Madison Area Technical College

Excerpted from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov 6, 2006:

They're making welders again at Milwaukee's old North Division High School. Through a collaboration of the city's public schools, the technical college, welfare agencies, the mayor's office and a private manufacturer desperate for skilled trade workers, 16 adults have begun free training in a formerly mothballed metal shop. Those who graduate from the six-week course are guaranteed jobs starting at $12.50 an hour and full benefits at Tramont Corp., a maker of generator equipment in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.

Its need for welders is so severe that earlier this year Tramont had to turn away $10 million of work for lack of workers, says Sean McGowan, president at Tramont, where annual sales range between $25 million and $35 million. Metal fabricators throughout southeastern Wisconsin have been complaining about insufficient supplies of qualified welders and machinists as newer technologies require more from such workers and the replacement pipeline is inadequate for the experienced workers preparing to retire.

But complaining isn't a strategy for McGowan. Instead, he has been seeking creative ways for building his work force, which led him to the alliance behind the classes that started Monday at what's now called Genesis High School, 1011 W. Center St. "Milwaukee still needs people with good skills because we still build stuff here," McGowan said. "We need more skilled workers, and we have too many people unemployed, and we need to bridge that gap."

Sales growth at privately owned Tramont is exceeding 45% a year, McGowan said, and employment is at about 300, up 105 positions so far this year. The company is expanding and moving its assembly to industrial space it leases on Milwaukee's south side. But it still needs more workers. McGowan figures with 30 or 40 more welders, he could have kept the $10 million in sales orders, now being filled outside Wisconsin.

One of the problems facing Milwaukee Area Technical College is that it cannot produce enough employable welding graduates to meet local demand using traditional class structures. In 2005, the college produced only 14 new graduates, up from 10 the previous year. The following table, compiled from Milwaukee Area Technical College's annual Employment Reports, show that welding students who follow the traditional educational paths would have to commit to the two-year plan to virtually guarantee employment after graduation.

Aware of McGowan's quest for welders, Frank Cumberbatch, then senior assistant to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, showed McGowan the abandoned metal shop and 14 welding bays at Genesis a few months ago. Unused for five or six years, the area had become a storage room for Milwaukee Public Schools. Cumberbatch acted as matchmaker, putting McGowan and Dye together with Sandra McClary, director of corporate learning at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Through the college, Tramont could customize a welding curriculum and get instructors to teach it.

For potential students, McClary turned to Nancy Nestler, executive director of Multicultural Community Services, which does employment training for W-2 welfare agencies. Nestler, in turn, brought in Policy Studies Inc., the newest of Milwaukee's W-2 contractors, which agreed to underwrite the welding training, which McGowan estimates to cost $3,000 to $3,200 per trainee.

"This is such a unique model, and the people who came together really wanted this to happen. It wasn't just the political lip service," Nestler said. "Sean brought a huge enthusiasm to the project, and he got everybody excited." Putting heads and resources together and setting aside differences of jurisdiction, the partners hammered out an agreement that got classes started in about five months. Nestler said it usually takes that long to schedule a meeting. "We decided we are not going to take 'no' for an answer. And we are going to put guaranteed employment at the end," said Cumberbatch, now a private consultant.

The welding class collaborators say they are creating a model through which other employers and community-based organizations and training agencies can try to develop needed workers from underemployed individuals. They say vacant shop classrooms at North Division and other Milwaukee high schools offer opportunities for further collaborations. In fact, in January, MATC will provide an after-school welding class at Genesis for students who have returned to complete high school.

"I think business leaders have to be the leaders of social service," McGowan said. "If I don't do this, where are my workers going to come from? If I'm going to stay in Milwaukee, I have to help solve this problem."

Another Milwaukee company, Bucyrus International Inc. which specializes in mining equipment, is also collaborating with the college, Bradley Technical High School & the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County on a 12-week program called Express Ramp, which is designed to produce up to 100 trained heavy-plate welders in six months. These new trainees would then be given priority consideration for jobs at Bacyrus, where wages start at $22/hr.

Excerpted from the South Milwaukee Now, Jan 31, 2007:

"We noticed there was a shortage in qualified welders and, in order to get the caliber of welders we need, we contacted MATC and other technical colleges to develop a curriculum and training program around those needs," said John Milward, an employment specialist with Bucyrus International.

At Bucyrus, an entry-level welding job pays $22 to $24 per hour and it's not unusual for a welder to make $60,000 to $80,000 per year when overtime is figured into the equation.

The welding program is also unique because Bucyrus has partnered with the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County, a public/private partnership that fosters workforce development activity in Milwaukee County, and Esperanza Unida, which also hosts training classes. The PIC helps by removing many of the road blocks people have in transitioning into a new job by providing tuition assistance, child care, transportation costs and case management support.

This means Herb Carson, a 50-year-old Milwaukee man who is taking the welding program and doesn't have a car, can take a bus with the tokens PIC provides him to get to MATC. "You rarely get a chance of this magnitude. …We all value that," Carson said. "It's like Bucyrus is saying, 'Get qualified and we'll help you' and these partners are saying, 'We'll help you too.'"