Woburn, MA – Associated Builders and Contractors Massachusetts Chapter announced that ABC National, through it’s 69 chapters and over 21,000 members, has received the Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award.
ABC was selected based on its achievements in workforce education and fulfilling its 2018 pledge to recruit and upskill at least 500,000 workers by 2023.
In 2019 alone, ABC members invested $1.5 billion to provide more than 1.1 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education to build a construction workforce that is safe, skilled and productive. Safety education accounted for nearly half of the total workforce investment, averaging more than $1,100 per employee.
The inaugural award was created by the Department of Commerce in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Baldrige Performance Excellence program and with support from the Department of Labor.
“These 2019 training accomplishments are phenomenal,” said Steve Sullivan, director of workforce development at the ABC Mass. chapter. “Our member companies invest mightily in their workforce. Construction training is not inexpensive. Our companies form worker loyalty when they spend thousands of dollars a year to train their employees. This is precisely what our association is all about!”
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“The pipefitting industry is forever changing. At DECCO we are constantly training and re-training our workforce through apprenticeship craft training, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer ) training and software training. This is not your grandparent’s construction industry. Training is expensive.”
We invest thousands of dollars yearly in our employees to keep our company competitive,” said Bill Burg, partner development manager at Decco Inc. in Brookline,N.H./Chelmsford, Mass.
“As an apprentice I truly appreciate the investment my company has made to educate and train me in the electrical industry. Covering the cost for a four-year apprenticeship can reach almost $10,000. I certainly could not have paid for it myself,” said, Joel Pena, a fourth year electrical apprentice from Tocco Building Systems in Billerica.
