Better
Off Blue Collar By
Timothy Aeppel BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. -- Growing up, Chad Toulouse never thought of becoming a blue-collar worker. Like most kids around him, the 24-year-old son of a utility linesman and grandson of a steelworker says he was encouraged to go to college. His mother even took a secretarial job at a nearby college to qualify for a tuition break for her two sons. Mr. Toulouse went for a year, but struggled to identify a career goal, and dropped out. While taking classes at a community college and working at a BP station for $6 an hour, he saw a television ad about a nonprofit training program to help people become skilled machinists. It was an epiphany. "Some people find it hard to catch on to running machines, but it's something I've always enjoyed," he says. He signed up for the 18-week course, called Manufacturing 2000 , sponsored by a consortium of metals-working businesses in collaboration with Duquesne University , and landed a job upon graduation. What he discovered, he says, is a world that past generations of factory workers wouldn't recognize. Machinists today don't just push buttons and pull levers on huge machines to cut raw blocks of metal into engine or machine parts, or even to make such medical devices as needles. Modern machinists often type commands into computers that direct machines producing items according to extremely precise measurements. The process can be repeated again and again with remarkable consistency. Machinists have a hand in producing roughly 150,000 of the items in a typical four-bedroom house: from shower heads to doorknobs to computer monitors. Chad Toulouse says becoming a machinist was a 'step up' for him. Throughout factory floors, automation also has assumed many tasks that were repetitive, or that often caused the injuries and accidents that just a generation or two ago made factories more dangerous. Injuries in factories dropped sharply in the 1990s. Total manufacturing-sector injuries and illnesses resulting in missed workdays fell 49% to 317,300 in 2001 from 623,600 in 1992, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The drop isn't solely due to declining manufacturing jobs, either: The rate per 10,000 full-time manufacturing workers fell to 183.7 cases from 352.1 over the period. Mr. Toulouse spends his days in a clean, bright cavernous space filled with a mix of computerized and traditional machines; about 40% of the machinery here is automated. The machines at Flowserve Inc.'s plant in Bridgeville cut and shape metal parts for water pumps in power plants. He started with Flowserve right out of training school, earning $9 an hour. Three years later, he earns $17.46 an hour and is team leader, which means he has to figure out how to divide tasks for the 70 other workers. With overtime, he made about $45,000 last year. Striding through the plant, blue light from the nearby welding machines dancing on the wall above his head, Mr. Toulouse says work can be stressful and overtime tiresome. But manufacturing is the career for him. "I'm not meant for an office or a cubicle," he says. In past generations, young people sought blue-collar work out of high school because jobs and pay were plentiful. But as the percentage of those jobs has declined during the past two decades, their promise of upward mobility has dimmed, prompting parents to urge children to pursue white-collar careers. "We wanted both our kids to go to college, but we also wanted them to be happy," says Betsy Toulouse, Chad's mother. She's clearly proud of her older son, a tax accountant for a major drug company, but figures Chad also has found his niche. "Just look at him," she says, gazing at her powerfully built son, "he looks like a machinist." In spite of a recent decline in manufacturing jobs, there is still demand for workers like Mr. Toulouse, who can manage people, handle complex tasks and adjust quickly to last-minute changes. Indeed, the Manufacturing 2000 training program grew out of concern among local manufacturers that their most skilled workers, particularly machinists and welders, were aging and new workers weren't going into the field. Unlike low-paying, low-skilled factory jobs, these positions require more training and aren't readily exported to China or Mexico . John Werling, director of a program at Duquesne University's Institute for Economic Transformation that advises manufacturers in the Pittsburgh region, says the course targets college dropouts who are "pretty on the ball, but don't know what they want to do." They're usually working in service jobs, pouring lattes at Starbucks. They may enjoy the relative freedom of such jobs, but also realize they can't support a home and family on those wages. At first, Mr. Toulouse had no idea what a machine shop looked like and doubted such work paid well. But he thrived in the training course, which included creating a five-pound steel hammer from a blue print. After finishing the program, he carried the hammer along with his resume when he interviewed with five companies. At Flowserve, Mr. Toulouse is a troubleshooter. For example, recently he arrived at work to find on his desk several metal parts that were rejected by customers or that had some other problem. He would have to determine how to fix them. A few hours later, a co-worker asked if he should begin producing a certain pump component. Before answering, Mr. Toulouse ran through his mental checklist of pending orders and their delivery dates. That pump part can wait, he told the co-worker, another job has higher priority. Mr. Toulouse then led the worker to a black pallet holding four unfinished hunks of metal the size of coffee cans, and pointed to a drawing outlining what had to be done. One of the biggest changes in blue-collar jobs in recent years is the sheer velocity of the work. Productivity enhancements made possible by new technology, combined with the push for just-in-time deliveries, mean workers are constantly rushing to fill orders. Manufacturing output rose by 47% during the past decade, compared with only 34% for the whole economy. Mr. Toulouse points to an order form with the word "Emergency" stamped in bold red letters. "Seems more and more things say that now," he says. The order for a part was to be shipped five days ago; Mr. Toulouse must now figure out how to expedite delivery and alert the customer of the delay. It's a lot of responsibility for a 24-year-old. But he likes his leadership position. "You grow up a lot quicker, assume responsibility a little faster when you go this path," he says. He also thinks he's better off financially, at least now, than he would have been if he had gone to college. He is putting aside money to buy a house and drives a new, dark green Ford F150 pickup. Still, upward mobility is a tricky issue for someone like Mr. Toulouse. Can he move up to say, plant manager, or will he plateau in his 30s? His supervisor, who didn't finish college and thinks his own career stalled as a result, gently advises Mr. Toulouse to consider a company program that pays for work-related college courses. At this point, Mr. Toulouse doesn't want to return to college and is convinced he can make a good living where he is. "If I were still in school, I wouldn't own half the stuff I do now," he says. "Doing this has definitely been a step up for me." Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
