Labor force: Trade business owners concerned about future of industry
August 12th, 2019
Bill Fox Sr. and Don Roblee say they’ve been having a tough time finding young people to join them and learn their trade.
Fox and Roblee, who were working on putting up a pole barn earlier this week along Lake Street Road in Le Roy, say they are not the only ones having this problem.
“It’s electrical, its carpentry, it’s plumbing, it’s not just one thing,” said Fox, owner of Bill Fox & Son Construction & Remodeling LLC of Le Roy. “It’s so hard to find anybody to work. I want to call attention to the trades themselves. “I’m not the only one. I know electricians, I know plumbers, I know other contractors that are trying to hire people and we can’t find them. There’s nobody that wants to learn a trade.”
Fox noted the current minimum wage of $11.10 in New York state. He asked why a young person would come to work at Bill Fox & Son when he could get a job at a fast food place for the same amount of money.
Roblee, owner of Don Roblee Plumbing & Heating in Pavilion, took over in 1986 for his father, who started the business in 1947. The company does all types of plumbing and heating throughout Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties.
“My business, they have to know how to read meters, they have to do a lot of specific electronics and stuff. They don’t learn that without being on hand. You’ve got to go to college or you’ve got to be on hand to do that,” he said. “People like us are willing to take these people on … With me, they’re going to get pretty dirty by the end of the day and they like to be home by 5 o’clock or 4:30 and that’s great, but the service business, that’s not it.
“You don’t know when you’re going to be working. You’re on call all the time. It’s a tough business, but it’s a good business,” he said. “You can make a good living. I have my whole life. It’s hard work. You’re hauling snakes, power equipment and fixing furnaces. You’re at beck and call for everybody all the time.”
Roblee said he plans to retire at some point and has a lot of customers he thinks of as family.
“You hate to leave them high and dry, but it’s getting to where I don’t have a choice,” he said. “I’ve talked with some of the bigger companies. They don’t want to take me over because they don’t have the manpower to take over my clientele.”
Fox said kids are being pushed too hard to go to college and that shouldn’t be happening.
“Schools have got to quit pushing college all the time. Not that I don’t think a kid needs to do a business course, but he’s got to be able to be hands-on and not every kid can do that or wants to do that. I’m finding, even with BOCES and stuff, we’re not getting those kids to want to do that. They’re pacified, I think, to be able to stay home and not have to work with their hands,” he said. “It’s a different demand, working with your hands. I don’t mean just my business … you look anywhere in this county, even the state. Even when we went on vacation to Florida, there were signs — “Help wanted” — everywhere.”
Andrew Klinkbeil has been working with Fox in carpentry for about 10 years.
“I was working with him (Fox) throughout high school,” said the 2002 Le Roy High School graduate.
“When I was younger, you worked. That’s the way you went out and did things like that. You were active,” he said.
Eric Lewis, a 2019 Pavilion Central School graduate who is also working with Fox, said he has done both “rough carpentry” — outside work — and finish cabinetry — inside work such as cabinets and base molding.
Lewis said his guidance counselors at Pavilion didn’t push him to go to college.
“They (counselors) brought me in and said, ‘If you want to go to college, these are your best choices,” Lewis said. “My dad did construction for about 30 years. When he was fixing stuff at the house, I was interested in helping him. He’d always let me help him.”
Fox said he’s not trying to criticize BOCES or any other organizations.
“I just don’t know where these kids are going. We do have a problem,” Fox said. “I guess that’s why I’m trying to reach out and get some thought going on this throughout the county.”
At Genesee Valley Educational Partnership’s Batavia campus, Executive Principal Jon Sanfratello reported some statistics for students who have completed the GVEP career and tech education. From 2013-14 through 2017-18, the percentage of students going into related employment has been as follows: 2013-14, 19%; 2014-15, 15%; 2015-16, 18%; 2016-17, 22%; and 2017-18, 17%. The percentage of students going to college in each of those years is: 2013-14, 59%; 2014-15, 56%; 2015-16, 50%; 2016-17, 49%; 2017-18, 43%.
“Those going right into a related field stands around 20%, which isn’t too bad. Those attending college could/may fall under a two-year school like Alfred State taking classes in their related field,” Sanfratello said. “For building trades, they have a 100% placement rate between college and/or going into the trades for their program. Overall, if a student comes out of that program, then they will be successful.”
As far as working with local companies as a whole, we try to partner with as many as we can. I know there is a struggle for some independently owned businesses looking for employees,” he said. “If anyone contacts me, then I direct them to the instructor of the program to see if they have a viable student to participate in a job shadow, co-op or internship. In building trades, only a few students might work locally or they find themselves working in Rochester, Buffalo or for a unionized company.
“Over the last seven years, our numbers in career and technical education have steadily increased,” he said. “Not significantly because of the population in our area declining, but we still bring around 40% of juniors and seniors in the region to GVEP and that is one of the highest percentages in the state.”
On Sept. 24, the first GLOW With Your Hands event, involving economic development agencies, workforce development leaders, educators, area employers and construction trades unions, will be Sept. 24 at the Genesee County Fairgrounds. Students, from 28 school districts in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties, are scheduled to converge on the Genesee County Fairgrounds Sept. 24 to witness activities associated with bricklaying, electrical wiring, heavy equipment operation and advanced manufacturing, among others.
Vendors who want to provide hands-on activities need to submit a vendor/exhibitor/demonstration registration form by Aug. 16. The form may be found at https://www.glowwithyourhands.com/vendors. Anyone with questions about this may call Sanfratello at (585) 344-7713 or email jsanfratello@gvboces.org.