Amid reports nationally of worker shortages and even some who report fewer young people entering skilled trade-based industries, a representative with one Twin Cities union reports success reaching younger workers who are interested in a career in the trades.
“You have to get your word out there in the communities, and you have to spread it as best you can,” said Adam Duininck, Director of Government Affairs for North Centeral States Regional Council of Carpenters in St. Paul. He said it’s imperative for unions like his to continue as much in outreach as it can.
“For us, that’s been school district by school district and person by person,” Duininck said.
Some of those efforts include talking to high school and technical college students. He said they even host Career Signing Days, a la high school athletes who sign National Letters of Intent to compete in intra-collegiate sports.
“Let’s have a Career Signing Day, and that young person tells their whole community, ‘I’m going to sign, and I’m going to work for Mortensen, or McGough, or Kraus Anderson, or other contractors we know in the area,” said Duininck. ”It’s both kind of a fun community event, and at times we’ve even gotten local newspapers or local media to cover it.”
His union is seeing the average age of workers who enter the apprenticeship program drop—from 30 a few years ago to 27 now. Duininck attributes that to the outreach they’re doing but also to the maturity of those who want to establish union-backed careers in the trades.
“When you’re 18 or you’re 19 or low 20’s, you’re probably just working a job to try to make as much money as you can, and you’re not as interested in those benefits, frankly,” he said. “It’s not until younger people begin to grow a family, have children and think about benefits like needing healthcare for the family that they come into our programs.”
Still, through individual success stories or public displays like the Career Signing Days, the union hopes to build its ranks through a tried-and-true approach: word of mouth.
“Once somebody becomes a carpenter—for us, they hopefully then become a leader in their community and can be somebody that tells other young people, ‘Hey, this is a great way to make a living,’” said Duininck.
