JOHNSTOWN, Pa. North American Hoganas steelworker John Swanson takes pride in leading a union, which he calls a voice in your workplace.

Swanson is president of a local branch of the United Steelworkers union USW Local 2632, which includes 342 workers at companies including North American Hoganas powder metal facilities in Hollsopple and Johnstown, Highland Tank & Manufacturing Co. and Gautier Steel Ltd.

With a membership of 1.2 million across North America, he said, the USW is seeing membership grow at a rate it hasnt experienced in decades.

The USW organized 80 years ago, in May 1942.

John Swanson, president of Local 2632 of the United Steelworkers of America, speaks during an interview Aug. 29, 2022, at the union's localoffice at 525 Tire Hill Road.

You want safe working conditions. You want to be able to go to work, put your hours in and go home, Swanson said. You want to go home. You dont go to work to get killed. You go to work to go home with a paycheck for your family.

One of the USWs watershed victories in recent times unfolded in 2020 and involved Johnstown, said USW Pittsburgh education department member John Lepley. That was the unionization of University of Pittsburgh faculty, which includes the Johnstown campus as well as the main campus in Pittsburgh.

The establishment of the United Steelworkers of America began a process of lifting families from generational poverty to middle-class status and safer working conditions, historians say.

Pitt-Johnstown history professor Paul Newman said he is intensely proud of being a USW member.

I think of the incredible work the USW did in the 1930s and 1940s to bring American laborers out of the 19th century and into the modern world, he said.

Johnstown had an important and largely untold role in the creation of the USW, which exists today as North Americas largest industrial union.

A long arc of disgruntlement in the mills in Johnstown and a desire for unionization can be traced back to the 1870s, Johnstown Area Heritage Association President and CEO Richard Burkert said.

Exploitation had followed people for generations as many immigrated to America from Europe and working in the steel mills of Johnstown where they could die any number of ways, but certainly poor, in the fiery, dusty mill plants.

Leading up to the formation of the USW, Johnstown steelworkers were part of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), which carried out strikes in steel towns across America in 1937.

Johnstown was a national flashpoint in the SWOCs 1937 Little Steel Strike.

Johnstowns then-mayor, Daniel Shields, received funding from Bethlehem Steel Corp. to supply hundreds of vigilantes with gas munitions to patrol the streets of Johnstown and provide physical support for the back to work movement, said a Johnstown Area Heritage Association publication.

Following the strike, a special committee of the U.S. Senate known as the La Follette Civil Liberties Committee, held the most extensive hearings in American history at the time into employer violations of the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively.

A record of the hearings archived on Congress official website reads: The mayor of Johnstown, Pa., Daniel J. Shields, was confronted with evidence that he had received large donations of gas and gas equipment from the Bethlehem Steel Corporation during the 1937 steel strike. Mr. Shields attempted to deny that he had received such gifts People engaged in a controversy should not provide public officials with arms to shoot the other fellow; yet this is just what happened in Johnstown, as the record shows, and in many other towns.

The strikes culminated in organization at companies including Bethlehem Steel Corp. and confirmed the validity of the National Labor Relations Act, paving the way for the United Steelworkers of America, labor histories say.

When the USW was firmly established in the 1940s, the steelworkers ability to improve working conditions and increase wages began reaching not only to the thousands of workers at Bethlehem Steel Corp., but other sectors of the Johnstown economy, too.

The USW continues today, representing workers of AmeriServ Financial Bank, Gallikers Dairy, Safari Contract Cleaners and the Church of the Brethren nursing home.

Unionization of bank tellers was welcomed by AmeriServ officials in 1971, said Michele Scanlan, AmeriServ vice president for human resources. AmeriServ is among 10 or fewer banks out of 4,900 in the U.S. with unionized employees, she said.

The steel workers were our customers, she said. You want to do union work with a union bank. I was always told unionization was a welcomed addition at the bank. It wasnt met with, Oh, we dont want this. It was, Yes, this makes sense for our business.

More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic era ushered in a new generation of laborers to join the USW.

The organization of Pitt faculty was four years in the making.

Paul Douglas Newman sits in his office in Krebs Hall at the Pitt-Johnstown campus in Richland Township on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019.

Newman helped lead a successful union vote at the Johnstown campus in 2021.

Since then, university administration and the union have not come to terms on a contract, Newman said.

Here we are a year later, and we still dont have a contract, he said. One of the paramount things when we pushed to unionize was we felt like we were never consulted about any safety protocols during COVID. Protocols were changing on a daily basis, and we were never really included in making decisions about our own safety and health. So that was one of the big issues that pushed us toward the union, and of course there are a bunch of others.

Although the USW is evolving, the company it was most closely associated with in Johnstown has become a memory.

From the 1950s through the early 1970s, a high school graduate could get a good job with generous benefits and vacation time working at Bethlehem Steel Corp.

Tom Leslie, 67, of Johnstown, followed his father and his grandfather into the Bethlehem mills by the early 1980s. He worked at the Franklin steel plant for 18 years as a stockyard crane operator.

The town had brightened up. People were making money. People were getting old clapboard houses sided, so now they are not just gray company houses everywhere, he said. My dad had a new car every three years, and everybody in the West End of Johnstown were blue- collar workers.

Tom Leslie, curator of A Steelworker's Story at the Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center, displays on Sept. 18, 2020, the stopwatch that was in possession of his grandfather Hetrick Miller when he died during a train accident at Cambria Steel Company's Gautier yard, 100 years ago on Sept. 22, 1920.

The prosperity of the steel industry looked like it was going to last forever, but in a matter of years it fell apart, he said.

There was more than one reason for Bethlehem Steel Corps bankruptcy in 1992 after 130 years of steelmaking in Johnstown.

Across the country, the bulk of steel job losses occurred between 1974 and 1986 as foreign competition exported cheaper, below-market steel and steelmaking technology evolved to require fewer man-hours, archives show.

On the final day in business at Bethlehem, Leslie filled a furnace with a few massive bucket-loads of steel ingredients and went home.

In my mind on that last day, Im saying this cant be shutting down, he said. This plant is too big and too important to the defense industry, to General Motors, to Ford. There were manufacturers that demanded Johnstown steel.

Leslie has since worked in health insurance and has built an immense exhibit of Bethlehem Steel Corp. artifacts at the Johnstown Area Heritage Associations Heritage Discovery Center, where he gives historical talks.

The Gautier division of Bethlehem survived and exists today as Gautier Steel Ltd. It continues a 100-year-old process of rolling steel billets to complex shapes for construction of steel buildings. The USW continues its work there, too, negotiating benefits and working conditions around its century-old 14-inch rolling mill as well as its newer, 2010 plate mill.

Gautier has 70 USW union members who negotiate with the companys 30 managers and CEO at 80 Clinton St. in Johnstown, union leader Jeff Plummer said.

Jeff Plummer, financial secretary for USW Local 2632, talks about the history of the United Steelworkers of America in Johnstown during an interview Aug. 29, 2022, at the union's local office at 525 Tire Hill Road.

Plummer, 34, is a Gautier electrician, USW unit president for Gautier and financial secretary for USW Local 2632. He said his motivation to take a leadership role in the union grew from his experience of benefiting from the unions contract when he joined Gautier 11 years ago.

Its nice knowing you can make a better life for not only yourself, but the members beside you, he said. When you can help someone in a way that makes them feel good about themselves and their jobs theres pride in knowing that no matter what, the union always has your back.

Years after Bethlehems bankruptcy, Johnstowns steelmaking workforce attracted the Sweden-based company North American Hoganas to open sites in 2002. The company has a site in Hollsopple and another in Johnstowns Moxham neighborhood. The companys production process involves melding steel to make powder for automobile parts.

Ninety percent of cars on the road have our powder in them, Swanson said.

Swanson, 58, has worked at North American Hoganas Hollsopple location since it opened and at First Mississippi Steel at the same site before that.

When we went from the prior company here First Miss to North American Hoganas there was a clause that they had to recognize the United Steelworkers, he said. And they did, without hesitation, which was the best thing ever.

Organizing is often difficult and always political, Swanson said. The education of young members and constant awareness of political candidates positions regarding unionization is crucial to maintaining labor laws won by the unions forefathers.

We are political, he said. We back candidates to back labor laws and back unions and workers and not just unions, but all workers, because labor laws belong to everybody.

The United Steelworkers of America sign on the wall at the Tire Hill office, 525 Tire Hill Road, on Aug. 29, 2022.

The local USW representatives see the union branching out to new types of workers in the future, Plummer said.

We have active campaigns going on with workplaces, he said. I cant name where, but its happening. We are also looking at places where people maybe 20 or 30 years ago wouldnt form a union, but they are now.

The USW in Pittsburgh has Google contractors among its members.

I think this is a novel workforce, but they still have a lot of the same issues than any other working person would have, Plummer said. In Canada, weve already organized several Starbucks locations very different industries, very different kinds of workplaces. But the bottom line is they go to work to put bread on their table. They have concerns about safety, health care and treatment on the job.

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'Voice in your workplace': Johnstown helped shape United Steelworkers, now 80 years old and reaching into many industries - TribDem.com

From dogs in heat-protectant boots to construction workers advocating for additional protections, Austins historically hot summer has ranged from inconvenient to dangerous.

This year, Austin hit record-high temperatures at least 27 times, had more than 60 triple-digit days and saw an average high of over 103 degrees Fahrenheit in July, according to the National Weather Service. Drought conditions worsened across Central Texas and much of the area saw in elevated risk of wildfires. While the NWS predicts most days in September will remain below 100 degrees, the oppressively hot summer has many Austinites considering what the future holdsboth adapting to short-term needs and addressing long-term changes.

Its concerning because we may be heading in a direction where this might be more the norm, said Jay Banner,

professor in the department of geological sciences and director of the Environmental Science Institute.

Central Texas hot future

Over the years, Central Texas has seen Southwest desert conditions spread east, bringing worse droughts and higher temperatures, Banner said. In a normal year, Austin averages about 40 days of triple-digit temperatures. By the end of the 21st century, it could reach 120 days, Banner said.

Using a climate model to simulate business as usualor no significant changes to the factors causing climate changeBanner said the area could expect about four months of triple-digit days.

The tangible effects of hotter and drier conditions include loss of vegetation, livestock and crops, and significant changes to Austin-area bodies of water, such as Barton Creek. The future could be a very different world for Texans, Banner said.

Surviving the heat

A few years ago, Kasey Lansangan, an electrician and president of the IBEW Local Union 520, was digging a trench when his hands started cramping. When he got home, his wife noticed he was not acting right.

Lansangan later learned he was suffering from heat stress or heat cramping, which is a precursor to heat stroke or exhaustion.

The symptoms of heat exhaustion include general weakness and heavy sweating, a weak but fast pulse. Heat stroke includes a rapid and strong pulse, loss of consciousness and disorientation, according to the NWS.

When you are out there, there doesnt seem to be even a recollection of anything being hotter, Lansangan said.

Now as president of the union, Lansangan stresses the importance of education about the heat and precautions on the job site.

If that saves one life, that is worth it, but if you save one life you are probably saving more without knowing it, Lansangan said.

The union negotiates protections with builders, such as providing water, holding toolbox talksjobsite conversationsabout heat and enforcing Austins mandatory Rest Break Ordinance, which is one 10-minute break for every four hours.

Lansangan said about 15% of Austin-area electricians are in a union, and estimates the other construction trades see a similar representation.

Especially for those individuals who are not represented by a union, Lansangan said it is important the city continue to find ways to protect workers.

Brittney Baize, director of development and communications for Family Elder Care, a nonprofit that helps older adults and people with disabilities with health and wellness, helps oversee the summer fan drive every year. The drive provides fans to low-income individuals over age 65.

We are seeing unprecedented demand, which I feel like I see every summer, but this summer is record-breaking, Baize said.

While most Texas homes are equipped with air conditioning, many elderly residents cannot afford repairs when the system breaks or cannot cover an increase in their electricity bill, Baize said.

Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer [nationally], Baize said. For older adults or children or those with a medical issue, they struggle to regulate their body temperature. When they get hot, it can be really dangerous.

Making changes

Throughout the summer, the city of Austin has encouraged residents to utilize cooling centers around the city.These centers are places such as libraries, park facilities and community centers that are regularly open to the public.

On July 11, in 109-degree weather, Austin Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison and her family took refuge at City Hall due to a power outage at her East Austin home.

She posted on the council messaging board about the experience and urged her fellow councilors to look for ways to better support residents through the ongoing heat wave and hot summers to come.As a matter of environmental justice, we are obligated as a municipality to have in place the sort of resilient strategies that will protect the least among us even in the worst of situations, Harper-Madison said.

A few weeks earlier she had called for a special meeting to discuss heat-related issues, but it failed to reach quorum.

That same day, June 28, Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano put out a memo detailing the Austin-Travis County Heat Plan.

The plan includes extending the hours of cooling centers during excessive heat warningstypically cooling centers are only open during normal business hoursand increasing surveillance of vulnerable populations during heat advisories.

The city has taken other precautions this year, including opening the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless during the daytypically it is only open in the eveningsto offer unhoused individuals a place to cool off and has coordinated water distribution at homeless encampments.

Beyond concerns around individual safety, local authorities have taken action to address drought conditions and wildfire concerns. In June, Austin entered Stage 1 water conservation standards, and Dripping Springs entered Stage 3. Travis and Hays counties have been under a burn ban for most of the summer. Travis County passed a resolution asking the Lower Colorado River Authority to speed up its conservation plan.

Even as residents find ways to deal with the hotter temperatures, Banner said it is never too late to begin making changes to address climate change and stave off the worst-case scenario for the future.

I think it is easy to think, Wow this is doom and gloom, and this doesnt sound good ... and that is decades off in the future, Banner said. I would say it should be a cause of concern, and a cause for concern now, because we can act now.

Original post:
Central Texans prepare for the future amid one of the hottest summers on record - Community Impact Newspaper

Ahead of the shows premiere on Wednesday, the cast and crew of The Wedding Singer are working hard to make SUNY Oswegos first live musical in over two years a success.

The Wedding Singer is the musical theatre adaptation of the 1998 film of the same name, a romantic comedy set in the 1980s that tells the story of a lovestruck wedding-reception singer and his journey to find true love.

I think its a fun rom-com that anyone can enjoy, said student Abigail Hines, who plays the role of Julia in the show. Theres comedy, theres the romance of it, theres dancing I think everyone will really enjoy it.

The shows setting in the glitz and glamor of the 1980s requires a particular attitude from the actors, one that must match the loud and colorful aesthetic of the time.

I think theyve had fun immersing themselves in that time period, said theatre faculty member Jonel Langenfeld, the shows director. I think theyre having fun, embracing all the bright colors and the style of dance and the style of singing, because theres some real rocker numbers in there.

The style of the 1980s even extends to the stage and character design, where dazzling lighting, costumes and setpieces will decorate Tyler Hall's Waterman Theatre to contribute further to the shows spirit and themes.

We really tried to take a lot of the elements from the 80s into our mix, said theatre faculty member Greg Brewster, who serves several roles in the crew, as lighting designer, scenic designer and production electrician. We really did some research and pulled back to my early childhood years, and was able to use that as inspiration for the show.

I think what we have for the show does look really good, said student Sydnei Williams, the musicals stage manager. We have lots of cool effects with the fog and smoke, and having the disco ball for certain songs, and just overall all the line sets we have make the show look cool.

Also contributing to the grand energy of the musical is the large ensemble cast, which presents unique challenges for the cast and crew.

Its like organized chaos backstage, said theatre faculty member Cole Sostak, the shows production manager and one of three scenic designers. It has definitely taken a lot of work from the students and also the faculty and staff to come together and collaborate in a way that we havent really done before.

As a musical adapted from a film, the show changes settings frequently, which requires a variety of sets to be prepared in advance. With a relatively small group working backstage, the crew has to work hard to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Movies, they definitely have a lot of different locations, so it can be difficult to have so many set pieces, said student Kayden McLeod, assistant stage manager. Most plays that start off as plays, theyll limit how many scenes they have, or make it so that the scenery is reused a bunch of times as they revisit rooms, but you dont get that opportunity here.

After a long hiatus between live musicals, the cast and crew hopes to make The Wedding Singer a fun, energetic and lighthearted experience for the audience.

The biggest reason we picked this show is because we thought it would be fun for our students, fun for our audience to just take a breath after the downer that the last two years have been, said Sostak. We really just want to bring everyone back with a big celebration.

The show is recommended for those aged 13 and up. It opens Wednesday, April 20, for a preview premiere at 7:30 p.m., with further 7:30 p.m. showings from April 21 to April 24, as well as a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m., all in Waterman Theatre.

Tickets are free for Oswego students, and $15 for staff, faculty, alumni and the general public. They are available at tickets.oswego.edu.

- Written by Collin Knapp of the Class of 2023

Read more here:
Musical theatre and the 1980s return this week with 'Wedding Singer' - SUNY Oswego

By By TRACY HUTCHINS - Apr 14, 2022

Tracy Hutchins is executive director of the Upper Valley Business Alliance.

Executive Director of the Upper Valley Business Alliance

By now, the shortage of workers across all occupations has been well documented. However, the shortage facing the skilled trades is not new or a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The declining number of those entering the skilled trades including plumbers, electricians, carpenters, roofers is reaching a critical point everywhere, the Upper Valley included. The result is long wait times to have necessary work completed and higher costs to consumers.

Struggling to hire people is not new for contractors in the Upper Valley, explained Jeff Acker, president of HP Roofing in White River Junction. Lack of workers for the trades has always been an issue. Its not the result of the pandemic.

The demographics of the Upper Valley make it hard to find skilled tradespeople here, Acker said.

This area has an older (relative to median age of other states) population that has resources and there a lot of second homes. We dont have a metropolitan area to draw on for workers, he said. And the reality is, kids that grow up here tend to leave. They want to try out living in Colorado or Boston.

Adam Cole, president of Cole Electric in Thetford, agrees.

There is a profound skilled trade shortage, Cole said. We used to get people just dropping by an application. Now we run an ad for three months and not get a single person apply.

Cole also believes the shortage of tradespeople is not due to the pandemic, but rather goes back to the 2008 recession.

There used to be 22,000 people employed in the skilled trades in Vermont in 2008. Now there are 15,000, he said. After the recession, the industry never recovered. People got out of the business.

Jay Boucher, founder of Defiance Electric in Enfield, sees the shortage as stemming from even further back than 2008 and believes the industry has changed.

When I was coming up, there were general contractors and they had their own teams of carpenters, electricians and so on. Now, those people are subcontractors, he said. Subs have to work double time to accommodate the general contractors schedule they get a higher profit margin when they are under schedule. It puts a lot of pressure on the subs and it hasnt made being in the business very pleasant.

The Vermont Department of Labor correlates Coles claim: From 2007 to 2022, Vermont saw a 9% decline in the number of people employed in the construction industry.

According to the report published by the Vermont Department of Labor, Vermont Declining and High Demand Occupations 2020, electricians, plumbers and those in the construction and extraction occupations are listed as high demand occupations. However, the skilled trades often are not seen as a viable career option by many young people or their parents.

Boucher sees changes in the education system as part of the problem.

There used to be industrial arts in every middle and high school, he says. Now if our kids want to explore the trades, they have to go to the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center which takes time out of their regular school day.

Cole agreed.

In high school, I dont think the electrical trade is seen as a viable option, which is too bad, he said. After a four-year training program, you have a valuable skill that you can take anywhere.

Finishing a skilled trade apprenticeship and training program can be the start of not only a marketable skill needed anywhere in the country, but also a skill with good earning potential.

There is tremendous pressure on kids to get a four-year degree, Acker said. I have three kids of my own that have graduated from good colleges and all three got jobs out of college making less than I pay my starting roofers.

Acker does not believe its a college versus noncollege issue.

I think we miss the kids who have graduated from high school and dont know what they want to do or dont want to go to college right away, he said. Those are the kids who we need to reach that could benefit from learning a trade. After their training, they often can start in the mid-50s ($50,000) and are already earning a solid middle-class income.

According to labor market data from both Vermont and New Hampshire, the mean wage for someone in the construction trades is $26 per hour.

Boucher also believes that the state licensing board has inadvertently made it more difficult for young people to explore a career in the trades.

Kids used to be able to work summers as an assistant to an electrician to see if they liked the work, he said. Now thats not possible with the licensing requirements. There should be a program to entice kids to try it out.

Acker, Boucher and Cole said their businesses put a great deal of time into training new employees.

We hire unskilled workers and I spend the majority of my time training and incentivizing, Acker said.

Cole Electric will train and sponsor an electrician apprentice to obtaining their license with the state.

Training is a lot of effort on our part, Cole said. We dont see a lot of productivity from a first-year apprentice. In year two, we expect them to be able to do some things on their own and by year four, they may be training newer apprentices themselves.

Defiance Electric offers a structured program to new apprentices.

They have to go to school, Boucher said. They typically start at 60% of a full journeymans wage. But they get an increase each year of their apprenticeship and at the end of four years, they are making a starting journeymans salary.

As the shortage of skilled tradespeople continues, the salaries continue to become more competitive.

At the end of the day, its a market and we have to be competitive, Acker said. We offer sign on bonuses, referral bonuses if an employee brings in another employee, and loyalty retention bonuses.

Defiance Electric became a union shop to address not being able to find skilled workers.

When the union first contacted us, we laughed, Boucher said. But when we looked into it more, it wasnt going to cost us more plus we didnt have to do all the HR administration ourselves. The union provides a more comprehensive benefits and wage package and we have a fixed rate for health care insurance for three years. It allows us to be more agile. If we get a large project and need more people, we call the union and they send us workers.

Cole Electric too has raised its pay scale to compete for workers.

Ive been trying to proactively increase pay rates, Cole said.

However, he sees the high cost of housing in the Upper Valley as driving workers out of the region.

We are pricing people out of the Upper Valley, Cole said. A lot of our people live in Bradford and north or west. They cant afford to live here so they drive an hour or more to go to work.

Acker, Boucher and Cole all agree that a career path in the trades offers much opportunity.

Our society could do a much better job of acknowledging that the trades is a good job, Boucher said.

Read this article:
Where have all the tradespeople gone? - Enterprise - Enterprise

By Greg Paeth

Laptop or toolbelt?

That could be a fundamental question for people launching a career or decidingmaybe after 10 years in another fieldthat they want to learn a trade that might be more fulfilling and pay better than a desk job.

As the weather warms and construction season kicks into high gear, people who have a trade and a solid work ethic are in demand throughout Kentucky and elsewhere in the country, according to contractors and building industry insiders in the state and a national organization that knows every nuance of the industry.

There seems to be no disagreement about whether theres a shortage of people working in the building trades right now and that the gap between available jobs and available tradespeople is widening.

Workforce availability in the construction industry is a huge challenge for all of the trades right now, said Lynn Stetson, CEO of the Builders Exchange of Kentucky in Louisville, a 900-member organization that informs members about upcoming construction projects and makes blueprints available to prospective bidders online or in plan rooms in Lexington and Louisville.

In some cases, it has arrived at somewhat of a desperation mentality, she said in describing the competition for tradespeople. Its really a situation of no holds barred. Everybody can be as creative as they want to be in luring workers, said Stetson, whose organization was created in 1927.

Doug Wilburn, president and CEO of D.W. Wilburn, a commercial contractor and construction management firm in Lexington, said theres nothing new about the shortage of tradespeople, although it may be far more acute today.

Its been going on for the last 30 yearsyou can see it. The American people feel that they can find better jobs and they dont have to do the dirty, rough work out on a construction site, said Wilburn, who started in the industry as a mason before founding his own company in 1986.

In recent years, Wilburns company has tackled some huge projects in central Kentucky, including City Center in downtown Lexington, the UK Federal Credit Union and the Capital Plaza redevelopment in Frankfort.

Right now, Im okay, Wilburn said when asked whether hes hunting for more people. But if I wanted to add 10 experienced tradesmen10 experienced carpenters, 10 experienced concrete finishers, 10 experienced anythingI couldnt find them. I might be able to pull those guys in in the next two months.

Subcontractors he works with routinely talk about how difficult it is to find experienced craft workers, said Wilburn, whose company has about 100 employees.He said he doesnt offer any special bonuses to attract employees.

We are already paying top dollar for that reason (to retain workers and stay competitive), he said, adding that his carpenters and concrete workers typically make $60,000-$70,000 plus benefits.

Hispanic workers are critical to Kentucky contractors, Wilburn emphasized.Right now, if you took the Hispanic labor out of the construction industry, it would all but shut it down. I believe any general contractor you talk to would tell you the same thing.

Addressing the challengeNailing down the scope of the shortage can be tricky.

An estimated 60,000 building-trade jobs will be opening up in Greater Cincinnati over the next 10 years, according to Brian Miller, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, a region inside the Cincinnati metropolitan area of about 2.2 million.

At the national level, the number is staggering.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) issued a call to action in early March to combat the housing industrys chronic skilled-labor shortage. The association said it needed a plan to retrain, recruit and replace 2.2 million skilled carpenters, framers, electricians, plumbers and other tradespeople in the next three years.

It is one of the greatest challenges right now in our industry, said Chuck Fowke, a Florida custom builder and chairman of the NAHB. And its likely to get worse before it gets better.In an effort to address the shortage of people in the building crafts, some contractors are offering signing and recruiting bonuses while others turn to trade schools, community colleges and their own on-the-job training programs to ensure they have enough skilled people now and for the future.

Somewhat surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of people who were interviewed said the shortage of tradespeople hasnt had a huge impact on completion dates for their projects.The skilled-trade shortage is absolutely immense, said Miller. Just open up Google and look for anyone involved in construction and theres a workforce shortage that is just astronomical.The Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, which was known as the Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky until about five years ago, now owns and operates the Enzweiler Building Institute, a construction trade school in Erlanger.

Were seeing the graying of our skilled workforce turn into the retirement of our skilled workforce and the wages are shooting up because of it, said Miller, pointing out that Northern Kentuckys booming logistics industry has attracted hundreds of people who might have had a construction job in the past.

Working with the City of Covington, the organization has been awarded state and federal money that is being used to open a second Enzweiler trade school. The $1.2 million project is scheduled to open later this year in a building that had been part of a strip shopping center in the citys Latonia neighborhood. Courses will include training for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, welders and HVAC installers and technicians. Annual tuition will range between $2,600 and $3,800, depending on the program.

Covington also is working with the Building Industry Association and Enzweiler on a separate specialized trade school that would focus on the restoration of historic buildings in a city that dates to 1815, Miller said. About half of the homes in Covington were built before 1940.

Millers comments about the scarcity of tradespeople were echoed all over the state.

Bruce Maybriar, the professional development director for the Building Industry Association of Central Kentucky, is also alarmed about the shortage of tradespeople.

We do see a demand. We see that across the board for all the licensed trades as well as carpenters, roofers, bricklayers. And theyre experiencing the same thing in the service industry and the food industry. There are just not enough people out there to go around. As a result, the trades have increased their salaries tremendously to be competitive in this market, said Maybriar, whose Lexington-based organization covers a contiguous 10-county region.

The association in Lexington, like the Northern Kentucky association, also operates a trade school, the Building Institute, that dates to 2014, when some members were having a tough time filling jobs, Maybriar said. The institute offers classes in the three mainstream building trades that are licensed by the state: heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); plumbing; and electrical work.

Working through the Building Institute cuts the average completion time for electricians from four years to two and the plumbing and HVAC training from two years to one. People who complete the program and pass a state test attain journeyman status, which allows them to get a license and own a business in that trade.

The first graduating class in 2016 had just 11 members. Since opening, 138 people have completed the program and 75 students are enrolled this year. Many of them work at their trades during the day and do classwork in the evenings, Maybriar said.

The Building Institute balances its enrollment with job demand.

We always worry about saturation rates. We never want to graduate more students than the industry can hire, Maybriar said.

COVID, natural disasters create more hurdlesHowever, the workforce shortage in the construction industry is not a recent development.

Trades are huge andthere was a shortage even before COVID. Then, unfortunately, COVID made it worse, said Anetha Sanford, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Kentucky in Frankfort, which has some 5,400 members across the state.

Huge projects that create thousands of jobsthe kind of news often made by Toyota or Ford in Kentuckydominate headlines while essential building trades rarely get much attention, she said.Right now, trade shortages are a critical problem in Bowling Green and Western Kentucky, where contractors are struggling to keep up with the workload after deadly and devastating tornadoes struck last December, Sanford said.

In Bowling Green, where builders were already scrambling to keep pace with rapid growth, the tornadoes cut a swath of destruction through the city after dealing sledgehammer blows to Mayfield, Dawson Springs and several other cities, killing about 80 people throughout the state.

The Dec. 11 tornado that resulted in 17 deaths in Bowling Green coupled with the shortage of tradesmen and supply chain woes were devastating, said Anita Napier, CEO of the Builders Association of South Central Kentucky in Bowling Green.

We need builders to framers to just about anything that has to do with a home, she said. You would say we are in desperate need of all kinds of workers hereanything you could name we dont have a surplus of.

People who know the building industry say it could be at least three years before Bowling Green returns to pre-tornado levels, Napier said. She said shes concerned that people who cant find housing quickly will move away and never return.

Although his company didnt have to deal with anything as dramatic as a killer tornado, F. Hunter Strickler, executive vice president of Louisville Paving and Construction, acknowledged that finding trades workers can be problematic.

We have faced challenges hiring experienced tradespeople for some time now, so it is not out of the ordinary. But during 2020 and 2021, with the uncertain climate around COVID, it became even more difficult to attract tradespeople and in particular qualified CDL (commercial drivers license) drivers, Strickler said.

We have completely revamped our onboarding process to improve our retention and a large part of that is providing mentorship opportunities for our team members. We have multiple internal programs that provide professional development for team members wanting to progress through our organization and boost their professional skills. Our Leadman BUILDS Program develops our future foremen and superintendents, and our leadership development program is a one-on-one mentorship program meant to promote leadership development across our organization, he said.Like a number of other companies in the state, Strickler said Louisville Paving pays bonuses to attract tradesmen.

We regularly offer signing bonuses across almost all trades positions in order to attract top talent. We also have a robust team member referral bonus because we believe great team members are our best resource to attract other great team members. We want to reward our own for building great teams, he said.

Mark Hill is the vice president and region leader in Lexington for Messer Construction, a Cincinnati-based company that has offices in Lexington, Louisville and Newport, where it operates as EGC Construction. In Lexington, Hill said, the company hasnt had too much difficulty retaining a core of about 40 tradespeople and 40 other employees. It then hires subcontractors to handle plumbing, electric and HVAC. Tradesmen on the Messer payroll in Lexington include carpenters, cement finishers, equipment operators and laborers.

But he acknowledged that Messer, which has 10 offices in five states and 1,300 employees, has had challenges finding tradespeople in other markets in recent years.

Companywide it has been an issue. Nashville is super busy right now, and there definitely are challenges down there with finding skilled, experienced craft workers, said Hill, whose company also works as a construction management firm.

Hill said hes had good luck hiring people who have gone through programs at the Southside Technical Center in Lexington and Bluegrass Community and Technical College, which has seven campuses in and around the city.

Recent Lexington projects by Messer include the $241 million Lexington Convention Center project that began in 2018 and included the renovation of Rupp Arena and the Eastern Kentucky University Powell Student Center. The company also acted as the construction manager for the renovation of the state capitol, a project that may cost $100 million.

Better than a bachelors?Without any prompting, Maybriar, Stetson, Miller, Wilburn and Hill all commented about trades work in comparison to jobs available to college graduates.

Theres a large emphasis on kids going to college; getting them to go into the construction trades is a bit of a challenge, said Hill, whose company offers apprenticeship programs for carpenters and laborers that are certified by the U.S. Department of Labor. You know, college is not for everyone.

High school counselors want to send kids to a four-year school, said Stetson, adding that the Builders Exchange has made an effort to link young people who want to learn a trade to contractors who need help.

Attitudes about blue-collar trades also influence career choices, Miller said.

Culturally, weve been suffering from a lot of things (and one of them is) the demeaning view of the trades. You go over to Europe and the carpenters, the installerstheyre looked at like theyre artists. Here, theyre looked down upon by some people, Miller said.

Using data he gathered from ZipRecruiter, an online employment site, Maybriar said average salaries for many of the trades exceed the $40,100 average salary for college graduates in Kentucky.

The average journeyman plumber makes about $51,400 a year, a couple hundred dollars less than a journeyman electrician, Maybriar said. A journeyman who works in HVAC has an average annual wage of about $43,400, he said.

Two of the three numbers stacked up pretty well with statewide figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS figures were about $1,200 higher for electricians and HVAC work and roughly $6,000 more for plumbers, according to Millers research.

At entry level positiona helper, which would be the equivalent of an apprentice in a trade unioncan sometimes make $20 an hour, Maybriar said.

The trades have come a long way, and theyre paying very, very well. Students in our program make money during the day and attend classes at night, Maybriar said.

Tuition is $8,000 for either the one-year HVAC or plumbing programs or the two-year course to become an electrician.

If theyre not employed when they graduate in the trades, we give them 100% of their tuition back. I do not think UK or UofL makes that offer.

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Construction: Building a Plan to Address the Workforce Shortage - The Lane Report

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Electrical Service Professionals | Best Local Electricians ...

The average salary for an Electrician in the United States is between $45,060 and $76,840 as of December 27, 2021. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on the actual Electrician position you are looking for. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target. View the Cost of Living in Major Cities

Alternate Job Titles: Electrician - Apprentice | Electrician Helper

Inspects, repairs, installs, and maintains electrical systems, machinery, and equipment. Ensures all work performed meets required safety codes and is properly inspected. Uses a variety of tools and equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment. Typically requires a high school diploma. Typically requires Electrician Lice... View job details

Alternate Job Titles: Electrician - Apprentice | Electrician Helper

Inspects, repairs, installs, and maintains electrical systems, machinery, and equipment. Ensures all work performed meets required safety codes and is properly inspected. Uses a variety of tools and equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment. Typically requires a high school diploma. Typically requires Electrician Lice... View job details

Alternate Job Titles: Electrician - Apprentice | Electrician Helper

Inspects, repairs, installs, and maintains electrical systems, machinery, and equipment. Ensures all work performed meets required safety codes and is properly inspected. Uses a variety of tools and equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment. Typically requires a high school diploma. Typically requires Electrician Lice... View job details

Alternate Job Titles: Electrician Journeyman | Intermediate Electrician

Inspects, repairs, installs, and maintains electrical systems, machinery, and equipment. Ensures all work performed meets required safety codes and is properly inspected. Uses a variety of tools or equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment. Has at least two years of journeyman level electrical experience. Typically re... View job details

Alternate Job Titles: Master Electrician | Senior Electrician

Inspects, repairs, installs, and maintains electrical systems, machinery, and equipment. Ensures all work performed meets required safety codes. Uses a variety of tools or equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment. Generally required to complete an apprenticeship. Typically requires a high school diploma or its equiva... View job details

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Electrician Salary | Salary.com

To become a state licensed general contractor in Delaware, the process will be run through the Delaware Department of Revenue. Unlike many states, registration and application to be licensed will be done through the same form, since Delaware offers a Combined Registration Application. Additionally, youll need to register your business and acquire your Federal Employee Identification Number and additional tax information prior to any application process.

Although the main general contracting licenses in Delaware come in the form of resident and non-resident licenses, you will have to consider an alternate licensing process for specialty trades including electricaland plumbingthrough the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation. Read below to understand what license you will need for the contracting work you will be performing, exams and professional experience required, and the associated fees necessary to meet Delawares requirements for becoming a general contractor.

The state of Delaware, under title 30, chapter 25defines contractor asevery person engaged in the business of: Furnishing labor or both labor and materials in connection with all or any part of construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, viaducts, sewers, water and gas mains and every other type of structure as an improvement, alteration or development of real property.

Additionally, the state of Delaware has two different licenses you can register and apply for. Although the application process is similar, you will need to determine if you will be applying for a:

Resident Contractors License:A resident contractor is any individual or business that will be performing contractor work who regularly maintains a place of business in Delaware.

Non-Resident Contractor License:If you are a person or business who does not regularly maintain a place of business in Delaware, your application will be the same as a resident contractor, however you must acquire a surety bond.

To complete the application for both resident and non-resident licenses, you will need to fulfill additional requirements, including: registering your business, providing proof of workers compensationand unemployment insurance, and a surety bond if you are applying for a non-resident license.

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Anyone who is planning to perform the construction work defined above will have to acquire a license through the state of Delaware. Delaware also issues licenses, and you will go through a different licensing processthrough the Delaware Division of Professional Regulationfor:

Note: If you plan on doing asbestos work that is not on your own family dwelling, you will need to be certified for asbestos abatement.

To become a licensed contractor in Delaware, you must first meet some prerequisites, including:

Additionally, the state of Delaware requires most business owners to get general liability insuranceto pay for property damages and personal injuries. Aspiring contractors will need to furnish a certificate of insurancealong with an out of state license in order to transfer licensure to a new state when relocating.

Once you have obtained the above, you can start the registration/application process. For both resident and non-resident licenses, you will need to fill out the Combined Registration Application (CRA)through the Delaware Department of Revenuewebpage.

Although no exams or proof of education are expressed as requirements to obtain your resident and non-resident license, they may be needed for electrical, plumbing, HVACR, water driller, and pump installer licensing.

Your overall registration, application, and licensing process will be through the Delaware Division of Revenue. Fees attached include:

Checks can be made out to:

DIVISION OF REVENUESTATE OF DELAWAREP.O. BOX 8750WILMINGTON, DE 19899-8750

There is no exam or proof of experience required to get your resident and non-resident license in Delaware. However, licenses are issued for electricians, plumbers, HVACR, water drillers, and pop installers in which you will need to take an exam, or show proof of experience to be licensed or certified. All information about exam scheduling, fees, and locationsfor specialty trades can be found at Delawares Division of Professional Regulationwebsite.

While no exam fees are attached to a resident and non-resident general contractor license, you will have to pay for exams for the specialty trades described above. Details can be found at the Delaware Division of Professional Regulationwebsite.

Your license application will be submittedthrough the Delaware Department of Revenuefor resident and non-resident licenses, while most other licenses will be through the Division of Professional Regulation website. While resident and non-resident licenses have a similar application process, other specialty trade licenses vary in requirements and exams you will take.

To start theapplication process for resident and non-resident licenses, the following requirements will need to be met:

For specialty trade work including electrical, plumbing, HVACR, etc., your licensing process will be through the Division of Professional Regulation.

Delaware provides a Combined Registration Application (CRA) for both resident and non-resident licenses. For detailed information, visit the state of Delaware Department of Finance, Division of Revenuewebsite.

Businesses that operate within Delaware are required to register for one or more tax-specific identification numbers, licenses or permits, including income tax withholding, sales and use tax (sellers permit), and unemployment insurance tax.

You will need to register your business and become licensed before you apply to become a general contractor in Delaware. Delawares one-stop business licensing and registration systemallows you to register your business with the Division of Revenue.

Delaware requires you to register for one or more tax-specific identification numbers, licenses or permits, including income tax withholding, sales and use tax (sellers permit), and unemployment insurance tax. Visit the Division of Revenuefor additional tax information.

Businesses with employees are required to carry workers compensation insurance coverage through a commercial carrier, on a self-insured basis, or through the state workers compensation insurance program. Visit the Delaware Department of Laborfor more details.

To look up licensed contractors in your area, the State of Delawareofficial website provides a searchable database online.

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Connecting the power lines to your property and keeping the lights on!

Jan 25 2022 Updated 5 hours ago

DISTRO-TEX is your trusted electrical contractor for a range of electrical works.

Founded by Copper Coast locals Ryan Porteous and Abraham Helfand in 2020, Distro-Tex is accredited and qualified to perform various works ranging from SA Power Networks powerline construction through to general domestic, commercial and industrial electrical jobs.

We aim to provide turnkey solutions where we can construct new powerlines to our clients properties and then install the domestic wiring to turn the lights on, they said.

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With over 20 years of combined powerline and general domestic, commercial and industrial electrical experience, our services range from installing new stobie poles and transformers to rural properties through to installing domestic sub mains, house rewiring, new house installations, ceiling fans, lighting and also community and council street/sports lighting, they said.

Distro-Tex has offices in the Copper Coast and Adelaide, with directors Ryan and Abraham being trained locally in the Copper Coast for their trades.

Abraham completed his apprenticeship with SA Power Networks based at the Kadina depot where he completed nine years of service and Ryan completed his electrical apprenticeship with a local electrician in Moonta Bay where he crafted his skills for five years before joining SA Power Networks in Adelaide for a further five years.

Recently our projects have included installing underground and overhead residential subdivisions in Moonta Bay, Port Lincoln and Wallaroo, complete renovation of a two-storey home in Henley Beach and Modbury as well as community lighting for the Wakefield Regional Council, they said.

We also recently installed light towers at the Blyth cricket oval to facilitate night cricket conditions for training, achieving an average of 300 lux across the training area; as well replacing the old halogen tower floodlights at the Hamley Bridge Football Club with new 1200W LED floodlights.

Distro-Tex was also heavily involved with the Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park where the crew was contracted to complete and connect all the high voltage cable terminations in remote conditions.

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To find out how Distro-Tex can help you, call Abraham on 0447 027 082, Ryan on 0448 227 636, email admin@distrotex.com.au or check out http://www.distrotex.com.au.

The rest is here:
Connecting the power lines to your property and keeping the lights on! - Yorke Peninsula Country Times

It took much longer than it should have, but City Councilmember Bobby Henon has finally resigned.

Last November, Henon was convicted of bribery and honest services fraud alongside his political patron, John Dougherty the former head of IBEW Local 98, the electricians union in what one juror called a real lesson in Philadelphia civics and how Philadelphia government works.

Henon and Dougherty cast their legal fight as a David (pugnacious labor leader) vs. Goliath (politically motivated federal prosecutors) struggle and described their relationship as nothing out of the ordinary for a member of City Council and a union boss. But jurors, who in court heard one wiretap after another, disagreed.

Ultimately, the $70,000 a year Henon received from Local 98 proved hard to explain especially when Henon, who said the sum represented his salary as an electrician, was unable to provide evidence of any electrical work that he performed.

READ MORE: Bobby Henon should resign now | Editorial

We can only hope that Henons no-show electrician job will finally spur his former colleagues on Council to restrict outside employment for the members of that body going forward. With a salary of more than $130,000 per year, there is no need for councilmembers to risk the conflicts of interest that may come from moonlighting elsewhere.

Now comes the task of replacing Henon and with it, a chance for Philadelphias political establishment to begin to change the way it does business.

Council President Darrell L. Clarke has the authority to schedule a special election to replace Henon, and the City Charter leaves the date up to his discretion. Of course, if Henon himself had done the right thing and stepped aside sooner, his replacement might already be in office and able to contribute to legislative matters like the redistricting debate.

While that possibility has been eliminated by Henons decision to hold onto his seat for two months after his conviction, Clarke can ensure that Henons constituents in the 6th District dont go too long without representation. Although the Home Rule Charter allows for the Council president to choose when the special election happens, its key that Clarke prioritizes this measure by scheduling it on or before the May primary, instead of waiting for the general election.

READ MORE: Philadelphia Politician Wall of Shame

It is also important that the process to find Henons successor offers more transparency than in prior special elections. Currently, the Democratic City Committee selects replacements by convening ward leaders, who, in the past, have sometimes chosen candidates from among their own ranks.

The opacity of the selection process concentrates the power to choose who represents the roughly 160,000 residents of Henons district into very few hands. The endemic of insiderism, as State Rep. Chris Rabb once dubbed special elections, can lead to corruption. Look no further than the embattled 190th District, where in 2021 the fourth state representative in three years was chosen by special election following resignations from Vanessa Lowery Brown, who stepped down after being charged with bribery, and Movita Johnson-Harrell, who left office after being charged with stealing more than $500,000 from a charity she founded.

Its crucial that more voices be added to the conversation. One solution could be to include each elected committeeperson in the 6th District, not just the ward leaders, who oversee special elections (and who are not required by law to live within the district in question). Although still a part of the political machine, committeepersons are often on the ground in their neighborhoods and have a good sense of what their communities need most.

The Democratic City Committee grants broad autonomy to ward leaders in running special elections. Its essential that these leaders expand the conversations about potential candidates to include committeepeople. While this may happen in an informal way now, codifying that kind of dialogue would ensure broader perspectives and strengthen the democratic process.

If Philadelphia is going to break the reputation for corruption weve earned after watching at least 20 elected officials get convicted of serious crimes in the last 40 years, transparency and collaboration are key. In deciding when and how Henons replacement is selected, city and political leaders have an opportunity to do things a different way. They should take it.

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With Henons resignation, a chance for Phillys powerbrokers to move away from business as usual | Editorial - The Philadelphia Inquirer