These young ironworkers are betting on new technology — and traditional unions — to achieve their American Dream
Those who enter a four-year ironworking apprenticeship program know that they may be training for jobs with an uncertain future – with a declining steel industry that has seen jobs replaced by work overseas or automation. But their hopes for job security and an eventual middle-class life remain anchored in unions such as Ironworkers Local 16 in Maryland, which offer apprenticeship programs and potential lifelines to those down on their luck. Young apprentices face concerns their elders never had to face, such as whether there will be blue-collar worker jobs available after their apprenticeships. Older union members remember what happened with Sparrows Point Shipyards, formerly owned by Bethlehem Steel, which once had employed tens of thousands of workers in the 1980s and which eventually closed in 2012 due to U.S. steelmaking technology becoming obsolete in comparison to overseas competitors. The union previously had 1400 members; it now has 300 active members paying for 600 retirees. Today, union members are looking towards the promise of jobs in wind energy as the U.S. Energy Department has called for increasing wind-powered electricity to 20 percent by 2030, requiring workers to have turbine training and certification. Union members attended hearings for Maryland Public Service Commission, showing support for the potential creation of wind turbines off the Maryland coast, with the result that two companies were approved to construct 77 turbines, potentially creating nearly 9,700 jobs, stimulating more than $1.8 billion in in-state spending, while using local port facilities and investing in a steel fabrication plant.
See "These young ironworkers are betting on new technology — and traditional unions — to achieve their American Dream", Tara Bahrampour, The Washington Post, October 16, 2017