(LAKE VIEW, NEW YORK) – For the 16th time last week, the Buffalo and Niagara Building and Construction Trades Council and its affiliated Member Unions held their two-day, hands-on, educational introduction to 1,000 area high school students considering a potential career in the Unionized Trades once they are old enough to do so.

But for the first time, Trades Reps shared with WNYLaborToday.com a change in thinking that came from at least one high school counselor who said the Trades has leapfrogged over a college education when it comes to his students pondering a full-time working career once they graduate from high school.

“He told us he was seeing the Trades as a ‘primary’ option - ‘rather than something secondary,’” said U.A. Plumbers and Steamfitters Business Manager Richard Evans, noting accumulating college debt may be playing a role in this switching mindset. 

And if that wasn’t positive enough, then it was the fact Trades Reps are noticing the young people who take part in Construction Career Days are also asking those in the know a different kind of question that hasn’t been asked in the past.

“These young kids ‘are more engaged - this seems like a career that means something more to them,’” said Evans, who underscored the earn-while-you-learn opportunity in the Unionized Trades that includes no debt for that training.  “We had one high school kid ask ‘if he came into our Union, would he be able to sustain a family as a sole provider.’  ‘That was mind-blowing.’  ‘It appears young people are beginning to understand it better than those in the past.’”

Meanwhile, International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17 Aaron McElroy, who serves as a Stationary Business Agent with his Union, told WNYLaborToday.com a number of the young people who visited his Local 17’s informational table asked about the rate of pay.

“‘A lot of them asked that and how we liked being a Union Member,’” he added.  “‘A lot of them didn’t know what each Trades was so it was great to give them an overview of what we do.’”

Nearly 500 students from across Western New York were in attendance on each day of the Construction Career Days event that was held at the IUOE’s sprawling 400-acre Training Facility in Lake View just south of Buffalo. 

The students participated 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.

Those participating Trades offered 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.

The Building Trades’ Unions are focused on educating 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.

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

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.

Amy Miklas (pictured below) is the Supervisor of Career and Technical Education in Buffalo’s Public School System who’s been involved in every one of the 16 WNY Construction Career Days Events that have been offered to thousands and thousands of students over the years.

Miklas, who echoed what Plumbers Local 22’s Evans told WNYLaborToday.com, said: “This is ‘not just a field trip’ for students.  ‘They’re here to learn and ask questions’ and we’ve kept it at a good number (of attendees) every year.  ‘It seems they are getting away from going after a four-year college degree, spending all that money and then deciding what they want to do.’  They’re ‘realizing the fact (they can make a great living by working in the Trades) and not going into debt.’”

While a number of area high schools sent large contingents of students to Career Days, WNYLaborToday.com ran across Lake Shore Central High School Business Teacher Danielle Arnone (pictured below on the right), who brought two of her students - Aiden Lyon (in the middle) and Ryan Merritt (on the right), both 16, to the event.

Arnone said she would have arranged to bring more of her students but found out about the event a bit late.  Nonetheless, she thought it was important to get at least a couple involved.

“I found out about through a flier and they were interested.  ‘This is how we connect them to these opportunities,’” she said.  “It’s ‘different walking around and seeing all the different (hands-on opportunities) and all the volunteers giving their time and expertise.’  ‘I really enjoyed going through all the areas.’”

Lyon and Merritt, who both told WNYLaborToday.com they were interested in becoming Electricians, said the event was “pretty cool.”

Lyon said he was (pleasantly) surprised to find out the starting pay of an Electrician was $60,000 to $70,000 a year.

“‘You get a lot more than I thought,’” Merritt said.

WNYLaborToday.com Photos.