One of the core pillars of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association’s mission is to serve as a facilitator of training for the industry and provide educational resources to our tower companies and their employees. With training and education as the backdrop, this article highlights a unique opportunity for global telecom infrastructure companies and their employees to participate in a free education and awareness training opportunity focused on combatting human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a GLOBAL problem, often categorized into two parts: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. It is a crime where perpetrators from all walks of life steal freedom for profit. Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, male or female. Their relationship to their trafficker may be that of a family member, intimate partner, acquaintance, or stranger. Victims are frequently exploited by traffickers who prey on their hopes of improving their lives or the lives of their families. Human trafficking often goes unreported and is referred to as “the crime that hides in plain sight.”
Enter the Telecommunications Against Trafficking and Exploitation (TATE) training initiative. NATE member companies Apex Site Solutions and Legacy Telecommunications, Inc. collaborated with the 3Strands Global Foundation, a 501c-3 non-profit organization whose vision is to create a world free from human trafficking, on this telecom-specific initiative aimed at combatting human trafficking globally. NATE is proud to endorse this TATE campaign and take the lead in promoting it throughout the diverse, global communications infrastructure ecosystem.
TATE is focused on providing educational resources to companies in the form of videos focused on the concept of RAN (RECOGNIZE human trafficking AND NOTIFY the proper professionals). The free training includes the compilation of videos below:
PART 1: An Introduction to Human Trafficking
PART 2: How to Recognize Human Trafficking
PART 3: How to Notify and Report
These training videos feature multiple professionals in the telecommunications industry, who have experienced firsthand the impact of this human trafficking prevention training. The free videos, as well as other helpful resources, are housed at the following TATE training portal: https://www.3strandsglobalfoundation.org/tate.
The training can be completed in one 30-minute session. This includes pre and post surveys to assess the impact of the training and an official document showing completion and naming the trainee as "RAN Certified."
Some of you may be asking, why is NATE engaging in a human trafficking initiative? This is not an issue NATE has highlighted in the past and does not involve conventional training like fall protection, rescue, or RF. I would propose that our industry has a moral responsibility and obligation to contribute to a greater societal role in recognizing and combatting trafficking and exploitation as we go about our daily lives.
On a daily basis, communications infrastructure companies have tower crews and other employees traveling extensively. These employees stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and take breaks at truck stops. Telecom industry employees and stakeholders are uniquely positioned to recognize signs of human trafficking and notify authorities about these suspicious activities, which often take place in broad daylight right before our eyes.
I would encourage the TowerXchange community to join me in participating in the TATE campaign and become “RAN” certified. Collectively, all of us can be a positive force for change to combat the horrific issue of human trafficking at the global level. Let’s do our part!
Todd Schlekeway is the President & CEO of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, a non-profit trade association dedicated to providing a unified voice for companies in the diverse tower and communications infrastructure construction, service and maintenance industries. Today the Association boasts over 1,030 member companies located throughout the United States, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, China, Guam, Israel, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Trinidad and the United Kingdom. For additional information on NATE, please visit natehome.com.
