown Speaker 15:57
I, I would never insult any craftsmen to say that they're not skilled. They could be the best there is a building houses or whatever it may be. And that's all they want. They want that they want that job. Right. So I don't I don't look down on anybody who wasn't a union member. Right? Because some people are where exactly where they want to be. I just hope that everyone understands that sometimes there's a better opportunity for them out there. Gotcha.

Unknown Speaker 16:25
I appreciate that. And I respect that. In the space as we see things changing environmentally. What's your responsibility in the space of environmental consciousness? Because we're looking at energy efficiency, we're looking at just how things are changing. I know, there's conversations with solar and you have a role in HVAC work as well. Yeah. So how does that,

Unknown Speaker 16:48
you know, it's funny, the shame is, is that unions build, especially building trades, unions are always seen, as, you know, build it, grow it, you know, just keep building. And don't worry about the environmental space. And that nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, I don't know if you remember, many, many years ago, they were having that discussion about bringing rural groundwater down to Las Vegas. And, you know, building the pipeline. Yeah, remember, and my union was not in favor of that, right? Because we have sportsmen who enjoy those environments up there, the wetlands and things like that. And, and we knew that if we piped the groundwater out of there, it would kill those wetlands was killed. And so we don't need work that bad, right. But we do respect the environment, we do enjoy the environment, we go out there and we park you know, we partake in nature of the beautiful nature of Nevada. And to that end, we are, we are not looking at building as many gas fired plants as we have in the past. But now we're looking at starting to build hydrogen plants, where hydrogen is a very viable, clean and green technology. There's two different types of hydrogen. The US as you may have read, the RTC is starting to trend transition all their buses from burning fossil fuels to hydrogen, but yet they're going to California to buy it because there are no plants in the state to buy hydrogen from. And so Nevada needs to develop those plants. All of those plants have tanks and pipes and extensive welding that needs to be x rayed and to a certain purity and standards. And that's us, you know, the air liquid plant that's in North Las Vegas, they had to bring us on because they needed welders that just we're not going to miss all right. And that's us.

Unknown Speaker 18:33
There's so much growth and there's so much for people to look forward to when you start talking about where we're going, where we're building, how we're evolving. Energy efficiency, opportunities, transportation, we just have a really long way to go in a city that I think people probably never even thought of Vegas. I mean, when I came here, which is almost 30 years ago now. It was beginning to grow, you know, the housing market was different. Everything when there was nothing as bases were now there's just I go out toward the west end and you see all this development and it's like, all these houses. How all this growth, the change.

Unknown Speaker 19:14
I'll do you one better. I mean, I'm not too far removed from when the dump the landfill for the city of Las Vegas was at the end of Vegas drive. It was just past Nellis Boulevard. Wow. And you can still look up there and see this sort of blank weird land where they had to cover it all because Vegas had grown too much. And you could see it and smell it from the town. But that they thought that that was the end of the world. When I first started I talked about talking about that one culture they brought me on. We were working in North Las Vegas, and they they way off in the distance was a power line. It was like this white towers across the way out there. And they said they're not going to stop until they reach that power line. I said No way, there's no way they're ever going to build houses out there. The power line is on this side of the 215. And they've already started building on the other side.

Unknown Speaker 20:07
So I mean, grow. It's crazy how much you see the growth and the change. But I think it's also really important to make sure young people, because not everyone wants to go to college, not everyone will go to college, find the opportunity to do something that they love to do. In Tech, I mean, I, I've talked to you before about these stories, when I'm gonna visit my dad, I'm from Phoenix, I grew up in Phoenix, I was born in northern Arizona, I grew up in Phoenix. I've been here for about 30 years. But whenever I do go home to visit me still there. The project that he worked on, he was part of the carpenters and laborers union for ever. And even after he retired, he retired around 60, of 20 years ago, now my mother passed away. And the work was just hard work. And so it was like without having, you know, his better half there to help him in the evening with dinner and preparing for the work day. Because he was very meticulous about it. But whenever we go home, he's always telling me all the jobs, the freeway jobs and the housing jobs, and for a long time, even after he retired, his hobby was to get together with a group of guys. And they were just do a friend had a number of houses, they did the roofing, they did the plumbing, they did the remodeling, they put in new bathrooms, pour concrete, all of these things. And it was just you could see the labor of love and the measurements and these conversations about everything that goes with it, the two by fours. And the young cats will come in talking about what they had learned. And he was convinced you don't know, let me tell you what you need to know, you haven't done that you haven't done your time. And it's just great pride and knowing how even some of the things that I have literally taken a sink apart before. And it's I owe it all to watching my dad do different aspects of work that he learned in the trades over all of those years. And the great respect he always had for you know, union. And I remember, I think a earring or a ring fell down the sink one day, Greg got out the sink off so quick. Oh my God, my diamond, whatever, whatever just went down the drain, I took everything out, pulled the whole thing apart, I disconnected it, I got the bucket, I put it down there, I captured the water. And I found what I was looking for, and then I put the sink back together again,

Unknown Speaker 22:26
there was something very rewarding about constructing something. That's why you know, I don't, there is no different classes. I don't care if you're building a house of snaking a drain. You know, working on a refinery. There's something very rewarding about that those early morning hours. When you're getting on the job, sun's coming up nice cool in there. And you know what you have to do by the end of that day. And at the end of that day, it is done. So many people work in jobs where that To Do List never gets any shorter. Because even if you do accomplish a little bit here and a little bit there, something else comes up in construction. You know, that's completion, I need these two walls up today or I need to pull this this many feet through this conduit. I need to hang this many sheets of drywall. And then my day is done. Very rewarding. And you know you mentioned so

Unknown Speaker 23:24
that's the best part of the job. No, no,

Unknown Speaker 23:28
the best part of the job is cashing the checks. Oh, okay. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 23:30
thought, you know, maybe it was no,

Unknown Speaker 23:35
no, it's very rewarding when you can use the skills to solve a problem that maybe the prince didn't catch, or the other person designing it didn't catch. When you can step back and look at something you did and really appreciate it. I mean, I know very well, some of the people that did the Allegiant stadium, some of the people that did the sphere, they just every time they drove by,

Unknown Speaker 23:58
like, let's take the spear and just talk about that for a second. Because, you know, we're getting to the end of the show. But it's this big to us. It's as big around as globe thing, and it lights up, what goes into connecting because you see something and you build it in the construction behind a unique piece of architecture, and

Unknown Speaker 24:17
speak. I mean, let me just speak to a unique architecture. I remember the day they finished the Luxor, the general contractor said, if we had to build another one, it would be much easier because we knew all of the different engineering things we had to come up with in order to create the first one. I mean, the inclinometers effect the elevators running at a 45 degree angle. I can

Unknown Speaker 24:37
only imagine because I didn't live here when the Luxor was but and I remember I was living in Seattle, and I thought I wanted to come to Vegas, just because I wanted to see how did they construct a pyramid and the desert Mike? There's a pyramid in the desert. Now we got to go and I remember that it's

Unknown Speaker 24:53
a feat of engineering. If you look at the the

Unknown Speaker 24:58
robot that I tell people that because it's The one hotel that when you go to what it looks like on the outside is what it looks like on the inside. And I would always tell people where she's got you should actually go. Before you know even now, the Luxor is the one hotel that what it looks like on the outside is what it looks like on the hands when it

Unknown Speaker 25:14
opened, it was the largest atrium in the world, because its largest open indoor space in the world because of how it how it pyramids up. But you know, you're talking about the high roller and the skill that it went into putting each section on this big bicycle wheel and the spokes and and how you had to shift it all and put it all together very complex new stuff, you know, the sphere, the LEDs on the outside or you know, probably all components, you just be able to sit there and slowly plug each component in and iron work has to go up at a certain pace and you have to follow it up. It's it's very layered. You can't just let people disappear first, then I'll start putting lights on the outside. You have to you have to have a long term strategic plans for the Eiffel Tower. I was actually on the Paris says that was that was actually my first job when

Unknown Speaker 25:56
I said the Paris I did. But it is the replica of the Eiffel Tower. Yeah, no. I

Unknown Speaker 26:00
mean, imagine, imagine Las Vegas Boulevard, as busy as it is. And it was on you know, it was open at the time. And you're trying to construct something that usually takes a lot of space, and the engineering and the coordination that had to go into the crane work that had to go into all that. Getting all that stuff that high. And the cool thing is, is that as they were building Eiffel Tower, they were testing the fountains. So

Unknown Speaker 26:24
my other one is like I want to know about The Fountains of Bellagio and the volcano that used to be a mirage because Oh, and the wind has, if you're ever in the win on the other side of the waterfall, like an entire show comes up, right, right. And the frog comes out and he thinks Louis Armstrong's song to me, to me, to me, because it's just I thought that was so cool. But we have like these amazing things that you guys have done. And people see them every day. And I don't think they realize, well, even it's behind this greatness. Even

Unknown Speaker 26:55
the mosaic if you go into the to the Bellagio, I think it's the Picasso was the mosaic work and the tiles on the floor. I mean, that's, that

Unknown Speaker 27:04
is arbitrary. Yeah. And the garden,

Unknown Speaker 27:08
Vegas has a unique attention to detail. And it's what makes us who we are. Right. And and that's all craftsmen. That's all, you know, us paying very close attention to making things work. We did the fountains of the plumbers and pipefitters did the fountains at the Bellagio. We had welders who had to go get scuba trained. I used

Unknown Speaker 27:30
to love my I used to work for MGM when it was MGM Mirage. And one of my favorite things about my job was I could tell people turn on those fountains. And that people would be out there watching the show. And it would end and we wouldn't be done. It's out there. Yeah, can you fire my fans up again? And it was so one of the coolest things, but we were down under two minutes. And I want to make sure people know how to find out more. Learn more about the programs.

Unknown Speaker 27:59
Yeah, so first of all, the southern route of building trades, has a great website that people can visit, to learn more about all of the building trades. You know, for more information about my organization, you know, the website, local five to five.org. Very simple to remember. And there you can learn more about the apprenticeship program, which takes be journeyman, but I encourage all trades. And this is what I always like to say two things. If you are an hourly wage earner. There is a union that represents you. I don't care who you are. You are represented somewhere somehow. I've never heard anyone say I wish I had not joined a union. I regret joining the union doesn't happen. What I always hear people say is I wish I had joined a union sooner. Because it comes with a level of unity and power to have everyone talking, standing behind you, helping you achieve.

Unknown Speaker 29:05
I appreciate that. And I appreciate your time. We are out of time. So the Greg Esposito. I'm always excited to talk with you and learn more. Thank you for joining me this morning on the scoop. And thank you, everyone for tuning in and listening. I will see you or hear you and talk to you. Next week. Same time. Can you envy 91.5 jazz or more? Have a great week. wonderful rest of your day.

Unknown Speaker 29:32
I want to thank you for tuning into the scoop with me telling you Flanagan and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle ta en YAFLA na GA N You can also find me on Instagram at Tanya almond eyes Flanagan and if you have a thought and opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai