Climber Protection Group (CPG), the tower technician advocacy organization launched by industry veteran Tommy Schuch, is now a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Schuch founded CPG last year to help give tower technicians a more unified voice in an industry that has long struggled with safety and representation.
The (c)(3) status further establishes credibility and gives CPG firmer footing to pursue long-term funding, according to Schuch, but he sees it as more than a credential.
“What matters is what we're able to build with it,” he told Broadband Nation. “We spent this first phase, you know, establishing that there's a need for [an] independent climber voice and building the foundation for it. And now we have to turn that into something sustainable and actually genuinely useful to the people in the field.”
Despite tower work being one of the most dangerous jobs in its industry, the sector has struggled to gain any traction with union representation — and safety priorities can vary dangerously based on the employer.
Schuch has experienced these environments firsthand for years as a climber and has since reported on them as a documentary film maker. He believes CPG's growth will help centralize support for climbers that has been historically limited to scattered online resource groups. That includes anonymous reporting for work issues and hazards, along with educational interviews and reports that show what the trade's day-to-day realities and dangers look like.
Support among workers is growing quickly, according to Schuch. He talks with climbers across the country regularly and described it as "mind-blowing how many people are aware of Climber Protection Group." He hasn't come across a climber who opposes CPG's work, he added, and spotlighting climbers' stories "is opening so many conversations up, which is the goal currently."
CPG is taking those conversations to Washington, D.C., too. Schuch, currently working on several stories, said he's "continuing to build a catalog of firsthand accounts" to take to policymakers, which he expects to be "very beneficial in getting some things changed."
Worker recruitment vs. worker realities
In January, CPG submitted a congressional packet to Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth with hopes of getting the issues in front of policymakers.
The documents, reviewed by Broadband Nation, share extensive firsthand accounts from climbers and company owners and request federal review of tower safety, contracting practices and RF exposure standards. Schuch also wants these issues in front of the FCC chairman, citing a gap between official messaging and actual conditions in the field.
"I see consistently a pretty serious disconnect from what government and maybe some of these other organizations are putting out as to the reality of the industry and what's actually going on out in the field. I think those are two different things," he said. "The reality and the truth about what's going on out in the field, that is what needs to be presented."
In April, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr climbed a 2,000-foot broadcast tower in North Carolina to spotlight the workforce. Speaking from the tower, he said climbers can make "$50,000, $100,000 once you've been doing it for a little while," and that the industry needs more of them. “It’s a great career,” said Carr.
But Carr also made that pitch from a broadcast tower, a corner of the industry that Schuch said employs a tiny fraction (around 250) of active climbers nationwide, as he reported in a recent documentary episode. Even Fox Business's coverage of Carr was headlined as a cell tower climb, despite him scaling a broadcast tower, and the publication described “sky-high salaries” drawing new attention to the trade. Yet a NATE-commissioned Brattle Group report last year found the current market structure is failing to sustain the skilled workforce the industry needs.
Schuch explained that broadcast climbers tend to make better wages than most of the industry working on cell towers and smaller wireless infrastructures. He described a cell-tower tech he spoke with recently, a top hand who spent three months on the road at $20 an hour, sharing hotel rooms since his per diem didn't cover one of his own.
"This is where CPG comes in," said Schuch. "This is where we respond to that type of propaganda... This is actually what's going on in the field." Giving climbers a platform is why the group was founded, he said, so as to not let "sterilized trade organizations and government officials tell people how it is, because they're never going to get the accurate description."
While CPG eventually plans to arm itself with a nonprofit classification that allows for broader lobbying, Schuch maintains the goal is to be collaborative. "We're not trying to become the enemy of NATE, the contractors, the carriers or any safety organizations. We don't want to fight the industry here, but I want CPG to participate in the industry without losing that independence."