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Welding Works
Collaboration Benefits Employer, W-2 Clients
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A unique public/private venture has turned 14 unemployed and underemployed W-2 clients into gainfully employed welders for Milwaukee’s Tramont Corp, just in time for the new year. “It’s a wonderful Christmas present and feels great to bring 2007 in with a fresh new job,” says Howard Lea, 49, who started at Tramont Dec. 26 after three years of unemployment. “I’m beginning my life all over again. This is a golden opportunity to get into the workforce so I can support my family.”
Lea was at W-2 agency Maximus signing up for food stamps when he overheard counselors talking about a new program run by Tramont and Milwaukee Area Technical College. He asked about his chances of being included in the program and was elated to pass the screening. Lea had been a silversmith and done some carpentry work years earlier, so he says he was “familiar with dimensions,” which helped him learn welding.
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MATC instructors conducted the five-week training in a reclaimed welding shop at Genesis High School, a small high school located in the North Division complex of Milwaukee Public Schools.
Tramont sent two employees to work with the students each afternoon to ensure they learned company-specific techniques. Training costs were covered by Policy Studies Inc., the newest of Milwaukee’s W-2 contractors.
In addition to the daytime training for Tramont, MATC will provide after-school welding training at Genesis for 15 MPS students starting in January. Still more training classes for Tramont and other businesses are scheduled to begin soon at MPS schools. Coordinated |
At Genesis High School, MATC's Office of Corporate Learning is training a cadre of
new welders for Milwaukee's
Tramont Corp. |
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by Sandi McClary, director of MATC’s Office of Corporate Learning, the program guarantees family-sustaining jobs to people who most need and want them. At the same time, it serves employers’ workforce needs.
Blueprint for the Future
“We really want to identify employers like Tramont that will guarantee jobs for the workers we train,” McClary says. “This project has generated so much excitement. We hope we can carry it further to help more individuals and corporations who are struggling with the skilled worker shortage.” |
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Tramont CEO Sean McGowan takes an active
role in the training. |
Tramont turned away $10 million in business last year because it could not find enough skilled welders to fill orders for its generator equipment. Unfortunately, that’s a common predicament. The nation faces a severe shortage of skilled labor as workers retire and not enough new tradespeople enter the labor market.
W-2 agency Multicultural Community Services screened trainees for the current program at Genesis. They completed the five-week intensive program resulting in guaranteed jobs that pay $13.05 an hour plus benefits at Tramont, according to president and CEO |
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Sean McGowan. If they take more internal training and pass a test three months after beginning employment, they will see a $3 - $4 increase in their hourly wages.
Visionary CEO Commits to Milwaukee
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“This is a story of a business with a very far-sighted CEO, committed to staying in Milwaukee, working with public institutions that pooled their strengths and resources to make this work,” explains Lauren Baker, coordinator of career and technical education for Milwaukee Public Schools and MATC board member.
McGowan and his staff had tried everything they could think of to find qualified workers. They held training initiatives to upgrade open houses, offered their own training |
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classes, advertised and tried to attract retirees and part-time workers, all with little success. Among the applicants they did manage to attract, most didn’t have the necessary training to do the work.
A Call to Reinvigorate Trade Education
Aware of McGowan’s challenge, Frank Cumberbatch, then senior assistant to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, showed McGowan a welding lab at Genesis that had been used as a storage room in recent years. McGowan and Cumberbatch started brainstorming with Baker and Genesis principal Kathelyne Dye about how to use the facilities to everyone’s advantage.
The major players in the Tramont project hope it sparks interest in the trades among high school students and others looking for new careers. “I hope if this is successful, other groups and companies could replicate this in all trades,” McGowan says. “Milwaukee is in desperate need of welders and other skilled workers. My challenge to the city is to reopen the trade school part of our school system.”
“This program is part of rebuilding awareness of manufacturing and trades at the high school level,” says Baker. “It’s part of a long-term strategy to raise the profile of skilled and technical work. Our students and their parents need to know that manufacturing is alive and providing opportunity for careers in Milwaukee.”
Lea says, “Finding this program was a godsend, and it’s helping the city of Milwaukee to build things and to establish itself again in manufacturing. It’s also part of helping me to turn my life around.”
Are you an employer interested in participating in a similar program? Please contact Sandi McClary, (414) 297-7700, mcclarys@matc.edu.
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