(LAKE VIEW, NEW YORK) – Construction Exchange of Buffalo and Western New York Representative Jim Logan, who along with Jim “Smoker” Smolinski - who serves as International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17’s Administrative Manager at the Union’s Training Facility in Lake View, have been involved in every one of the 16 Western New York Construction Career Days events that have been put on by the Buffalo and Niagara County Building & Construction Trades Council over the years.

Later this week - on Wednesday (October 2nd) and Thursday (October 3rd), as many as 1,200 High School Students (600 anticipated each day) from across the region will travel to the IUOE’s sprawling 400-acre Training Facility in Lake View just south of Buffalo where they will be introduced to a potential career in any one of the individual Construction Trades. 

There, they will participate in a variety of hands-on and virtual opportunities that just might catch their interest in one day becoming a Unionized Construction Worker here in Western New York.

Having held so many of these events over the years, both Logan and Smolinski tell WNYLaborToday.com they are not only seeing the benefits of these young Men and Women entering the Trades once they graduate from high school, but are also seeing the immediate “click” on the faces of the kids when they get the chance to operate a backhoe or virtually weld or paint under the watchful eyes of Trades Representatives and Retirees.

“It’s ‘nice to see that click happen,’” Logan tells WNYLaborToday.com.  “‘I’ve seen a change over the years - we’re starting to see more interest from young people when it comes to a good (earn-while-you-learn) career in the Trades versus going to college and paying back all that debt.’”

Smolinski said his Union is “seeing more” of his Union’s Apprentice applicants acknowledge that they had attended Western New York Construction Career Days in the past.

“‘Definitely,’” he said.  “‘We see a lot of our Apprentices putting down on their applications that they were at a Career Days.’”

Asked if he was surprised of the event’s staying-power over the years, Logan answered: “I ‘don’t know if we did’ (believe it would become so successful).  I was approached by (then) Building Trades President Dan Boody many years ago to come together with the Construction Exchange and our Contractors to put this on.  ‘It’s grown over the years and there’s a lot to see and do.’  We ‘need more’ Workers ‘and the need is even greater today.’  That’s why we talk to the kids about a career in the Trades ‘and what a great way it is to make a living.’  There’s ‘no other’ event like this across Western New York ‘where you can get to see that ‘click on those kids’ faces.’”

The median age for a Construction Worker right now is mid-40s and many, many more seasoned and experienced Trades Workers are retiring into more than a comfortable pension - which means the need to replenish their ranks become more important year after year after year.

Those Trades on site this week at the Construction Career Days event will offer students a variety of opportunities in order to show off and attract them to their individual crafts, from students operating small excavators under the watchful supervision of Union Representatives to bending pipe or being elevated high above the ground while perched in a scissors-lift to taking turns on virtual painting and welding - as well as running a bulldozer, to name but a few. 

“We’ve ‘got it down pretty well now,’” Smolinski said.  “‘Everything’s ready and in good shape and the weather looks like it will be good.’  We’ll have some more simulators and virtual equipment for the kids to operate.”

The Building Trades’ Unions are focused to educate young people to the many, good-paying job opportunities that exist across the Unionized Trades, especially in light of a number of major projects that are occurring right now and coming in the next couple of years here in Western New York, most notably the nearby Buffalo Bills’ Stadium, which now employs hundreds of Trades Workers in Orchard Park.

The Buffalo and Niagara County Trades consist of the following Member Unions: Boilermakers Local 7; Bricklayers Local 3; Carpenters Local 276; Cement Masons Local 111; Electricians Local 41 and Local 237; Elevator Constructors Local 14; Heat & Frost Insulators Local 4; Ironworkers Local 6 and Local 9; Laborers Local 210 and Local 91; Millwrights Local 1163; Operating Engineers Local 17; Painters District Council 4; Plasterers Local 9; U.A. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 22; Roofers Local 74; Sheet Metal Workers Local 71; U.A. Road Sprinklerfitters Local 669; and Teamsters Local 449.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: For More On Western New York Construction Career Days, Go To: A Pictorial On The 2023 Western New York Construction Career Days Event - Snapshots Of Hundreds Of High School Students Who Were ‘Introduced To A Life-Long/Life-Sustaining Career In The Unionized Trades’ - WNY Labor Today: Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, Bringing You Labor News From Across The Nation, New York State & Western New York

WNYLaborToday.com File Photos.