Las Vegas Business Press :: News : Job-hungry say program for pipefitters a good fit

Job-hungry say program for pipefitters a good fit

Competition climbs for spots in program for prospective journeymen

BY TONY ILLIA

Nick Bristol needed work. Like many Southern Nevadans, he was suddenly out of a job after six years in the mortgage industry. Bristol had to rethink his career path following the housing market crash.

"There was no job security," said 31-year-old Bristol, a Silverado High School graduate. "I was constantly stressed out."

Bristol was forced to deliver pizzas, for a time, to make ends meet. His brother, meanwhile, was happily employed as a union pipefitter; and told him about the union's apprenticeship training program.

BILL HUGHES | BUSINESS PRESS
Instruction at the Pipe Trades Training Center for Local 525 includes hands-on and classroom experience.

BILL HUGHES | BUSINESS PRESS
Journeyman Hou Kim practices heliarc welding at the Pipe Trades Training Center in preparation for a certification test.

"They pay to put you through school," Bristol said. "I'm now working toward a future. I love it."

Bristol is finishing the first year of a five-year program to become a journeyman pipefitter. His story is becoming increasingly familiar. Nevada's unemployment rate hit 11.3 percent in May -- the highest rate of joblessness since 1976 -- which is when the state began keeping track. As the work force retools itself, the number of apprentices for Plumbers, Pipefitters & HVAC/R Technicians Union Local 525 has more than doubled since 2005. In the fall, for instance, there were 575 applicants for 72 spots. Candidates come from unlikely places.

"We get a wide cross-section of people from recent high school graduates to laid-off casino workers to ex-military," said Murray Dominguez, training coordinator for the Pipe Trades Joint Apprentice and Journeyman Training Committee for Southern Nevada. "We once had a chiropractor who was unhappy and wanted a change."

The union accepts applicants twice a year. Growing competition for admittance partly comes from the union's lucrative pay. A journeyman pipefitter earns $38.15 per hour in wages; overall compensation, which includes pension and health-care contributions, is $56.01 per hour.

"We use a points system to grade applicants," said Brett McCoy, the union's business manager. "We want to know their sincerity, enthusiasm, and commitment in pursuing this as career."

The program isn't easy. It entails 7,500 hours of paid on-the-job training and mandatory classes with quizzes, tests and textbooks. The apprenticeship entails math and science studies, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and blueprint training, and welding, rigging and hydronics. Courses in green certification, natural gas, and drainage, and instruction in building codes and safety, are offered. Graduates emerge well-versed in plumbing and pipefitting, and heating, air-conditioning and ventilation.

The program offers many students a second chance at a new career.

"Like most young people, I didn't listen to anything my parents advised. I didn't go to college so low-paying jobs were all that was available," said Stacy Jackson, 33, a single mother of two children who had previously worked for an answering service and setting up convention center trade shows. "I could never go back to an office. I love the hands-on approach. This offers more hours, better benefits and a more stable environment."

The training complex sits on 4.5 acres at 750 Legion Way in northeastern Las Vegas; it features 35,000 square feet of learning facilities including the state's largest welding laboratory, with 120 different certifications available in everything from brazing and heliarc to black iron and soldering. The 14,000-square-foot, 30-booth building also has a virtual welder that lets students safely hone their skills in a 3-D environment. "Learn the burn while you earn," is one of the program's recruiting mottoes.

The union hopes to add another 40,000 square feet to its training facilities in the next few years; it has been training workers since 1965. Union members seldom perform residential work, they instead specialize in large resort developments and public buildings.

Last year, the 2,635-member local performed a record 6 million hours of work, which is more than double the amount in 2005. The surge in activity was largely attributable to the $8.5 billion MGM Mirage CityCenter development on the Strip, where the union had 800 members employed during the peak of building activity.

Construction, like other industries, has since been hard hit by the recession, but apprentices remain undeterred.

"You have to roll with the good times and the bad," Bristol said. "Las Vegas is pretty resilient. We'll be OK."

Contact reporter Tony Illia at tonyillia@aol.com or 702-303-5699.

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