Taking Experience on the Road

By Sheralyn Belyeau

Local 9 was a star attraction for high school juniors who attended a recent Western Colorado Contractors Association Annual Career Day at the fairgrounds near Grand Junction, Colorado.

“Our trailer is definitely a showstopper,” says Local 9 Western Slope Training Coordinator Brian Summers. “We had all these students come through to talk about our apprenticeship program and what it has to offer. Behind the trailer, we had tables set up, and then the participants assembled sheet metal tool trays.”

The noise emanating from the trailer—sounds of students eager to pound metal and experience the sheet metal trade firsthand—only grew the crowd. Soon, as fast as groups moved through the trailer, new ones would be clamoring at the front for a look and the chance to add to the melee.

The Local has been seeing this kind of response for seven years, ever since they developed the sheet metal trailer, like a mobile JATC, for outreach. Local 9 business rep, Lon Comstock, says it’s not uncommon to see 100-150 guests and their chaperones—parents, teachers, or guidance counselors— visit the trailer at a fair.

“We get people through the trailer, explain how our trade works, explain the benefits, plus the wages and things like that,” he says, noting that assembling the tool trays is the highlight of the experience. “We’ve had State Representatives put tool trays together with us,” he says.

The trailer concept is available to any local area, and the trailers can be set up quickly and simply. “Most schools already have the equipment they need for a mobile shop,” says Andrew Gilliland, Local 9’s training director in Colorado Springs. “All it takes is bolting the equipment down in a trailer and making it accessible to people. It's an extraordinarily simple idea that has a great return on investment."

Local 9’s trailer inspired Local 49 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to build one of their own. “We have a 22-foot snowmobile trailer we’ve converted into a mobile sheet metal shop,” says Business Manager Isaiah Zemke. “It’s outfitted with air test and balance modules and a virtual welder. We put a bunch of candy, stickers, and swag in there, too. It’s a ‘Don’t tell me, show me,’ experience, so they actually get their hands onto the metal.”

Students tour the trailer and build a toolbox, do virtual welding, or learn a little bit about test and balance. Last summer, the trailer made its way to a major career fair at a state-of-the-art facility in Amarillo, Texas. “We’ve been able to recruit local apprentices from that area,” Zemke says, “even though it’s over four hours away from Albuquerque.”

James Magoffe, Director of Safety and Manpower at Yearout Mechanical in Albuquerque, New Mexico, depends on the trailer for Yearout’s high school recruitment programs. “Isaiah will bring the trailer out whenever we request it,” he says. “The local has never missed a date for us. I usually get four or five calls from each high school afterwards.”

The trailer is also available to the contractor for events outside the union, such as recruitment events at community colleges or trade shows. “The thing that sets us apart from non-union is the training, so that’s something that we want to celebrate and show,” Magoffe says. “This is an incentive to let them see what the difference is.”

”Local 9 uses their trailer for recruitment events across Colorado, from Second Chance programs for the formerly incarcerated, to trade schools and women’s groups. Over Labor Day weekend, Local 9 provided a barbeque and access to the trailer in an Aurora area neighborhood, which is predominantly African American. “Between high schools and community events, the trailer’s been booked solid for the last seven plus years,” Gilliland says. “There’s generally a backlog of people requesting it.”

Local 9 even takes the trailer to remote rural communities with limited economic opportunities. “If you’ve got a high school that is 60 miles from a major city, you’ve got amazing people out in those areas, and they don’t mind the hour commute to the JATC,” Gilliland says. “You end up with very dedicated, driven individuals that you would have otherwise overlooked. Having the trailer lets us reach into those communities, then you get that spark and things happen.”

Contractors in New Mexico see the same benefits. “These trailers allow the hall to go to the people, instead of having the people come to them,” says Sal Tortorici, vice president of operations for Yearout Mechanical in Albuquerque. “The training trailer expands the breadth of the hall’s reach and benefits us because we depend on them to provide the workforce.”

Rural residents often aren’t aware of sheet metal careers, Tortorici says. “It takes somebody coming in and breaching the zone to help them realize there’s a whole bigger world out there. They say there’s hidden treasures in the hills, and by way of talent, there’s hidden treasures in pockets of rural New Mexico.”

Around Grand Junction, Local 9 has connected with adults who are looking for more stability than they can find in their current careers. “We’ve had oil and gas workers come over to our apprenticeship program,” especially when the petroleum industry is in a downturn, Summers explains. “These are gentlemen in their 30s and 40s, and they want to learn a different trade.”

Getting the trailer to outlying communities requires commitment, especially in Colorado’s rugged driving conditions. The JATC recently approved funding to upgrade the truck used to haul the trailer, from a gas-powered vehicle to more costeffective diesel.

Will Callahan of US Engineering in Denver is one of the JATC trustees who supported the upgrade. “This trailer stands out compared to having a booth and passing out stickers,” Callahan says. “I see some of the other unions don’t have anything like that. It’s a better recruitment tool when we can roll up and have this hands-on experience for applicants.”

Best of all, Gilliland says, “It brings smiles to everybody, everywhere we take it.” ▪

A Colorado native, Sheralyn Belyeu lives and writes deep in the woods of Alabama. When she’s not writing, she grows organic blueberries and collects misspellings of her name.