Applicants for union position (Photo: QueensPost)
March 12, 2013 By Bill Parry
More than a thousand people camped outside the Steamfitters Industry Training Center in Long Island City yesterday in search of 500 openings in the union’s apprenticeship program.
Job seekers came from all over the tri-state area, and as far away as Texas, to line up and apply for positions. Many have waited since Friday.
Several knew little about the trade–which involves maintaining, repairing and assembling pipe and piping systems—but were in need of a secure job.
At one point Monday morning, the line stretched more than four blocks, as the applicants sought the coveted positions that would provide them with a five year training program that starts at $24 an hour. A fully licensed steamfitter can command a six figure salary.
A Local 638 Union official shouted instructions to the crowd from the front of the Steamfitters Industry Training Center at 48-03 32nd Place. He made one thing clear: The only guarantee was an application upon entering the building. He could not guarantee a position or anything else.
The union expects to hand out 5,000 applications by the end of the week. The 500 jobs will not all be offered all at once but will awarded over a 3-year-period. Therefore most applicants will be waiting sometime before they hear if they are successful.
Job applicant Chris Weinheimer of Centereach, NY, joined the line at 9 am. “I’ve been looking for a decent union job for several years now,” Weinheimer said. “I’ve tried laborers and ironworkers — here’s hoping the 3rd try’s the charm.”
Weinheimer works in the restaurant industry, but he is hoping for the security of a union job.
A diverse group of jobseekers, including two men from Poughkeepsie, three 17-year olds from Rockaway, a man from Commack and another from Central New Jersey waited all day to apply.
Meanwhile, Oswald Thomas of East New York, Brooklyn, who was standing in line, said: “This is ridiculous: I’ve gone twenty feet in three hours.”
Many applicants spoke of relatives in the Steamfitters Union. In the past that alone would have qualified most for entry into the apprenticeship program, but in 2008 the Department of Labor changed the rules in the interest of fairness.
“Five years ago you were born into it,” said Chris McGowan of Stroudsburg, Penn., adding, “that the Feds then changed everything.” McGowan said that five generations of his family were all steamfitters in Local 638: “Now I have to stand in line like everyone else which is a good thing, but it sucks at the same time.”
