PITTSBURGH (AFX) - With veteran 'Cowboys in the Sky' planning to retire, the city's iron workers union is launching its first-ever marketing campaign in hopes of drawing more people to a once-vaunted trade that officials say many young people overlook.
The trade includes not only construction workers who erect steel support beams for buildings and bridges but also those who install imaging equipment in hospitals and clinics.
Until the 1980s, when much of this city's steel industry collapsed, iron working was a dream job often available only to those with insider connections, said Scott Malley, business manager for Iron Workers Local 3.
'A lot of father to son, brother to brother,' Malley said. 'It was a country club attitude: You were in or you weren't, and you had to know someone to get there.'
But with the number of active members in Local 3 down to about 1,200 from a peak of approximately 2,400 in the early 1980s, the union can no longer afford to wait for qualified candidates to present themselves, Malley said.
'There's great opportunity,' he said. 'I don't think people know about it ... which is why we thought we needed to step up and do something out of the box.'
The union has already put up 30 billboards in Pittsburgh and surrounding cities that read, 'We don't go to the office. We build it.' It has also created a Web site and plans to run radio and online ads to encourage potential workers to apply to its apprenticeship program.
'A lot of people think of going to college. They don't think of going into the building trades,' said William Ligetti, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Ironworker Employers Association. 'But you can make a very good living at this.'
That is especially true now, Ligetti said, because of a possible building boom spurred by construction and infrastructure projects across the region.
New hires to union's apprenticeship program make $15.50 an hour plus benefits after passing a basic reading and math test, a physical, and a drug and alcohol test. They make about $28 an hour after completing the three-year apprenticeship and learning skills such as how to weld and read blueprints.
'You don't necessarily have to be the strongest person, you just have to be willing to work,' Ligetti said.
Several women have become iron workers, he said.
And while dangling from buildings and bridges is inherently dangerous, iron working is not nearly as risky as it once was because of stricter safety standards, officials said.
Iron worker Jim Schueler, 50, sported Iron City Beer and Steelers stickers on his hard hat as he directed workers at a 17-story construction project in downtown Pittsburgh. An iron worker for 30 years, he said he has no regrets about the career he chose.
'Every time you get a new job, there's something new to learn, something different,' he said. 'You get to work on bridges, buildings, (and) in the mill you get to see how steel production is done. ... You get to see a lot of interesting things.'
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