In 1996, United Steelworkers of America and U.S. Steel Fairfield Works, through their local USWA/U.S. Steel-Fairfield Works/Fairfield Southern Company Career Development Program, designed a special maintenance training program for employees. The USWA/USS/Fairfield Southern Company Career Development Program is the U.S. Steel Fairfield Works’ local embodiment of the Institute for Career Development (ICD), a joint education and training program of the United Steelworkers union and the nation’s four largest steel companies. This open enrollment, very flexible, free-to-the-student program was designed to prepare both new hires and incumbent workers at the U.S. Steel-Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama for a pathway to higher-skilled, higher-paid jobs. Funded through a negotiated set-aside based on hours worked by all union members, this particular ICD program provides initial training in electro-mechanical maintenance, a specialty skill set that was previously in short supply. Workers who complete the program receive a certificate of completion and qualify to enter a two-year on-the-job training position to become fully-certified “Maintenance Utilitymen.”

Maintenance Utilitymen earn wages that are among the highest in the industry. At the same time, the program guarantees the company a steady supply of workers with specialty skills that equip them for advanced training. The companies recognize that without the program, the recruitment and training of these workers would be much more costly.

Workforce Challenge

Assuring a pipeline of specialty-skilled workers: Apprenticeship programs that prepare specialty-skilled workers in manufacturing have decreased dramatically in number and size during the past 20 years. Employers have been reluctant to invest in training workers whom they might not need in the future. This development has reduced the number of qualified workers able to replace the soon-to-be retiring skilled trades employees in manufacturing. The sector urgently needs specialty occupation training programs, including revitalized and updated apprenticeship programs, that provide industry-recognized, portable specialty skill credentials.

Understanding the Demand and Meeting It

With advancing globalization, the U.S. steel industry faced new competitive realities in the 1980s. Foreign steel producers paying wages well below U.S. standards and using state-of-the-art plants and equipment presented steel managers and their remaining employees with a closely related set of demands.

U.S. steel makers had to adopt new advanced technologies rapidly.
Incumbent steelworkers (who tended to be older and more senior) required education and training to use new technologies successfully.
Management needed a steady pool of workers, including new hires, with adequate skills, or at least the necessary preparation, to successfully undergo advanced skills training.

In response to heightened global competition, U.S. steel producers have “downsized” dramatically, investing heavily in smaller mills using advanced new technologies and focusing on the production of steel alloys for “niche” markets and specialized applications. Predictably, the industry-wide shift has created a heightened demand for skilled manufacturing labor.

However, such workers are now in very short supply. A 2005 survey by the National Association of Manufacturers reported that over 80% of respondents anticipated shortages of skilled production workers over the next three years – a figure over twice the severity of the expected shortage of scientists and engineers. In Fairfield, Alabama, this shortage has become especially acute because the arrival of large automobile manufacturers – Mercedes Benz, Hyundai and Honda – significantly increased demand for skilled manufacturing workers in the region. And among the skill sets in short supply was Electro-Mechanical Maintenance in the steel industry.

At the same time, the United Steelworkers (USW) recognized that its members needed to secure a future in a volatile industry. During the previous 10 years at the U.S. Steel Fairfield Works, employment levels had varied by as much as 23%, from a low of 1,683 to a high of 2,076. According to company spokesmen, the industry continues to experience marked ups and downs, to which the 1,703 current workers and the companies must rapidly adjust.

Program Partners

The Institute for Career Development was founded in 1989 as part of the national contract between the U.S. steel industry and the USW. A Governing Board, an Advisory Board, an ICD National Office and local joint committees (LJCs) were established to administer the programs. The following year, the ICD opened one of its first Career Development Programs (CDP) at the combined work site of U.S. Steel-Fairfield Works and the Fairfield Southern Company railroad in Fairfield, Alabama. This is one of 60 worksites around the country with functioning CDPs. The training program in Electro Mechanical Maintenance is one of the centerpieces of the Fairfield CDP.

The Fairfield, Alabama E-M CDP operates with U.S. Steel as the employer partner and United Steelworkers Locals 1013, 2122 and 2210 as the participating unions.

The training in this case is provided through the Career Development Program’s own instructors. Instructors at CDP are hired from among retired employees. Though not directly involved with the Fairfield Works Local Joint Committee, prominent ICD education partners include Empire State College, State University of New York and Swingshift College, Indiana University Northwest. Both colleges are ICD national partners and provide accredited distance learning to Fairfield Works employees.

Program Activities and Methods

Comprehensive Self-Paced Training for Highly Skilled Positions

The Fairfield Steel Works Electro-Mechanical Maintenance CDP provides new hires and incumbent workers with 507 hours of training and awards them a certificate in Electro-Mechanical Maintenance. The CDP training takes place off hours, at the employees’ expense (“off-time, own-dime”). It consists of 267 hours of self-paced study at the local CDP offices, which include a multi-media training lab, library, two computer labs (one with 10 machines and a second with15), seven classrooms and a welding area. The self-paced course of study is followed by four 60-hour sessions of hands-on classroom instruction.

The CDP office, located within one-half mile of the Fairfield Works, is open five days a week, from 8:30 am – 4:30 p.m. and the multi-media lab is open 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. three days a week and from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. two days a week. Eligible steelworkers can stop in at any of those times and enroll in the Electro-Mechanical Certificate program. The CDP conducts an interview, explains the training, and determines whether the applicant has prior training or experience that might qualify him or her to “test out” of portions of the course.

For the course of study, no one is explicitly either chosen or rejected. On the contrary, the CDP makes every effort to interest both incumbent workers and new hires in the E-M program. At new employee orientations, where the entire CDP program is presented, CDP explains that it behooves those who envision a long-term stay at the company to consider this course of study and training.

Over the course of the training, no one is dismissed or expelled. Because the program requires such a significant investment of effort and personal time, experience shows that those not especially committed to it will eventually “self-select out.”

The E-M CDP curriculum includes technical and shop-related reading and writing; industrial mathematics; electrical theory; AC and DC motor drives; servo-hydraulic systems; Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs); electrical and electronic components; wiring; pneumatics; blueprint reading; mechanical and electronic troubleshooting; rigging; lockout/tagout procedures; gears and gear systems; belt, shaft, and chain drives; seals and lubricants and precision alignment.

At any point in the self-study program, students may opt to take a test. To pass, however, they must receive a grade of 85 or higher.

Upon successful completion of the CDP self-study and instructor-led courses, participants take an Electro-Mechanical Exam administered by U.S. Steel. Those who pass the exam qualify to enter a two-year, company-paid training program to become fully-certified Maintenance Utilitymen. This certification allows them to earn between $20.52 and $21.75 per hour, among the highest wages paid to union-represented employees at the Fairfield Works.

The numbers of enrollees and graduates attest to both the strengths and challenges of the program. Since 1997, 230 people have enrolled for the training. Of these, 52 have graduated, and 70 are currently actively enrolled. Ninety-one trainees dropped out of the E-M program, and the remaining 18 left the company. According to company spokesmen, however, all of the 52 graduates of the CDP qualified for the follow-on company-sponsored training for Maintenance Utilityman.

In addition, the E-M certificate is portable – respected and recognized by other area manufacturers.

ICD Strategies for Adult Learning

Electro-Mechanical Maintenance is but one of nearly 100 courses offered annually by the Fairfield Steel Works CDP to workers and their families. Each year, on average, 35% of the Fairfield union membership participates in at least one CDP course from a curriculum that includes computer applications, foreign languages, and business and technical writing. In addition, over 500 on-line courses are also available through the CDP

Key to these high participation rates is ICD’s philosophy about what it takes to help adult learners conquer a fear of classrooms and learning after having been away from school for many years. To address this issue, ICD offers its so-called “Bridge Classes,” which are designed around employee requests for training in everything from landscaping to music lessons. To prepare trainees for more technical subject matter, however, every course includes at least four of the basic learning elements mandated by the ICD: writing, learning to learn, reading, computation, oral communication, listening, problem solving, creative thinking, motivation, interpersonal skills, negotiating skills, teamwork, leadership and information technologies. This background has proven relevant to the success of the E-M program – CDP Coordinator Whitney Norris estimates that at least half of all E-M enrollees have taken at least one bridge class or other CDP course, many of them prior to enrolling for E-M.

Connections to Public Workforce and Economic Development Systems

There is no formal relationship with the public workforce system. The E-M training program is an internal training program. For the full range of career development program, like other ICD CDP programs across the country, the program enjoys access to community colleges, state- and municipally-supported adult basic education programs and university and college programs.

Program Funding Sources

ICD programs are financed exclusively through a “set aside” of between 10 cents and 15 cents “per-actual hour worked” by USW employees, as negotiated in labor agreements between the USW and the participating employers. Specifically, the Fairfield Works/CDP program operates on an average annual budget of $450,000, supported by a 15 cent/hour set-aside by U.S. Steel. Financing for ICD overall has been reliable and increasing. Contributions to the national ICD totaled $207.9 million in 2004, a 6.7% increase over 2003, and expenditures totaled $185.1 million, an increase of 5.7% over the previous year.

Barriers Overcome

When the ICD program began, it faced barriers that had to be overcome at the local level. First, it had to develop its own identity as a learning program for the workers, outside of the company training programs. Second, it had to convince the workers that its purpose was to provide a safe, confidential learning program designed to help them re-enter a formalized learning environment on their own time. It was essential that workers be made comfortable with this program. Many workers had not been in a formalized learning environment for many years and were naturally suspicious and nervous about such a program. The ICD had to create learning advocates to function as the eyes and ears of the program. These people provided encouragement to workers on the shop floor about the program and provided feedback to the program operators. In addition, the program had to design a process for selecting vendors who would be appropriate for this unique setting, and structure their contracts to ensure the appropriate teaching methods. It also had to provide orientation to vendors who had not previously provided instruction in a joint company/union program. It also had to structure the individual programs in settings at the mills or union halls that would increase accessibility for workers who would participate on their own time. Finally, it had to identify and disperse examples of best practices for staff throughout the country.

Current Challenges for the E-M Program

One of the biggest problems for the Fairfield Works CDP Electro-Mechanical training program has been achieving a balance between the number of graduates produced and the effects of business cycles and decisions made by national leaders of U.S. Steel – both of which affect the Fairfield Works’ need for Maintenance Utilitymen. This problem has not been resolved and, in fact, is currently the focus of intensive discussions between the U.S. Steel/Fairfield Works and the USW.

Difficulties have arisen because those who graduate from the CDP E-M training and pass the company test are to be placed in company-paid trainee slots within six months. After six months, as stipulated in the U.S. Steel/USW contract, they must re-take the qualifying exam. Although the company has never enforced that requirement, there have been times when U.S. Steel did not have training spots available to place program graduates. Word spread quickly through the shop that certificate holders were not being placed in training positions and, after two years of work, would have to wait six months and re-take the difficult exam. This situation created a backlash that cut deeply into the number of people willing to enter CDP E-M training.

For example, eight people graduated from the CDP E-M course in 2000 and eight more in 2001. However, due to business conditions, many graduates had to wait to enter company-paid training positions. Consequently, enrollments in CDP E-M courses plummeted. Only four people graduated in 2002 and only two graduated in 2003.

By 2006, the numbers had climbed back up, and the program produced 18 graduates. Another development in the industry, however, has created demand that far exceeds supply. Currently, local management predicts that an early retirement program will create a sudden need for as many as 200 to 250 Maintenance Utilitymen, although, at best, the CDP program can graduate only 50 each year.

National decision-makers in the steel industry and at the USW are exploring ways in which the E-M CDP can play a central role in such a volatile supply/demand situation. National U.S. Steel leaders want to take over all E-M training, create a test to select trainees, and pay them to enter one of two tracks: Electrical Maintenance and Mechanical Maintenance. The USW (and many in local U.S. Steel management) feel the CDP program has been extremely successful and, at minimum, could offer pre-test “prep courses” to help both new hires and more senior employees prepare for the new company exam.

Program Results and Returns to the Stakeholders

Benefits to the Company:

The CDP program has provided the company with a badly needed pool of highly-trained skilled laborers ready to enter even more advanced company-provided training to become fully-certified Maintenance Utilitymen. According to the company, it is impossible to find people with the requisite skills in the region and, without this program, the company “would be desperate.”

Since 1996, 52 employees have successfully completed and received certificates from the CDP’s two-year Electro-Mechanical Maintenance training course. Another 70 workers are currently enrolled in the CDP Electro-Mechanical Training course. “Nearly 100 percent” of workers who have earned the CDP Electro-Mechanical Certificates have entered and been successful in the U.S. Steel-sponsored training program for skilled Maintenance Utilitymen, according to Fairfield Works’ Manager of Employee Relations Bernard Borman.

Given that the size of the Fairfield Works bargaining unit has averaged 1,913 people for the past 10 years, the 52 people who earned certificates and the 70 people currently enrolled in the CDP Electro-Mechanical certificate program represent 6.37 percent of the total Fairfield Works union-represented workforce.

Benefits to Employees:

The Fairfield Works CDP provides between 80 and 100 instructor-lead courses a year; many of these courses are designed to help people qualify for promotions in the mill or for portable, industry-recognized certificates and degrees, and to gain other skills that will increase their ability to secure jobs outside the steel works. Skill upgrades, of course, benefit U.S. Steel as well as the employees.

The Electro-Mechanical certificate program, in particular, has had a pronounced effect on job creation through “backfilling,” resulting in some 100 new hires to fill the slots vacated when current workers promote to Maintenance Utilityman. When the company slots a graduate into a training position, once he or she completes the E-M CDP, another worker typically moves up or over. Moving people around inside the shop eventually creates a vacancy that brings someone in off the street. In addition, graduates occasionally take their certificates and go work somewhere else, a move that creates openings as well.

Benefits to the Union:

The CDP E-M training has helped local management meet a critical need for skilled labor. Local USW leaders believe the trust and mutual respect generated by establishing and running that program in collaboration with U.S. Steel has strengthened the union’s ability to work constructively with the company across a whole range of areas.

The E-M training has also increased the union’s visibility among its members and strengthened member support for, and loyalty to, the union. Members have come to see that this program is the path to some of the best-paid, most technically challenging and desirable jobs at the Fairfield Works – and that the local union played a leading role in creating that program and remains central to its daily operation.

Next Steps for the Stakeholders and/or for the Participants

The Fairfield Works Local Joint Committee is discussing the potential impact of the new Basic Steel Contract that reduces some 35 job classifications to only five. This radical restructuring will mainly affect training and apprenticeship programs run by U.S. Steel. However, the LJC sees this as a clear sign that the rate of technological change is accelerating, and they are determined to make all necessary adjustments to ensure their programs help steelworkers keep pace with those changes, both inside and outside the shop.

For more information, contact Tom Gannon at tgannon@workingforamerica.org or info@workingforamerica.org.