Training the Industry

Ranking high on the list of sign-business concerns is the difficulty of finding well-trained, productive employees. Today, the sign industry continues to grow at a time when the nation’s labor market has tightened. Gone are the days of high unemployment; many cities report severe labor shortages. Because so many opportunities exist for today’s workers, it’s even more difficult for sign companies to attract people with the skills they need. Compounding the problem, few signshops have the time or resources to develop in-house training programs.

As sign-company managers compare notes on this deepening labor crunch, they might be overlooking an important resource. Richard Quaresima, financial secretary/treasurer and business representative of Sheet Metal Workers Local #137 (Long Island City, NY) reminds, "We’ve been saying for years that our union is the best-kept secret in the industry."

It’s not surprising that today’s labor unions face an identity crisis. With the changing character of America’s economy, the past four decades have not been kind to organized labor. Since its 1954 peak, when 35% of all American workers belonged to labor unions, membership has waned substantially. Today, only 14% of all workers belong to unions. In the private sector, union workers represent less than 10% of all employees.

But not all the news is bad. According to the AFL-CIO, the long decline in union membership may have stopped. In 1999, for example, organized labor gained 265,000 new members nationwide, representing its strongest annual growth rate in 20 years. Today, a critical demand for skilled workers coexists with inflated non-union wages. This situation enhances the appeal of the unions’ training advantage. Furthermore, by offering special educational programs for immigrants who comprise a growing percentage of blue-collar workers, labor unions are extending America’s melting-pot tradition into the 21st century.

Exalting labor

Training and experience represent the foundation of an employee’s value to his or her employer. Labor unions recognize the primacy of training, devoting substantial resources to ensure that union-trained workers are highly skilled and productive.

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As a union hall that provides workers to 39 signshops in New York and New Jersey, Local 137 possesses one of the nation’s most extensive training programs. The union’s Apprentice Training Program (ATP) comprises five years of on-the-job training and 600 hours of related classroom instruction (120 hours per year). Similar training programs are offered by Sheet Metal Workers’ locals across the nation. The ATP curriculum trains sign-industry workers in virtually every type of work required in modern signshops, including computer-aided signmaking (CAS) skills.

Each week for ten months of the year, Local 137 holds seven-hour training sessions on Saturdays at its facility in Long Island City. The apprenticeship curriculum includes complete safety instruction and training in all aspects of sheet-metal work, sign fabrication and installation. This includes hands-on training with ladders, scaffolds, telescoping cranes, lifting blocks, load-rigging equipment, power tools, metalworking machines and oxyacetylene torches. At press time, Local 137 had 148 apprentices enrolled in the ATP — 40 in sheet-metal fabrication and 108 in the sign-installation program.

Additionally, Local 137 provides a training program to certify apprentices in welding. Harry Kinney, a certified American Welding Society (AWS) instructor, supervises this training program at the Long Island City facility. Kinney will not certify apprentices until they successfully execute various types of typical welds according to AWS standards. To verify the welder’s competence, welds are subjected to appropriate strength tests. Apprentices are trained in arc welding, MIG welding and TIG welding.

From the outset, union training programs enhance a worker’s value by encouraging individual responsibility. To qualify for entry into the ATP, an applicant must possess a high-school diploma or GED and a valid driver’s license. Each apprentice must also furnish a personal set of basic hand tools as specified by the union.

Local 137 requires apprentices taking night classes for welding certification to pay a $150 obligation fee that is refundable only if the worker attends at least 75% of all training classes. All apprentices are required to complete five sign-related projects during each semester of their training, and they must pass a practical test at the end of the semester.

Sign-specific skills

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Because truck-driving represents an important part of a sign installer’s daily work, the union teaches apprentices how to drive crane trucks and perform basic vehicle maintenance. In Local 137, this means preparing apprentices to receive their New York State Chauffer’s License, a requirement for driving commercial vehicles on state highways. Because a majority of sign companies requires job applicants to possess commercial driver’s licenses, the union prepares workers to start sign-industry jobs in the initial stage of their training. The union also requires apprentices to obtain any additional local licenses required to operate cranes, use torches or perform welding.

Metalworking instruction includes hands-on experience fabricating sign cabinets, channel letters and other custom metal forms. Apprentices learn about various types of signs, as well as their corresponding installation methods.

Training includes special instruction in fabricating and installing steel roof structures that support large signs, billboards and spectaculars like those in Times Square. Apprentices also learn to read construction blueprints. Additionally, electrical training teaches apprentices the fundamentals of fluorescent and neon lighting systems.

Training in safe crane operation and load-rigging represents an important advantage for union workers. Novice sign installers sometimes cause catastrophes when they operate cranes without prior instruction or fail to properly rig loads for hoisting. This inexperience can cost a sign company dearly. To avoid these situations, union training emphasizes personal safety and correct work procedures.

Besides the mechanical aspects of signmaking, union workers also receive training with the latest CAS equipment and software. This training enables the worker to fill a variety of sign-company jobs, depending on an employer’s needs.

The melting pot

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Today’s bull market for skilled labor brings ambitious people to the United States from around the globe. Many of these new citizens have become union apprentices, and the unions are responding with special programs to help workers crack language and culture barriers. Because some of its apprentices are Hispanic, Croatian and Korean immigrants, Local 137 offers an eight-week English Second Language course designed to help these workers adjust safely to their work environments.

This scenario is a replay of America’s 19th century experience, when millions of European workers were recruited to provide the muscle for America’s budding Industrial Revolution. As coordinator of the ATP, Quaresima is proud that his program has already enabled one of Local 137’s foreign-born members to earn a key position as an ATP welding instructor.

Costs and benefits

Before investigating the facts, business owners might assume that union labor is prohibitively expensive. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, union workers earn wages averaging approximately 30% higher than non-union workers. Quaresima told ST that apprentices starting their first jobs earn a $9.59-per-hr. base wage. This represents 35% of the current journeyman’s wage of $27.40 per hr.

Starting at the base wage, union workers advance through 10 pay levels based on their experience and performance. Each time a worker is promoted to a higher pay level (ideally, every six months), the wage increases by 5% of the journeyman’s wage rate. Wage hikes are not automatic, but depend on attendance at school and work, as well as the apprentice’s on-the-job performance.

Counteracting the 30% union-wage premium are studies that report higher productivity for unionized industrial workers than their non-union counterparts. In manufacturing and construction, for example, 1978 and 1986 studies reported that union labor increased productivity by 19%-38% (see Editor’s note, below). Better training, it seems, pays dividends for many employers as well as workers.

Sign companies should also consider the dominant position of organized labor in new construction. Many large projects involving numerous signs (airports, hospitals, sports stadiums and shopping malls) cannot be bid by non-union contractors or suppliers. Thus, having a union workforce can sometimes represent a competitive advantage for a sign company.

In defending local markets against illegal or unfair competition, organized labor supports the interests of business owners. According to Quaresima, "Fly-by-night companies that do not heed local ordinances put all legitimate contractors at risk. Labor and management work together to prevent illegitimate companies from performing work that does not comply with local building ordinances and codes."

Dismissing the stereotype that unions are antagonistic to the interests of sign-business managers, Quaresima told ST, "Labor and management work well together to upgrade the skills of our workers, improve sign fabrication and installation methods, and to collectively address problems which may arise for the benefit of our industry."

Experience to go

The decision to unionize a signshop has important ramifications that hinge on various factors, each of which must be carefully evaluated. Sign-company operators can get answers to some of these questions by contacting Sheet Metal Workers’ representative Mike Small [Phone: (202) 783-5880, Fax: (202) 662-0861]. Other questions can be answered by speaking to fellow sign-company owners who already have union shops.

In conversations with many sign professionals, I’ve found that hiring qualified people is perhaps their greatest challenge. Some of these managers claim they would gladly pay higher wages for better-trained workers who stay with their employer longer. In this vein, a 1998 AFL-CIO survey of displaced industrial workers reported that 48% of union workers remained with the same employer for at least 10 years, compared to only 22% of non-union workers.

With well-trained sign mechanics in short supply these days, labor leaders want the industry to know they can meet demand. Given the dearth of alternative sign-industry training programs, the union option might be more attractive today than ever before.

Editor’s note: Statistics comparing productivity of union vs. non-union workers derive from "Unions, the Quality of Labor Relations, and Firm Performance" by Dale Belman in Unions and Economic Competitiveness, eds. Lawrence Mishel and Paula B. Voos (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1992), pages. 41-107.