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Grant will help pipefitters union train welders for oil, gas jobs
BOARDMAN
To help meet the demand for pipe welders, a local union has received $65,265 to train workers.
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 396 leadership announced Monday the union received the grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The grant includes a 50 percent local match contributed through the union’s training department, which means $130,530 will be spent.
Butch Taylor, business manager for the union, said the grant is just a beginning as he expects more opportunities coming to the Mahoning Valley in the next few years.
“We are starting to see the rebirth of our community,” he said.
The goal of the grant program is to try to help the work force in the Appalachia region compete globally, said Martin Loney, training director for the union.
“The steel industry came to this area 140 years ago because of the iron ore. Now, 140 years later, another natural resource is beneath our feet that we’ll be able to build a community around,” he said, adding that a lot of work will be available for a long time involving the oil and gas industry.
The union intends to train 60 new welders in the next year for Marcellus and Utica shale operations, according to the grant proposal.
There already are issues in Ohio with finding enough drivers and welders to work for the oil and gas companies, said Tracee Joltes, assistant director of work-force development for Eastern Gateway Community College.
The grant would not have been possible without the support of local businesses, said Kathy Zook, project manager for Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. Several companies acknowledged that as part of the grant process, they would hire employees who had completed the training program.
“Shale is a tremendous opportunity,” said Jason Wilson, director of the governor’s Office of Appalachia.
People should get in their vehicles and travel to Columbiana, Carroll or Belmont counties and look at what is occurring there, he said.
Development in the Mahoning Valley did not really get started until 10 to 12 years ago when business leaders, labor unions and politicians from both parties got together and everyone started working toward a common goal, said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.
“These things [the grant] don’t just happen,” he said.
The changes were not without controversy. There were people who didn’t think this area should become part of the Appalachian Regional Commission, Ryan said.
“This area is in the ARC today because some people showed leadership,” he said.
The Appalachian Regional Commission awards grants and contracts from funds appropriated to the commission annually by Congress.
The region encompasses all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states, including Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties, and parts of Pennsylvania.
For this area to succeed, there have to be investments such as this grant for the local work force, Ryan said.
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, supported the grant application along with Ryan. Johnson could not attend the event due to a travel issue but stated through a release the grant will encourage job creation and retention in eastern Ohio.
The key to the grant is to have enough workers to meet the demands that will come from the oil and gas companies, Taylor said. They want workers who can do the downhill welding technique needed for pipeline work.
“We try to get out in front of this, but we have to do so cautiously,” he said. “We’ve had to send some of our guys elsewhere to work.”
The goal is to be ready when the work comes to this area, Taylor said.