"Apprenticeships allow students to earn while they learn," said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad who was visiting the construction site of Facebook's $1 billion data center in Altoona, where he signed into law the Iowa Job Training and Apprenticeship Act. The law provides $3 million for training and apprenticeship programs for construction and information technology workers. Now "we have to convince the young people that the trades are valuable occupations and ones that are rewarding and they can raise a family and send their kids to college on," he said.
I found this quote a little bit ironic. It really shows that the establishment still doesn't get it. While promoting jobs in trades he says they are good because people can "send their kids to college" on them. That is true, but the point is supposed to be that jobs in the trades are offering great earning potential without years of crushing debt from increasingly expensive colleges and universities.
Promoting jobs in the trades should be about increasing the status of those jobs so that young people (and their teachers and counselors in schools) are not looking at them as "lesser" options only for those who can't cut it in college. And while it is good to know that if a tradesperson's child wants to go to college, they can make enough to provide for that education, the statement almost comes off as "The tradesman will be able to help their child to a better career than they had."
The number of stories about the skilled labor shortage has been increasing at an incredible pace over the past couple of years. I remember a chapter meeting when Chris Kuehl presented that the average age of a skilled welder in the US is 65! He also indicated that high school counselors he had spoken with thought manufacturing jobs paid about $10/hour and that working conditions were poor. My guess is those counselors have similar opinions of construction jobs.
The Siouxland Chapter June Meeting along with our annual "Industry Builder Golf Tournament" will address this issue directly. First, we will hear from Jim Kayl, the principal at the Sioux Falls School District's Career and Technical Academy. South Dakota, and Sioux Falls in particular, seems to be doing some things right in this area and it is important for us to understand how we can support their efforts.
Next we will hear from two members of the AGC South Dakota Workforce Development Taskforce, Ben Holst and Kari Karst. The labor issue we face as an industry will not just go away on its own and can not be solved by one or a few of us. We must work together to meet this challenge and Ben and Kari will tell us about what AGCSD has planned.
A few other things worth noting:
You can still register for the CFMA 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition June 7-11 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. CFMA is also offering live webcasts of some of the sessions. Check out the information on this website!
Jobsite tours are scheduled for Wednesday, July 30th. Please put it on your calendars and plan to attend. It is always an interesting and worthwhile afternoon.
Add the Heartland Conference at the Ameristar Resort and Casino in Council Bluffs, IA on September 25th and 26th to your Fall calendar. Lots of CPE and networking opportunities!
Many of you will remember Dr. Todd Conklin (the guy in the red shoes) who presented "The Fundamentals of Human Performance" to our chapter two or three years ago. It was a unique look at safety, how accidents happen and the systemic conditions that lead our employees to make unsafe decisions. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so we are bringing him back for our meeting on Wednesday, December 10. Please plan NOW to bring your owners, safety directors, superintendents, etc, etc! You will not be disappointed!
Welcome to our new board members, Joel Van Egdom and John Sutton. We look forward to your energy and new ideas.
Congratulations to our new chapter officers Cindy Cosand (Vice President), Ryan Dulaney (Treasurer), and Kit Gleason (yours truly, President). Kevin Moore will continue with us as Secretary. (Thank you, Kevin!)
We also want to recognize Michelle Lounsberry our new Membership Chair and Joel Van Egdom our new Public Relations Chair. Please thank them for accepting their new roles and supporting the chapter with their efforts. If you are interested in joining one of their committees, look them up at the next meeting or send them an email. They are in our member directory on this website.
Please introduce yourself to Brenda Moore, CPA of TSP at our June meeting. She is the latest member to join our chapter and we want to give her a warm welcome.
Congratulations and best wishes to our outgoing chapter president, Ben Ellingson, as he takes over the Mankato, MN Eide Bailly office. We hope to see him back at a chapter meeting now and then.
In closing (at long last), 2014 is our chapter's 10th Anniversary! Ours has been an extraordinarily successful chapter and it is because of the volunteers mentioned above (and those not mentioned) as well as the ongoing support of our members. Thank you all! We will hold an anniversary celebration in conjunction with our December meeting and hope to see all of you there!
Kit Gleason
President
Siouxland Chapter CFMA