The NFL Draft always brings chaos, but this year it feels even crazier than usual.

Double-digit teams are trying to move up in the first round as franchise quarterbacks and game-changing wide receivers headline this year's class.

While on Thursday one NFC West team, the Los Angeles Rams, was reported to be looking to advance to the first round, The Athletic's Diana Russini now reported that a second team in that league is interested in advancing – and that is the case They're taking calls on two of their best players.

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 11: Deebo Samuel #19 of the San Francisco 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk #11 of the San Francisco 49ers line up during an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers…
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 11: Deebo Samuel #19 of the San Francisco 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk #11 of the San Francisco 49ers face off during an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 11 at Levi's Stadium on , 2022 in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers are reportedly fielding calls on Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk to move up in the draft.
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Russini reports that the San Francisco 49ers are interested in moving up in the first round and have had discussions with teams around All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel and the dominant Brandon Aiyuk.

According to sources, the 49ers have had discussions with teams, including a pick in the top 10, about trading their prized wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel to move up in the first round.

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 25, 2024

Aiyuk has been in the headlines all season, long after a trade request was reported. However, 49ers general manager John Lynch revealed that the team would like to keep him in San Francisco for the remainder of his career.

Aiyuk is having the best year of his young career in 2023. The former first-round pick caught 75 passes for a career-high 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns last season. This was followed by a 2022 season in which he set career highs with 78 catches and eight touchdowns and 1,015 yards.

However, Aiyuk is seeking a long-term deal, which is why he has made his name in trade talks this offseason.

As for Samuel, he has already received his long-term contract, although only after his own offseason full of drama and trade requests in 2022. He did, however, secure his big deal, a three-year, $71.5 million contract that runs through the next Season is underway.

If the 49ers were to trade Samuel on Thursday, they would pocket over $21 million in dead money, according to Over The Cap. As for Aiyuk, he's entering the final year of his rookie contract, which will pay him just over $14 million, but he wants a long-term deal.

This year's class is full of wide receivers. So if the 49ers wanted to add one on a rookie deal, they would have their options.

The best receiver in this year's class is probably Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., but not far behind are LSU's Malik Nabers and Washington's Rome Odunze. Those are the “big three” and all would require the team to move up, probably to the top 10. After that, there are other great options like Texas' Adonai Mitchell, LSU's Brian Thomas Jr., Oregon's Troy Franklin and Florida's Keon Coleman from the State.

The 49ers currently have the No. 31 pick in the first round. But it sounds like they're aiming for a promotion, similar to what they did in 2020 when they got Aiyuk. In this draft, they moved up to No. 25 from the same No. 31.

Unusual knowledge

Newsweek strives to challenge conventional wisdom and find connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek strives to challenge conventional wisdom and find connections in the search for common ground.

The post San Francisco 49ers Reportedly Speaking Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk Trades in Try and Transfer Up in NFL Draft appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Many advocates say the Bay Area needs to build a lot more housing to solve its affordability crisis. Of course, that’s easier said than done, and the high cost of labor is often cited as one of the obstacles. But construction trades workers also need to live in this expensive area and they say wages, though higher than elsewhere, still barely cut it.

What’s the point of building middle class housing, some ask, if you’ve lost your middle class workforce?

This tension surfaced with the opening of Factory OS in Vallejo. It makes what’s often called modular housing. Factory-built housing is cheaper and faster to build and doesn’t require specialized, highly-trained workers. But that’s why some traditional construction trades workers perceive it as a threat to their livelihood — think of the dynamic between Uber and Lyft and the taxi cab industry. Does new housing technology have to come at the expense of decent jobs for San Franciscans?

Building housing in factories, like Factory OS, saves money a couple ways. The main one is by saving time; you can do all the foundation work on the lot while simultaneously starting the building in the factory. They’re also able to streamline everything a bit more, for maximum efficiency and minimal waste.

Each module is about the size of a shipping container, and they fit together like Legos to form bigger rooms and whole buildings. Each module is entirely finished when it’s trucked to location and stacked together.

Right now, Factory OS is building The Phoenix, a supportive housing project for formerly homeless people in Oakland. Factory-built housing has been used in the Bay Area mostly for low-income housing so far. That’s because other kinds of projects run into more resistance — factory-built housing is controversial. Subsidized housing is an inroad, but Factory OS plans to expand into all kinds of buildings.

When it first opened up, Factory OS contracted with the Carpenters Union of Northern California. The union recruited, trained and organized the workers. There are nearly 150 employed today.

“We’re elevating folks that don’t have opportunities and we’re going to help solve the housing crisis in Northern California,” says Jay Bradshaw, Director of Organizing for the union.

Bradshaw sees this new technology as a way to address the housing shortage by making it less costly to build. He says that when developers are able to build more, that means more construction work.

Though the workers here don’t earn as much as traditional tradesmen, they also don’t have to go through five or more years of training. Because they’re from around the Vallejo area, the cost of living also isn’t the same as in San Francisco.

In other words, Bradshaw argues that instead of continuing to fight for higher wages for San Franciscan workers at the expense of making housing more expensive to build, the Carpenters hope to expand the pool of workers and curb the underlying cause of affordability by ramping up the rate of housing construction.

“Even with the great wages and conditions of your outside construction worker, the cost of [Bay Area] housing is beyond reach for most workers. It’s insanity,” says Bradshaw. “And what’s the problem? We’ve got a full circle. The problem is there’s a lack of housing being built.”

The thing is, the Carpenters are alone in this. All the other local trade unions have been resisting housing factories, if not actively fighting them.

Bradshaw says the difference is in viewpoint. “We have a culture and a philosophy at the Carpenters of NorCal that when technology advances happen, we don’t try to fight it,” he says.  “We want to be part of it, embrace it, support it — to stay viable in the industry. Not every organization takes that tack.”

Here’s why this is all so controversial: The way the other unions see it, the Carpenters aren’t creating new jobs, they’re taking other people’s.

“The history of the building trades in this country has been one of occasional conflict ever since its beginnings, and those conflicts have generally been over control of one portion or another of the work,” says Mike Theriault, who recently retired from his seat as the Secretary Treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council. “Eventually they get sorted out, and I assume that will be the case with the Carpenters as well.”

The Carpenters made what’s called a wall-to-wall contract with Factory OS. The workers will be trained to do all aspects of the work, not just carpentry: electrical, plumbing, and everything else. That means the owner doesn’t need to hire those workers from each local trade union.

“That is a substantial loss of hours for them,” says Theriault. “It’s a substantial hit to their pension funds, it’s a substantial loss to the workers they represent.”

“It’s cutthroat,” says Cynthia Wheeler, a union plumber and San Francisco native. “The Carpenters are out of pocket for that.”

Wheeler has so much pride and passion for her trade that she inducted all four of her children into the same line of work. Her pride extends to other tradesmen.

“It’s a brotherhood … carpenters do carpentry, plumbers do plumbing, electricians do electrical,” says Wheeler. “We are skilled labor, we go to school, we learned this trade. Then you’ve got somebody else doing it and it’s taking away work from us, so it can be cheaper for y’all. That’s crazy to me — because I’m union.”

But factories don’t need  highly skilled tradesmen. And factory-built housing companies want to become the dominant mode of production.

“There goes our wage, our living wage,” says Wheeler. “It’s just B.S. to me.”

To the workers at Factory OS, it’s a steady job. But, Theriault says their wages and benefits package is much weaker than for non-factory work.

“There are pluses and minuses for those workers,” says Theriault. “Their employment is potentially steadier than it is in the in-field construction where there are ups and downs If they live close to those factories, they are spared the sometimes brutal commutes that folks have to undertake,” he adds.

But  Theriault has reservations about its quality.

“I am not entirely sold on the value of modular construction,” he says. “But, I think if it’s going to be used, then we want it to be done in San Francisco with San Francisco workers, so that nobody is left out.”

As Theriault sees it, the mandate of the Trades Council is to build and preserve the middle class in San Francisco. Those are the stakes. That’s what he’s been doing since the early 80’s when he began organizing for living wage jobs with the Chinese community.

“I had the pleasure as an organizer of having individuals come up to me with their families at union picnics and say, ‘This is the man who changed our lives,’” he remembers. He doesn’t want factories to erode the labor standards he’s fought for.

So, the Trades Council is now pushing for what could be seen as a compromise:  to build a housing factory in San Francisco, and employ workers from within the local unions. Theriault’s hope is to find a way to embrace factory-built, without making tradesmen obsolete.

Plumber Cynthia Wheeler’s son and daughters are a few years into their  apprenticeships. Their whole careers are ahead of them. She hopes the jobs waiting for them will be as meaningful as hers was for her.
 

The post What does factory-built housing imply for Bay Space trades staff? appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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Chayne Hampton is the manager at Santa Cruz Plumbing Inc., operating the company’s residential plumbing department.

Plumbing was prominent in Hampton’s life growing up in Santa Cruz. His father has been working for the UA Local 38 Plumbers & Pipefitters union in San Francisco since Hampton was born. Around age 20, Hampton began to work alongside his father. But that soon ended because of what Hampton calls “bad life choices.” Hampton struggled with a drug addiction that ultimately led him in 2016 to serve three years at San Quentin State Prison for burglary. After his release in 2019, he entered rehab and sought employment. He reached out to Santa Cruz Plumbing owner Jason Allison, who gave Hampton a chance. He started out as a shop hand, eventually working his way up to manager.

Transitioning from incarceration to the workforce is no easy feat. Hampton says people “have to learn how to operate in a world that’s not the world that you’ve been in.” Many will pass judgment, he says, but if someone is a hard worker their past shouldn’t hold them back. Hampton relishes the simplicities of life, having gone through losing his freedom while in prison. He prides himself on maintaining a job long term, something he struggled with in the past. He enjoys what he describes as “normal-people stuff,” like traveling, working out and spending time with his wife.

Hampton also shared stories on the “Ear Hustle” podcast, as well as narrating parts of the audio version of the book “This is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life” by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. He hopes to be able to progress in his career, either growing the residential plumbing sector or working for himself and beginning a family business.

Education:

• San Lorenzo Valley High School
• Cabrillo College: construction estimating, plumbing code, blueprint reading

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: Can you walk me through how you became involved in the plumbing industry?

Chayne Hampton: My dad’s a plumber and he works for the [plumbing] union in San Francisco, and he’s worked there since before I was born. When I turned 20-something, I tried to join the union and I ended up getting in. I was commuting over the hill with my dad and that commute was just kind of a nightmare. I can see it now in retrospect how draining that drive is and just working in the city in general. They would pay you a lot but it’s a lot of time off your life. But that’s not why I left the union — I made some bad life choices that ended my career there.

I went to jail two times before I went to prison. Just little six-month stint[s]. I thought that would be the end of it, they would never send me away because I was such a petty criminal. The judge looked at what I was doing and saw that it was gradually getting worse and worse. I was taking bigger and bigger risks and that got me a prison sentence. I ended up going to prison for a little bit and when I got out I was in a rehab, New Life on the Westside.

I turned in an application [to] Anne Keating, who’s our HR person [at Santa Cruz Plumbing]; [she] got my application, showed it to [company owner] Jason [Allison]. One of my past employment [experiences] was at San Quentin, [at] the waste management plant. I was trying to make it look pretty without saying I’d been to prison. Jason, not being an idiot, put it together and gave me a call and he said, “I’m very empathetic to a guy in your position. Where are you at? I’m going to come talk to you.” So he came to where I was at. He was like, “All right dude, we’re going to start you at this [wage],” which in retrospect was exactly how much money I needed to make at that time. Now I make twice that.

I had minimal experience, at that point I think I was a [shop hand]. [Jason said,] “All right, we’ll get you digging some holes.” So that’s where I started, digging a little bit [and] organizing the truck, nothing too complicated because, I mean, I was like a baby. After a while, slowly more responsibilities [were] put on my lap. Jason is pretty hands-on and he saw where I had some strength, which was mostly relatability with people, deescalating situations [with] customers [or] other contractors, just general customer-service skills. My employment took a bit of a shift to more management, so I have guys working under me. I’ve been doing this now for about a year.

Lookout: What does a typical day look like for you?

Hampton: For me, I just started checking my emails. [But] whenever I get started I get parts [and] lay [it out for the] guys, like, “This is the job we’re doing today.” Then I’ll go to the job with them and get a material list for them so that they don’t have to drive back and forth to the supply house, kind of streamline things. [I’ll] check in with the customer to make sure they’re doing OK, no one is making a mess, everyone is parking where they should be parking, let them know if the water is going [to] be off. From there, I head back to the office [to] follow up on quotes that I had written and then from time to time I [find] myself in the field tying up loose ends, [like if] a customer needs to be walked through how their new tankless water heater works, then that’s the last thing I’ll do in the day.

Lookout: What was the experience of transitioning from prison back to the workforce?

Hampton: I mean, I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance in hell. I’ve got tattoos. Even before going to prison I lived in a prison of my own making. Through lifestyle choices I created a very small world for myself, [it was] very limiting. I [could] never be too far away from the action. My life was confined to six or seven blocks in each direction. I was crippled by drugs and addiction, mentally and physically.

I didn’t have any proper skills. But Jason, once again, I [have] to give this guy all the props in the world. I don’t know what he saw in me, maybe he thought I’d only last a week or a year. I’ve never done anything [for work] for five years [and now] someone just took a shot on me. I have buddies who are in the same situation as me, and [it’s] “I can’t find work” and this and that. It’s not easy for a lot of dudes with tattoos on their face and a rough background or a record, but it’s not impossible. I also have a ton of friends who brought themselves into unions. You’ve just got to be willing to start from the bottom. I was trying to be very humble about it: You want me to dig holes? I’ll dig holes.

Lookout: What was it like working in the sewage treatment plant at San Quentin?

Hampton: So my sewage treatment job, when I first got it, I was like, “Cool, sewage treatment, I’m going [to have] a breaker and some chemicals, maybe some goggles.” Yeah, I had goggles, but my tools were a pitchfork and a hose. I would go into this thing they called the pit where all the sewage travels through it. I would have to unclog these drains with the pitchfork and the hose. When you make food in prison you make it in a spread bag [a plastic bag] and when you’re done with it guys will just tie it and then flush it. So when I’d be in there spraying off sewage, sometimes I’d hit one of those bags, it’d ricochet into my face. That’s why I was going to have the goggles and that’s when I stopped having a beard.

They tell you this is your job then you show up for it and if you [try] to refuse it, it’s going to be bad. There’s this weird illusion of free will [that] people think is so necessary, but after being incarcerated, I’ll tell you what, I miss sometimes having someone tell me when to do things. Like, sure, you’re free, but at the same time, that’s a lot of thinking, decision-making, responsibility [and] accountability.

When I applied for the job [at Santa Cruz Plumbing], of course with Jason I was all-in. I was in the union but I don’t necessarily want to tell this guy I’ve been to prison. I’m just going to be honest, but also say, I worked in the sewage treatment plant in San Quentin. San Quentin is not just a prison, I’m pretty sure it’s a town. He took one look at that and was like, “mm-hmm.” So he figured it out.

Lookout: What do you love most about your job?

Hampton: I like interacting with people. I like getting people set up and stoked. Maybe changing the narrative a little bit that you can’t trust your mechanic, you can’t trust your plumber. Everybody is trying to sell you something extra. It’s like no, man, I’m really not. You just have this active water leak I’m trying to get taken care of. My wife called me from the mechanic and she’s just, “Oh, they’re trying to sell me this fluid. I don’t know if I need it.” I was like, “Maybe you need it.” Everyone’s so scared and I get it. One of the things I like doing is [to] just surprise people by giving them what they want and maybe telling them what they need.

I’ve been able to hire guys too, Jason has allowed me to have that responsibility. There’s been guys that were like me, I’m like, “Let’s give you a chance.” Not all of them have worked out but like one of them did, [and] that’s great. Who doesn’t like a comeback story?

Lookout: What have been your biggest challenges in your career?

Hampton: Realizing what a lack of proper education I had going into this, whether it’s spelling, mathematics, writing an email properly, talking to people [professionally]. Those are these huge hurdles I’m working on every day. Those are things I’ve had to adapt to. Also being kind of a self-starter, my days aren’t always laid out for me. I’ve got to keep myself busy and productive.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this type of career?

Hampton: Just be humble and ready to show up. I mean, just because you got paid $25 an hour under the table by Jimmy Jams Plumbing in Boulder Creek doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to get that somewhere else. And that’s OK, then you go and you learn. I’ve taken classes at Cabrillo that correlate with my career: construction estimating, plumbing code, blueprint reading. Those weren’t things I asked my boss to pay for, either. It’s not his responsibility, it’s your responsibility. If you want to get paid more, be worth more. I know that’s a tough thing. The trades are riddled with guys that have problems showing up on time or attitudes. Just be stoked you got a job, show up a little early, stay a little late. Don’t look [at] your time clock, [or write] every email like, “I actually [finished] work at 3:05, [so] I should get paid for those five minutes.” You should get paid for those five minutes but my dad always told me, “If you got to stay a little late to fix your mistake, don’t make Jason pay for it.”

Lookout: Who is the best person suited for the job?

Hampton: I mean, anybody. Man, women, [or] whoever, a worker [is] a worker. Maybe you’re working with a guy who doesn’t speak any English, but plumbing’s like a universal language, like mathematics. You watch YouTube videos on silent on how to cook things, you could watch a plumbing tutorial in Spanish while you only speak English and still learn something. Just bust ass, move fast and don’t make too big of a mess.

You have to be able to work with dispatch, guys who are ordering parts and you have to have some degree of communication skills and traveling up on your own. It’s a team effort.

Lookout: What can someone expect to be paid when they’re going into this career field?

Hampton: I don’t know, maybe $20-ish if you have a license? You’re not only getting a job but you’re also getting hands-on training that translates to other places. You could probably get a job for more starting at a restaurant, for example. It’s like, what’s your intention?

If you’re really good you can make like $75 an hour. If you’re doing your own thing you could charge $125 an hour, you could charge whatever you feel like you’re worth, as long as you’re being fair with the customer and honest. If you’re new to a company but you’ve done plumbing for 15 years, they may start you off at a certain dollar amount and then once you’re able to prove yourself then your price will go up.

Lookout: What’s the difference between a union and non-union plumbing?

Hampton: A lot, it’s a big question. [In a] union, there’s guaranteed work. It’s hard to say, because some people prefer the union, but you have to pay dues to the union. You’re not allowed to really strike out on your own, like your knowledge is essentially theirs. Prevailing wages, some projects are only union, like this is a union plumber job and it’s prevailing wage. That could be upwards of $75 an hour, but that prevailing wage job doesn’t necessarily last forever.

Lookout: What is something that most people misunderstand about your job?

Hampton: There’s a lot more to it than you think. It’s not just unclogging toilets, it’s also opening up walls, installing new plumbing systems [and] knowing how hot water works. I understand it’s just water, but [it’s] temperatures, also gas and gas pressure. Like what size should your gas line be if it’s servicing these three different fixtures? I’ve got to find out what’s on the fixtures and this degree of math to size something correctly because it’s going to go underground. I don’t think it’s a trade you would see depicted in a movie. Like I’m Mario and Luigi and we just got these plungers. There’s a lot to it. There’s a complement of electrical and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems]. They all culminate into one.

Lookout: What kind of jobs do you think there will be out there in the plumbing field?

Hampton: I think the technology around plumbing is always changing, new applications, making it so jobs can be done quicker. There’s all kinds of routes that you want to take [because] plumbing is not just water and poop. It’s also gas [appliances]. There’s new water heaters that are electric — in California, we’re trying to go in that electric direction. That means your old gas water heaters have to go, and your new electric ones have to go in.

Lookout: What does the trajectory of your job look like?

Hampton: For me, I would like to grow [into] the service department and have more guys. Jason, the owner, is responsible for over 100 guys. If I could have my little department where I’m doing that in my own way, that’s the goal. Maybe one day be competent enough to do something on my own or have my dad involved and keep it in the family. Jason started his company from the ground up, out of his garage. I do more residential stuff at people’s houses, if I were able to grow that. Right now we have five guys. When we have 10 guys, we’d really have a thriving service department along with [a] thriving construction side.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: What would be your advice to someone who is getting out of jail or in a position where they ask, “What’s my next step?”

Hampton: Apply, apply, apply. Just apply and be forthcoming. I genuinely believe there are business owners out there [who] want to be that person that gave that dude [a] chance and he just crushed it. Understand though, too, other guys have come before you and they let people down. Understand that people are going to pass judgment. Don’t lie, be forthcoming. The bottom line is, none of that [stuff] will matter if you’re a really good plumber or you’re a really good hand [or] worker.

Lookout: What motivates you every single day to continue on considering all the hurdles you’ve gone through?

Hampton: Personally, it’s the security of having something to do every day. I know that idle hands [are] like the devil’s playground. Too much idle time, either you’re just on social media or you’re distracting yourself in one shape or form. At least this way, I’m driving around on this side of the hill. That’s the great part. I could be on the Westside, in Aptos or Felton all in the same day and that just keeps me busy. I also have a wife now, she works here cleaning vacation rentals. We’re a DINK [couple], dual income, no kids. So we like to go out to dinner, travel or whatever and those things cost money.

Lookout: What does the future look like for you?

Hampton: I would like to get a dog. Me and my wife want to go to Italy. It’s a lot of normal-people stuff that maybe to the average person is like, “Yeah, that [stuff] is cool.” But understand I came from a place where, like I said, I’ve never done anything for five years. I don’t know how else to describe it, I’ve had a job for five years, like I’ve been fired from everywhere I ever worked. The second I got off drugs and started trying, I was able to keep things. I think that was a pretty big constant in my life before, I was always losing things. Whether it was something as simple as losing the money I had in my pocket for the drugs, losing this and losing that, and losing my freedom. Now I try, and I genuinely put in the effort. It’s just my belief that when you put in the effort you get gifts.

The post How I Received My Job: After spending time in jail, plumbing supervisor Chayne Hampton discovered goal in a profession within the trades appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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Dive Brief:

• Integrated facilities management firm NEST and leaders across the construction, retail and skilled trades industries launched the Skilled Trades Advisory Council Aug. 23 to combat the skilled labor crisis affecting the U.S and Canada, according to a NEST news release.
• The council’s leadership, which represents a wide range of in-need trades, will leverage its “resources, knowledge and network” to elevate the trades as a high-paying, honorable and “heroic” career path, NEST said in the release.
• The council will drive awareness of the trades through educational events, construction camps, fundraising and scholarships, providing additional strategies that align with its leadership’s skill sets, NEST CEO Rob Almond said.

Dive Insight:

The application rate for young people seeking technical jobs dropped 49% in 2022 compared with 2020, according to data from online recruiting platform Handshake. The impact of fewer applicants will be magnified by the ongoing retirement wave of older technicians and facility management staff and the growing demand for mixed skill sets that include technical skills, manual training and software-based application knowledge. About 4.8 million of the 12 million individuals in the skilled trades workforce are over the age of 45, with nearly half older than 55, according to staffing firm PeopleReady.

“Finding top talent has always been difficult. It’s even more difficult now,” Randy Fink, managing director of property management at JLL, said in an interview. “The availability of seasoned staff that we’ve had, we call it the gray tsunami. Especially in our engineering and maintenance fields, but including our property and facility management fields. A lot of folks have exited the industry in the last five years, and so we have a lot of new talent.”

NEST’s Almond said the Skilled Trades Advisory Council will not only address the need for technical skills in building services that include HVAC, refrigeration, electrical and plumbing, but will also focus on increasing awareness of less obviously in-demand labor. That includes the need for janitorial services, landscaping, snow removal contractors, locksmiths and painters.

NEST delivers day-to-day tactical management of facilities, financial consulting, project management and construction for multi-state brands in North America. Almond said the company began this endeavor because of concerns from many of NEST’s suppliers, contractors and owners it works with: “They were exhausted because there just wasn’t enough labor.”

The council will start small, Almond added, naming Austin, Texas, San Francisco; and Dallas — where some of NEST’s current suppliers and customers are located — as focus areas for driving awareness. As for the future, “What does that three-year plan look like? We have no idea. We just wanted to say, ‘Let’s drive awareness first and see how far we can take this,’” he said.

JLL’s Fink said that the industry, in addition to offering higher compensation, is being pushed to focus on training to alleviate labor concerns. “I think the second part is developing talent. It’s not easy to find technically capable engineers and maintenance folks in computer-savvy administrative and management folks,” he said, adding that the teams that are able to recruit and train well are capable of being efficient, saving money and finding value.

NEST sponsored a construction camp July 6 – Aug. 11 led by the National Association of Women in Construction in Philadelphia. The camp, run by Mary Gaffney, president of the NAWIC Philadelphia Foundation and of GEM Mechanical Services, taught more than 40 young women about plumbing, electrical handyman safety, engineering and Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements.

“We want them in the trades. It’s just such a fulfilling job, in my view, and it’s to help them be very independent,” Gaffney told Construction Dive in an article about the camp. She now sits on STAC’s founding advisory council, highlighting the exact collaboration and programs that the council hopes to achieve.

“If we can just do this and build upon it, we can really get in front of something that needs a lot of attention. It needs it quick,” Almond added.

The post NEST, expert trades business leaders launch council to deal with labor scarcity appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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Scott Liess is the owner of Eco-Flow Plumbing, a 24 hour plumbing company serving the Santa Cruz area.

A native of New Jersey, Liess grew up in the plumbing industry while helping out at his uncle’s plumbing company. At the age of 20, Liess began working for his uncle and stayed for two years. He later moved to California, where he freelanced and traveled while doing plumbing work. At 23, Liess moved back to New Jersey, where he attended plumbing trade school for three years.

Liess struggled with school and by the age of 26, as he describes it, “disconnected from mainstream reality” and focused on meditation, travel and healing work. Less continued to do occasional plumbing jobs and eventually realized that plumbing was his forte.

Eventually settled in Santa Cruz at age 30 and got his plumber’s license. In 2008 he started his business Eco-Flow Plumbing with just a truck and a few tools. Outside of his career, Liess finds his passion in music and what he calls “the human potential”. He enjoys sports and, as he puts it, “flow sports” such as surfing and snowboarding.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Training

• Completed an internship in preparation for a plumber’s license in New Jersey
• Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC) of California

Lookout: What is your job and can you explain what it is?

Scott Liess: I own a plumbing company. I offer plumbing work and hire people to provide this service.

Lookout: How did you get into the plumbing industry?

Liess: My mother was an accountant in my uncle’s company and just took us to work. My brother and I got into the groove and learned crafts from a young age. I probably started doing adult plumbing jobs when I was about 5 or 6. I was just a little helper, handing out tools and holding things. Customers were also happy to have children on the job. You know it’s a cool thing. Like the Yoo-hoo [drink] The factory was right there so you went to the factory and they gave you Yoo-hoos.

Lookout: Can you describe how you became the owner of Eco-Flow Plumbing?

Read: Reluctantly. I’ve tried different things. I wanted to become a yoga teacher or take the healing path of psychotherapy. School just wasn’t my thing at all and I had big problems at school. I tried and it didn’t work. It was also difficult for me to take advantage of someone else’s pain or suffering. But plumbing just came to mind. Nobody had to explain it. Anything other than history or geography just seemed alien to me.

After some travel, I just said [to myself], “Look, here’s the deal: you know this craft and you know you can do it.” Also, there was no way I could have worked for anyone, so that was really my only option. You must be willing to sacrifice relationships and fun. That’s not to say you can’t have those things, but when people depend on you for a paycheck, it becomes a priority.

Lookout: What was it like opening a store during such a tough economic time?

Read: It was hard. I drove all over the Bay Area to find work, but it was nice because I didn’t have overhead. it was just me I had a truck with tools and equipment. Then I just kind of slowly walked on. I worked alone for five years. As I said, I didn’t want to start because I didn’t know if I wanted to be all-in. I wasn’t sure I wanted to give him that much energy. But then life happens and you find yourself [saying], “I’ve gone so far, let’s keep going.” They start hiring people and getting pay stubs, get a little bigger, buy more trucks and equipment. Life goes on.

Lookout: Can you describe what a typical day at work looks like for you as an owner?

Liess: The typical day for me is usually a sauna or jacuzzi, then a cold bath and coffee. Then I make sure the guys know where to go and that they are prepared and know what materials and equipment they need to take with them. I am currently wearing several hats. I answer the phone, I’m busy scheduling appointments, preparing estimates and looking for new employees. Then I answer questions throughout the day [that] the guys might have, and [they] FaceTime me about the problems at work. At around 12 o’clock I go to CrossFit. I will come back [to the office] Sometimes go into the field and check on the staff, do quality control and make sure they are doing what they promise. One thing about the trades is that you constantly do quality control. I finish around 3-3:30pm

Lookout: What was a typical day like for you when you were a plumber?

Liess: It’s a grind, that’s a trading thing. You start at 7 or 8 in the morning and you’re out all day. The beauty of our work is that you travel the world. So if you want to have lunch, get it at your favorite place. You meet different people and are never stuck in one place for more than a few hours. For someone like me, there’s no way I can work in a booth behind the screen for more than a few hours a day.

(Kevin Painchaud / Santa Cruz Viewpoint)

Lookout: What are your favorite things to do and your biggest challenges?

Liess: Well, my favorite part of the job is the people. The biggest challenges of the job are [also] people, but that’s partly true. The job itself is hard work. You tend to people’s feces, you crawl under houses, you work at busy intersections. Most people want to spend their money on a vacation or a brand new Tesla or acupuncture. The last thing they want to spend money on is a new water heater. We work in customer service. Me and the boys get challenged by people at work. It’s all a balancing act to keep everyone on track and moving in the right direction. You know, post-COVID people are kind of ungrounded and a little freaky, so you can do this. People get scared, they don’t know what’s going on and then they have an emergency in their house. And you must go to her house. We’ve had to learn how to navigate and make sure we’re safe, clean, healthy and that customers are comfortable.

Lookout: Did you notice a difference between your career before and during the pandemic?

Read: The difference was [challenges with] the supply chain. Certain things were harder to get or the shipping lanes were temporarily closed. I remember the San Francisco Bay was full of ships right now. All prices went to the materials. They’ve doubled, tripled and you’ve seen it in every industry. We had to be more creative in picking the jobs you wanted to do, which means letting clients know, “Hey, we’ll do our best to get this, but you might have to wait two weeks.” I think , communication was more of a challenge. As a whole, as a collective in the world, it seems like people are a little nervous.

Lookout: What type of person do you think is best suited for this type of job?

Liess: So for the plumbing service, #1, it has to be someone who just has hard work ingrained in their psyche. That’s how they were raised and it’s just a part of who they are. #2, respect and reverence for work and tools. #3, a good communicator [who] works well with others and [is] a team player. Fourth, someone who is conscious and aware, but also mechanically able to understand things. You can work here and you can’t. You could do labor jobs like digging, sweeping and cleaning but to be a mechanic or plumber you need to be able to see the plan of the job in your head as it will evolve from nothing to complete installation.

Someone in the office who is capable of being an office manager, who is able to understand these things but also understands the guys and the people in the field. You have to understand the customers.

Lookout: Are there specific requirements for your job or specifically for being a plumber?

Read: We are looking for someone who is honest, wants to learn a trade, works hard and shows up. Someone who is fair, a good communicator. Someone has to be honest and respectful about going into a client’s house. Everyone who works for me, and it’s not many, I trust.

I went to a plumbing trade school for a license and when someone goes there that’s great. I don’t think they offer much of that anymore, or if someone went to college and wanted to learn a trade, it doesn’t matter. In California you have to work for someone for four or five years and then you get your license, so you only have to take one test. In New Jersey you had to do an apprenticeship [program] to get a license and the test was much harder than here.

Lookout: How much can someone make in this field?

Read: Somewhere probably between $15 and $20 an hour [starting salary]. Depending on where you are in your career, you can make anywhere from $25 to $65 an hour, maybe even more.

Lookout: What advice would you give to a recent graduate or career changer interested in a position in this field?

Liess: Learn as much as possible, go to fairs and exhibitions. It’s about getting hours. You don’t really know anything until you have those 10,000 hours on anything. If you do the math, that’s 40 hours a week for five years, that’s your average training time.

Lookout: What does the future of your company look like?

Read: We want to grow with our speed, and what is convenient, have the best equipment to do the tasks we need to do in the safest way. I think one thing we like to do is have the most innovative equipment. We prefer using machines to human labor and the guys really like using the technology. Much of the work we do is underground, that is sewer work. So we use cameras that go into the sewers and we use locators to locate the heads of the cameras to find out what breaks are there. We have machines that dig like excavators and we have machines that clean sewers.

Lookout: What are the prospects for careers in plumbing?

Liess: I think it will always be a good industry. As my dad would say, for every toilet seat, there’s an ass. It’s just a part of being human. As humans we need sanitation.

The post How I Obtained My Job: Scott Liess on careers within the trades and the way tech is reshaping plumbing trade appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SEATTLE — Meet will lane, 31, of Tacoma, Washington, who never went to college.

He’s a journeyman plumber. He figures he earns $140,000 to $160,000 a year. He has plenty of work.

It turns out that you don’t need a four-year degree and massive college debt to make a very comfortable living.

High school students: The skilled trades — plumbing, electrical, carpentry, ironworking and numerous others — are beckoning.

There is another world out there besides sitting in a cubicle, staring at a screen. Especially now, the trades are a nice alternative to the shock undergoing the knowledge economy.

There were 200,000 tech company firings at some 1,000 firms last year and into February, according to the tracking site layoffs.fyi.

“Silicon Valley as we know it — with its radically transparent company cultures, empowered employees, flat hierarchies and rarefied perks like nap pods and free food — is quickly disappearing. And it’s unlikely to return,” wrote Nadia Rawlinson, the former chief people officer at Slack, the chat room used by companies in place of email, in a Jan. 19 New York Times essay.

But in the trades, it’s a different story

Angie Hicks is the co-founder of Angie’s List — now Angi — which pairs homeowners and contractors.

Speaking by phone from her home in Indianapolis, she says, “The trades have always been insulated from the economy a bit. For most people, their individual home is their largest investment. They want to protect it. I always remind people that the housing market and home improvement market are two different things. Whether you’re buying or selling a home doesn’t mean we’re not taking care of them.”

The plumbing industry is a particularly strong example of the shortage of people in that trade, as workers are aging out.

According to DataUSA, which compiles U.S. government data, there were more than 500,000 plumbers, pipe fitters and steamfitters in the United States in 2020.

Nearly a third of them — 28% — were over age 50. At indeed.com, the job listing site, there were more than 300 recent listings for Washington state plumbing jobs, some offering up to $10,000 as a sign-up bonus.

Lane works for Harts Services, a Tacoma company that covers from Olympia to Everett, Washington.

For Lane and his wife, who works for a nonprofit, his plumbing salary has “given me the opportunity to do well in life, be able to afford to buy a new home, travel, do things we enjoy,” he says.

He’s from Australia. In high school there, says Lane, “They definitely push for the trades if you’re not interested in studying in college. There are a lot of options for work experiences, and if you don’t have contacts in the trades, they can set you up.”

It’s a different story in Seattle Public Schools, although that’s changing.

In 2020, there were nearly 15,000 high school students in the district. Only 220 were enrolled at its Skills Center trades program, which includes maritime vessel operation, auto technology, medical office assistant, construction and video game design.

One problem is that the classes are spread around various Seattle locations. That means students spend half a day at their regular school and have to make their way to the trades classes by bus or Rideshare.

Dan Golosman, the enthusiastic principal of the program, hopes the Skills Center eventually can be sited in one central location. For right now, he simply wants kids to know the trades opportunities are there. OK; here you go: skillscenter.seattleschools.org.

We’re paying the price for pushing high school kids to go to college, writes Matt B. Crawford in his best-seller, “Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.”

In a May 21, 2009, New York Times essay adapted from the book, he writes: “High school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in the 1990s as educators prepared students to become ‘knowledge workers.’ The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass.”

Crawford, 57, floats between the trades and the knowledge economy. He earned a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Chicago, and is a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He also once owned a motorcycle repair shop and says that for the past 10 years, he’s spent half of the day modifying an old VW bug made up of parts from various years.

In a phone interview, Crawford, who lives in the San Francisco area, says that in the trades, “There’s no ambiguity that you’re doing something useful.”

But in the knowledge economy, says Crawford, “You’re trafficking in abstractions. The standards are more amorphous. You’re never quite sure where you stand. In an office environment, it’s like walking on eggshells.”

On a recent afternoon, Lane is overseeing two plumbing apprentices in an in-house training program started by Harts. It’s the company’s way of attracting new employees.

Lane is doing the actual pipe work. The apprentices cut the drywall, sweep up. They’re watching Lane and learning. One step at a time.

For eight weeks, while getting paid, they get classroom training and hands-on learning. The company says it’ll help the apprentices prepare for the state’s plumbers exam.

Besides the exam, the state mandates that those in the trades take part in apprenticeships that can last from two to five years.

To work in just residential plumbing requires at least 6,000 hours — about three years — as an apprentice. At its “Become an Apprentice” website, the state’s Department of Labor & Industries shares everything you need to know about jobs including a machinist, butcher and dental assistant.

The initial pay for apprentices with Harts is minimal — $16 an hour. But as they pass various skill tests, the pay increases by $1 an hour, up to $20 an hour the first year. Then the pay keeps increasing — $25 an hour, $30, $35 and up — as apprenticeship hours accumulate and exams are passed.

$94,900. That was the average annual earning in 2022 for those completing apprenticeships in all the trades, averaging out lower-paid jobs such as flaggers with, say, electricians, according to the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.

Tonya Miller, 42, of Lakewood, Washington, is one of the apprentices assigned to Lane. On this particular day, a home in Des Moines, Washington, is being repiped because the old water pipes have been leaking.

Miller has had a varied work background: a charge nurse at a nursing home, then a traveling teacher who ended up teaching in Egypt.

She has a grown son and an 11-year-old daughter. “My auntie, my cousins are helping me. They watch my daughter,” she says about getting through the finances of her apprenticeship.

She talks about setting an example for other Black women going into the trades. “Time is on my side. It’s win-win for me.”

Meet Rachel Nelson, 35, of Granite Falls, Washington.

She’s in her fifth and final year (it’s now been changed to a four-year program) of an electrician apprenticeship in inside wiring put together by contractors and labor. (The actual name of the program is very long and not easily remembered: the Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, sponsored by the Puget Sound chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association and Local 46 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.)

When finished, Nelson will be qualified to do any kind of commercial, industrial or residential work.

As a journeyman — that’s the term for when she’s accumulated 8,000 hours as an apprentice, completed class work and passed a state exam — her expected annual union wages will be $110,000 to $135,000 a year.

Nelson did go the college route once

She earned mechanical engineering and construction engineering degrees from Purdue University, then worked in the oil and gas industry, and for a general contractor.

About her career switch, she says, “I enjoy being an engineer, but it’s kind of like doing a lot of baby-sitting. A lot of what an engineer does is quality control stuff. The tradesmen install the work. The engineer comes after the fact and checks. I wanted to be hands-on.”

Nelson also remembers her engineering days, when she was talking to a carpenter apprentice. “At the end of the week, he was bringing home more money than I was with four years of college and two degrees. I thought, ‘This is ridiculous.’ “

As an apprentice electrician, she started off at around $24 an hour the first year, and now is at about $50 an hour. In college, she accumulated $45,000 in student loans at Purdue, and has paid them off.

Tens of thousands of Washingtonians are carrying huge college debt.

In Washington, nearly 783,000 residents held $28 billion in federal student loans in March 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Nearly half of those loans are for more than $20,000, and more than three-quarters are to people under 50, says a Sept. 21, 2022, Seattle Times story.

Not good for that FICO score.

There is a hitch for getting paid as an apprentice.

Nelson signed an “in-kind repayment,” meaning that after she completes the program, she will work for union contractors for the same amount of time she spent in the program: In her case, five years. Her union dues will be about $60 a month.

Few apprentices renege on repayment, says Ryan Bradt, training director for the electrician apprenticeship program. “They’re making too much money.”

There are hurdles to getting into the program. About 15% to 20% of applicants fail the algebra and reading and comprehension tests, Bradt says.

You also need to handle sitting in a classroom, as was the case at the Renton training center, where people were working from a textbook titled “Fundamentals of Motor Control.”

A typical page begins, “Automatically operated input devices are switches triggered by a change in a process parameter. Examples of process parameters include liquid level and pressure, fluid flows and material temperature.”

There is also the matter that some people pondering an apprenticeship have never done work building with their hands.

A free, 10-week “Construction Pre-Apprenticeship” program run by Edmonds College is headquartered in a 33,000-square-foot building at Paine Field in Everett. It also holds an aerospace manufacturing school.

During the 10 weeks of the program, the nine students in this class will build a tiny house that eventually will be transported to a village for unsheltered people. The students start out with a forklift unloading 2x4s, plywood, metal flashing, vinyl plank flooring, nails of all sorts — from hanger nails to roofing nails — from a list of 63 items.

What is a pre-apprenticeship?

Larry Cluphf, head of both programs, explains, “(Some students) may never have held a hand tool, never used a measuring tape or a square. They have not developed skills enough to get into an apprenticeship program.”

Still, employers come recruiting to these classes.

“It’s almost an emergency state right now, finding trained workers,” says Cluphf.

Chelsie Andrews, 19, of Stanwood, Washington, is one of the nine students in the most recent pre-apprenticeship class. There are five women in the group.

“I was shocked when I walked in to the classroom for the first time, and I saw multiple women. I was very happy,” she says. “A lot of women are scared to take that step. I felt I was going to feel stupid and looked down on for going into the trades.”

The trades traditionally have been male-dominated, but that’s changing.

In this state, women made up a little over a tenth, and minorities about a third, of the 22,000 people in apprenticeships last year, according to Labor & Industries. So things are improving.

Andrews remembers the first time she used a skill saw in class.

“I remember my heart was pounding. My first cut was not a straight line at all. I was nervous, staring at the line. But after the third or fourth time, I could get it pretty good,” she says.

A 2022 Stanwood High graduate, she says, “I was never strong in school. I kind of knew I would go into the trades. I just didn’t know how.”

Then she heard about the Edmonds College program, with free tuition worth $5,000 underwritten by sponsors such as Sound Transit.

Now, says Andrews, she’s confident enough in her skills that she fixed some broken stairs in her family’s home.

“It had been broken for like a year. I said, ‘What if I get the chop saw?’ It was very easy. I had always thought it was some difficult task.”

Darin Vendee, 22, is another student in the group.

After graduating in 2018 from Juanita High School in Kirkland, Washington, he says, “I had different jobs here and there.” He was a dishwasher and made pizza at a restaurant, worked for Amazon, at a bakery.

His high school counselors and family friends suggested he try the trades. Certainly, the potential for good money was an inducement.

Vendee remembers how it was at the beginning of the pre-apprenticeship.

“All the nails I tried to hammer were bent and crooked. By the second day, all the nails were pretty straight,” he says.

For Seattle public high schoolers considering the trades, Golosman gives out a 53-page booklet titled “Construction Apprenticeship Guidebook.” The annual booklet is available online.

It lists page after page of apprenticeships in two dozen categories. So many opportunities.

Page 7 has some striking numbers. It compares the finances of apprenticeships versus college:

Apprenticeship: “$176,640-$291,840 earnings + benefits & pension.

College: $90,000 debt + college degree.”

You could argue the figures, which are based on decade-old numbers from the state.

But the point is there: The jobs, and the money, are waiting in the trades.

As Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder wrote in a 2005 paper, “You can’t hammer a nail over the internet, at least not yet.”

The post As tech jobs soften, the trades beckon. This plumber makes $140K+ | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Erik Lacitis
The Seattle Times

Meet will lane, 31, of Tacoma, Washington, who never went to college.

He’s a journeyman plumber. He figures he earns $140,000 to $160,000 a year. He has plenty of work.

It turns out that you don’t need a four-year degree and massive college debt to make a very comfortable living.

High school students: The skilled trades — plumbing, electrical, carpentry, ironworking and numerous others — are beckoning.

Kelso High School instructor Steve Mahitka on Feb. 8, 2023 describes how the competition brings out the best in his welding students by testing their abilities in a complex trade.

Sydney Brown
, 

Katelyn Metzger

There is another world out there besides sitting in a cubicle, staring at a screen. Especially now, the trades are a nice alternative to the shock undergoing the knowledge economy.

There were 200,000 tech company firings at some 1,000 firms last year and into February, according to the tracking site layoffs.fyi.

“Silicon Valley as we know it — with its radically transparent company cultures, empowered employees, flat hierarchies and rarefied perks like nap pods and free food — is quickly disappearing. And it’s unlikely to return,” wrote Nadia Rawlinson, the former chief people officer at Slack, the chat room used by companies in place of email, in a Jan. 19 New York Times essay.

People are also reading…

But in the trades, it’s a different story.

Angie Hicks is the co-founder of Angie’s List — now Angi — which pairs homeowners and contractors.

Speaking by phone from her home in Indianapolis, she says, “The trades have always been insulated from the economy a bit. For most people, their individual home is their largest investment. They want to protect it. I always remind people that the housing market and home improvement market are two different things. Whether you’re buying or selling a home doesn’t mean we’re not taking care of them.”

The plumbing industry is a particularly strong example of the shortage of people in that trade, as workers are aging out.

According to DataUSA, which compiles U.S. government data, there were more than 500,000 plumbers, pipe fitters and steamfitters in the United States in 2020.

Nearly a third of them — 28% — were over age 50. At indeed.com, the job listing site, there were more than 300 recent listings for Washington state plumbing jobs, some offering up to $10,000 as a sign-up bonus.

Lane works for Harts Services, a Tacoma company that covers from Olympia to Everett, Washington.

For Lane and his wife, who works for a nonprofit, his plumbing salary has “given me the opportunity to do well in life, be able to afford to buy a new home, travel, do things we enjoy,” he says.

He’s from Australia. In high school there, says Lane, “They definitely push for the trades if you’re not interested in studying in college. There are a lot of options for work experiences, and if you don’t have contacts in the trades, they can set you up.”

It’s a different story in Seattle Public Schools, although that’s changing.

In 2020, there were nearly 15,000 high school students in the district. Only 220 were enrolled at its Skills Center trades program, which includes maritime vessel operation, auto technology, medical office assistant, construction and video game design.

One problem is that the classes are spread around various Seattle locations. That means students spend half a day at their regular school and have to make their way to the trades classes by bus or Rideshare.

Dan Golosman, the enthusiastic principal of the program, hopes the Skills Center eventually can be sited in one central location. For right now, he simply wants kids to know the trades opportunities are there. OK; here you go: skillscenter.seattleschools.org.

We’re paying the price for pushing high school kids to go to college, writes Matt B. Crawford in his best-seller, “Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.”

In a May 21, 2009, New York Times essay adapted from the book, he writes: “High school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in the 1990s as educators prepared students to become ‘knowledge workers.’ The imperative of the last 20 years to round up every warm body and send it to college, then to the cubicle, was tied to a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy. This has not come to pass.”

Crawford, 57, floats between the trades and the knowledge economy. He earned a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Chicago, and is a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He also once owned a motorcycle repair shop and says that for the past 10 years, he’s spent half of the day modifying an old VW bug made up of parts from various years.

In a phone interview, Crawford, who lives in the San Francisco area, says that in the trades, “There’s no ambiguity that you’re doing something useful.”

But in the knowledge economy, says Crawford, “You’re trafficking in abstractions. The standards are more amorphous. You’re never quite sure where you stand. In an office environment, it’s like walking on eggshells.”

On a recent afternoon, Lane is overseeing two plumbing apprentices in an in-house training program started by Harts. It’s the company’s way of attracting new employees.

Lane is doing the actual pipe work. The apprentices cut the drywall, sweep up. They’re watching Lane and learning. One step at a time.

For eight weeks, while getting paid, they get classroom training and hands-on learning. The company says it’ll help the apprentices prepare for the state’s plumbers exam.

Besides the exam, the state mandates that those in the trades take part in apprenticeships that can last from two to five years.

To work in just residential plumbing requires at least 6,000 hours — about three years — as an apprentice. At its “Become an Apprentice” website, the state’s Department of Labor & Industries shares everything you need to know about jobs including a machinist, butcher and dental assistant.

The initial pay for apprentices with Harts is minimal — $16 an hour. But as they pass various skill tests, the pay increases by $1 an hour, up to $20 an hour the first year. Then the pay keeps increasing — $25 an hour, $30, $35 and up — as apprenticeship hours accumulate and exams are passed.

$94,900. That was the average annual earning in 2022 for those completing apprenticeships in all the trades, averaging out lower-paid jobs such as flaggers with, say, electricians, according to the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.

Tonya Miller, 42, of Lakewood, Washington, is one of the apprentices assigned to Lane. On this particular day, a home in Des Moines, Washington, is being repiped because the old water pipes have been leaking.

Miller has had a varied work background: a charge nurse at a nursing home, then a traveling teacher who ended up teaching in Egypt.

She has a grown son and an 11-year-old daughter. “My auntie, my cousins are helping me. They watch my daughter,” she says about getting through the finances of her apprenticeship.

She talks about setting an example for other Black women going into the trades. “Time is on my side. It’s win-win for me.”

Meet Rachel Nelson, 35, of Granite Falls, Washington.

She’s in her fifth and final year (it’s now been changed to a four-year program) of an electrician apprenticeship in inside wiring put together by contractors and labor. (The actual name of the program is very long and not easily remembered: the Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, sponsored by the Puget Sound chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association and Local 46 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.)

When finished, Nelson will be qualified to do any kind of commercial, industrial or residential work.

As a journeyman — that’s the term for when she’s accumulated 8,000 hours as an apprentice, completed class work and passed a state exam — her expected annual union wages will be $110,000 to $135,000 a year.

Nelson did go the college route once.

She earned mechanical engineering and construction engineering degrees from Purdue University, then worked in the oil and gas industry, and for a general contractor.

About her career switch, she says, “I enjoy being an engineer, but it’s kind of like doing a lot of baby-sitting. A lot of what an engineer does is quality control stuff. The tradesmen install the work. The engineer comes after the fact and checks. I wanted to be hands-on.”

Nelson also remembers her engineering days, when she was talking to a carpenter apprentice. “At the end of the week, he was bringing home more money than I was with four years of college and two degrees. I thought, ‘This is ridiculous.’ “

As an apprentice electrician, she started off at around $24 an hour the first year, and now is at about $50 an hour. In college, she accumulated $45,000 in student loans at Purdue, and has paid them off.

Tens of thousands of Washingtonians are carrying huge college debt.

In Washington, nearly 783,000 residents held $28 billion in federal student loans in March 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Nearly half of those loans are for more than $20,000, and more than three-quarters are to people under 50, says a Sept. 21, 2022, Seattle Times story.

Not good for that FICO score.

There is a hitch for getting paid as an apprentice.

Nelson signed an “in-kind repayment,” meaning that after she completes the program, she will work for union contractors for the same amount of time she spent in the program: In her case, five years. Her union dues will be about $60 a month.

Few apprentices renege on repayment, says Ryan Bradt, training director for the electrician apprenticeship program. “They’re making too much money.”

There are hurdles to getting into the program. About 15% to 20% of applicants fail the algebra and reading and comprehension tests, Bradt says.

You also need to handle sitting in a classroom, as was the case at the Renton training center, where people were working from a textbook titled “Fundamentals of Motor Control.”

A typical page begins, “Automatically operated input devices are switches triggered by a change in a process parameter. Examples of process parameters include liquid level and pressure, fluid flows and material temperature.”

There is also the matter that some people pondering an apprenticeship have never done work building with their hands.

A free, 10-week “Construction Pre-Apprenticeship” program run by Edmonds College is headquartered in a 33,000-square-foot building at Paine Field in Everett. It also holds an aerospace manufacturing school.

During the 10 weeks of the program, the nine students in this class will build a tiny house that eventually will be transported to a village for unsheltered people. The students start out with a forklift unloading 2x4s, plywood, metal flashing, vinyl plank flooring, nails of all sorts — from hanger nails to roofing nails — from a list of 63 items.

What is a pre-apprenticeship?

Larry Cluphf, head of both programs, explains, “(Some students) may never have held a hand tool, never used a measuring tape or a square. They have not developed skills enough to get into an apprenticeship program.”

Still, employers come recruiting to these classes.

“It’s almost an emergency state right now, finding trained workers,” says Cluphf.

Chelsie Andrews, 19, of Stanwood, Washington, is one of the nine students in the most recent pre-apprenticeship class. There are five women in the group.

“I was shocked when I walked in to the classroom for the first time, and I saw multiple women. I was very happy,” she says. “A lot of women are scared to take that step. I felt I was going to feel stupid and looked down on for going into the trades.”

The trades traditionally have been male-dominated, but that’s changing.

In this state, women made up a little over a tenth, and minorities about a third, of the 22,000 people in apprenticeships last year, according to Labor & Industries. So things are improving.

Andrews remembers the first time she used a skill saw in class.

“I remember my heart was pounding. My first cut was not a straight line at all. I was nervous, staring at the line. But after the third or fourth time, I could get it pretty good,” she says.

A 2022 Stanwood High graduate, she says, “I was never strong in school. I kind of knew I would go into the trades. I just didn’t know how.”

Then she heard about the Edmonds College program, with free tuition worth $5,000 underwritten by sponsors such as Sound Transit.

Now, says Andrews, she’s confident enough in her skills that she fixed some broken stairs in her family’s home.

“It had been broken for like a year. I said, ‘What if I get the chop saw?’ It was very easy. I had always thought it was some difficult task.”

Darin Vendee, 22, is another student in the group.

After graduating in 2018 from Juanita High School in Kirkland, Washington, he says, “I had different jobs here and there.” He was a dishwasher and made pizza at a restaurant, worked for Amazon, at a bakery.

His high school counselors and family friends suggested he try the trades. Certainly, the potential for good money was an inducement.

Vendee remembers how it was at the beginning of the pre-apprenticeship.

“All the nails I tried to hammer were bent and crooked. By the second day, all the nails were pretty straight,” he says.

For Seattle public high schoolers considering the trades, Golosman gives out a 53-page booklet titled “Construction Apprenticeship Guidebook.” The annual booklet is available online at bitly.com/apprenticeshipguidebook.

It lists page after page of apprenticeships in two dozen categories. So many opportunities.

Page 7 has some striking numbers. It compares the finances of apprenticeships versus college:

Apprenticeship: “$176,640-$291,840 earnings + benefits & pension.

College: $90,000 debt + college degree.”

You could argue the figures, which are based on decade-old numbers from the state.

But the point is there: The jobs, and the money, are waiting in the trades.

As Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder wrote in a 2005 paper, “You can’t hammer a nail over the internet, at least not yet.”

Copyright 2023 Tribune Content Agency.

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The 49ers don’t hold a pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft or even an early second-round pick, but they do have the ammunition to do so if they desire.

San Francisco 49ers fans could be forgiven for considering the 2022 NFL Draft a somewhat abstract part of the year for them, given the team doesn’t have a selection until No. 61 jumpsuit.

While there’s no shortage of stars on the Niners who were picked after the first round, from wide receiver Deebo Samuel to tight end George Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner (all three of whom are All-Pro selections from the last few seasons), it’s the first round that captures the attention of your average fan.

read more: 49ers 7-round mock draft with 2022 NFL Combine in the books

While draftniks will always love all three days of the draft, arguing endlessly online about who the real steals of the draft are, your Joe and Jane Six-Pack probably aren’t going to be that enraptured by it.

While the 49ers don’t have a pick in the first round as of yet, they have the ammunition to move up. They currently possess three picks on Day 2 of the draft, a number that’s likely to increase once the inevitable trade of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo goes through.

As a team that has needs at cornerback, there could be something to move up to grab one of the top cornerbacks on the board or someone else that tickles a fancy.

In fact it may not even need to be a first-round selection, San Francisco could just choose to move up into the top 50 picks or so. Niner Noise has made no secret of his love for players like North Dakota State wide receiver Christian Watson or Baylor cornerback Jalen Pitre, who are on that bubble between the first and second rounds after strong performances in the NFL Scouting Combine.

Here we look at three scenarios: a possible trade deep into the first round, a trade into the latter stages of the first round, and a trade earlier into the second round.

Let’s take a look.

The post 3 eventualities the place San Francisco trades up in 2022 NFL Draft appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Where do the San Francisco 49ers stand with Jimmy Garoppolo? (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The San Francisco 49ers figured to move off longtime starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo before NFL free agency even started last week.

Both the 49ers and Garoppolo admitted immediately following San Francisco’s NFC Championship Game loss to the Los Angeles Rams that his time in Northern Calfornia was coming to an end.

Now, nearly a year after San Francisco traded up in the 2021 NFL Draft to draft Garoppolo’s heir-apparent, his situation is more complicated.

To be clear. Trey Lance will be the 49ers’ Week 1 starter once the 2022 season comes calling. Garoppolo will not be on the roster.

With that said, we’re now entering the second week of NFL free agency and Garoppolo remains on the 49ers’ books with a cap hit of $26.95 million. It has impacted their ability to be big-time players during free agency with one high-priced signing and multiple lower-level deals.

Now that the likes of fellow quarterbacks such as Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz and Dashaun Watson have been traded, the market for Garoppolo’s services has shrunk. With Baker Mayfield firmly on the block, too, it could shrink even more. Below, I look at where we are at in the entire Garoppolo saga with the 49ers.

Jimmy Garoppolo Trade Market

Deshaun Watson trade complicates Jimmy Garoppolo’s market. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Previously linked to Garoppolo, a number of teams have found their new starting quarterbacks. That includes Russell Wilson heading to the Denver Broncos, the Cleveland Browns pulling off a blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson and the Washington Commanders adding Carson Wentz to the mix.

If we conclude San Francisco is not going to trade Garoppolo to the division rival Seattle Seahawks, there’s less than a handful of teams that make sense for the Super Bowl quarterback.

The Indianapolis Colts remain very much in the market for Garoppolo and had trade discussions with San Francisco about the veteran during the NFL Scouting Combine. It’s also important to note that Colts general manager Chris Ballard has dealt with San Francisco’s front office recently. That included the 49ers trading star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to Indy following the 2019 season.

However, things are complicated here due to Mayfield’s presence on the trade market after Cleveland traded for Deshaun Watson on Saturday. Having requested a trade prior to that blockbuster, Mayfield is not in a position to dictate where he goes.

With that said, it’s being reported that he prefers the Colts — further complicating San Francisco’s ability to trade Garoppolo. The Seattle Seahawks are also firmly in the mix for Mayfield and have had internal conversations about acquiring him after sending Wilson to the Broncos. Could Seattle use some of the bounty it received from Denver to entice the Browns in a trade? This would be the best-case scenario for San Francisco, setting the stage for a Garoppolo trade to Indianapolis.

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There’s also two NFC South teams (and potentially a third squad) in the market for a new quarterback.

The Carolina Panthers struck out in their attempt to acquire the aforementioned Watson. They now have to make a choice between selecting a rookie quarterback in the top-10 of the 2022 NFL Draft or biting the bullet on a Garoppolo trade. After all, the Panthers’ brass has made it clear that Sam Darnold is not the answer under center following his disastrous first season in Charlotte.

Also in a Watson trade, the New Orleans Saints find themselves in an unenviable position in the post-Sean Payton era. Taysom Hill is the only in-house candidate to take over under center. However, the Saints do have interest in re-signing Jameis Winston after he suffered a torn ACL last season. Will Winston’s familiarity with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael’s scheme play a role in the Saints’ decision-making process? San Francisco hopes not.

As for the other AFC South team, the Atlanta Falcons were close to finalizing a deal for Watson before Cleveland came through to offer him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.

While Atlanta kept veteran quarterback Matt Ryan in the mix behind the scenes, there’s a decent chance the former NFL MVP will ultimately request a trade. Likely wanting to join a contender, his market might be impacted. Perhaps, the Seahawks or Colts show interest.

Either way, it’s hard to imagine the Falcons turning around and acquiring Garoppolo should they be forced to trade Ryan. In this scenario, Arthur Blank’s team might just opt ​​to go into full-scale rebuild mode.

Timeline And Details Of A Potential Jimmy Garoppolo Trade

Jimmy Garoppolo traded to the Carolina Panthers could make sense. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Getty Images

From San Francisco’s perspective, the sooner the better. There’s absolutely no reason for this to draw on any further. Realistically, it would be a nightmare scenario if a trade is not finalized before the 2022 NFL Draft late next month. In fact, the 49ers want some sort of resolution within the week.

Any thought given to the idea that this will still remain unsettled come summer time an training camp is laughable.

There’s a few reasons for this. The 49ers currently find themselves $7.74 million under the cap. Garoppolo’s $26.95 million cap hit is still on the books. Ridding them of that figure would help the 49ers’ brass add to other areas of need before the NFL free agent market thins out even more.

San Francisco has needs at wide receiver, guard, edge pass rush and cornerback — needs it will not be able to address in a wholesale manner during the 2022 NFL Draft without a first-round pick.

For example, the 49ers have been linked to former New England Patriots All-Pro cornerback Stephen Gilmore. His going rate will be north of $12 million annually. Even after signing fellow cornerback Charvarius Ward, San Francisco still has interest in Gilmore. It will not be able to finalize a deal until Garoppolo is off the team’s books.

MORE FROM FORBESSan Francisco 49ers Sign Charvarius Ward: Financial Impact And More Informationby Vincent Frank

Recently-released former Tennessee Titans wide receiver Julio Jones is also someone the 49ers’ brass figures to have interest in given his relationship with head coach Kyle Shanahan dating back to their time together with the Atlanta Falcons. In short, moving Garoppolo should be San Francisco’s next big move.

The question then becomes what a trade might look like. Let’s take the Carolina Panthers out of the group above and focus on that initially. Carolina finds itself $31.79 million under the cap. It could easily take on Garoppolo’s contract without blinking an eye from a financial perspective. At issue here is Darnold’s presence and $18.86 million cap hit. Will general manager Scott Fitterer want to dole out north of $43 million in cap room to two marginal quarterbacks?

As with any potential trade, there’s other avenues to pursue. San Francisco could agree to take on Darnold as a backup to Lance. In the process, it demands more in return by picking up some of his $18.86 million cap hit. That is to say, demanding the Panthers up the ante by agreeing to pay out half of it. In this scenario, the 49ers add more draft capital.

It’s also not a secret that Carolina has injury-plagued All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on the trade block. His value has decreased big time with the former Stanford star having played a total of 10 games over the past two seasons.

Perhaps, the 49ers opt to take a chance that McCaffrey’s injuries are behind him while adding the dynamic threat to Kyle Shanahan’s offense. At full strength, he’d be a perfect fit. After losing Raheem Mostert to the Miami Dolphins, running back also remains a need for the 49ers.

With a base salary of $8.4 million, the 49ers would be able to take on McCaffrey’s cap hit while adding other pieces in free agency. This scenario would also include Carolina sending some draft capital to Northern California.

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Things get less complicated when it comes to the Colts and Saints. Both have the cap room to add Garoppolo to the mix without having to trade away a quarterback contract. Indianapolis could offer up its second-round pick and change for Jimmy GQ. The same thing could be said about New Orleans.

As it is, this is a situation the 49ers need to settle in short order. It has handcuffed them during NFL free agency. By trading Garoppolo, San Francisco would then be able to focus on adding more veterans to the mix before turning its attention to the 2022 NFL Draft as well as extending Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa.

Right now, things are in a holding pattern. And in reality, that’s not a great look.

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