MORGANTOWN – Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., met with leaders of six local manufacturing firms for a roundtable on the challenges they face.
The businessmen expressed their concern about the lack of a skilled workforce but expressed pleasure with the tax cuts that took effect at the start of this year.
McKinley raised the issue of workforce challenges, noting that nationally there are 7.1 million jobs open. “We can’t fill them.”
Ray Sickles, owner of the sandal maker Gurkee’s, said he deals with a lack of work ethic among his potential employees. “I don’t know how you can instill a work ethic in a generation of people.”
Drug abuse also plays a role. Employees may be clean when they start work, but return to drugs when they start earning money.
Gurkee’s rope sandals, he said, are handmade. It’s low tech and can be tedious for some. The best employees are age 30 and over. “The younger ones don’t have the patience for it.”
Craig Walker, president and CEO of FCX Corp., was among those troubled by the dearth of vocational education programs and the stigma associated with the trades. “Somebody declares they’re on the trade side, they’re ostracized. … You’re missing a whole generation.”
FCX, he said, has 65 employees with more than 50 percent working there 15 years or longer. As they leave, there’s no one with the skills to replace them.
They cited examples of college grads who have expensive degrees they can’t use. Meanwhile, one businessman said he knows an equipment operator apprentice who will soon be making $30 an hour at the Pittsburgh-area cracker plant, and will be getting married and buying a house.
Part of the solution, said Greg Cyphert, owner of Progressive Industries, is to let kids know that trade jobs have value. “There’s a hundred guys walking past our shop every day that are working age,” he said, going to and from the convenience store. “They could be working if they had a trade, but they’re just going to get a couple Mountain Dews, they’re going back home and watch TV.”
T.J. Haddix, of N1 LLC, said the vocational message needs to start in the middle school years. “You’ve got to get in there, tell them young and explain to them, show them the path.”
McKinley said Congress has allocated nearly $2 billion to grant to counties to help jumpstart local vocational programs. And he’s talked with Gov. Jim Justice about West Virginia’s needs.
One problem here, he said, is the school aid formula that discourages investment such programs. The formula is tailored to teacher-student ratios of 1 to 25 while vocational classes run more like 1 to 6. “We’re going to have to change the culture.”
All six said their businesses and employees have benefited from the tax reform legislation.
Walker said his company has seen a double-digit reduction in tax paid, which has allowed them to invest in equipment and people. Employees have seen salary increases and the company was able to maintain its 100 coverage of health insurance premiums.
Conner Tobin, senior vice president for human resources with Swanson Industries, said, “It helped us in every respect.” Customers have more to spend, which boosts business, and the employees are happy with it.
While all are pleased with the Trump tax cuts, not all are pleased with the Trump tariff war.
Walker said steel is a key component in the magnetics of the products it sells. The tariffs are affecting their costs, acquisition of materials and product delivery to clients.
McKinley said President Trump has used tariff hikes as political leverage in negotiations with China and some other countries, and it’s had some positive effects. But he doesn’t know if Trump’s vision is to use tariffs long term or short term.
Walker replied, “As you explained it, yes, it’s going to have long-term benefit. Short term, it’s hurting small business.”
McKinley holds roundtables of various sorts year round, all across the 1st District. After this one, he explained what he does with all the information he gathers. When they return to D.C., he’ll hold a debriefing meeting. They’ll review action items gleaned from the talks and see how those items might be fit into new bills or bills in the works, and figure how to gain support for those issues from other lawmakers.
“It’s quite a process. It works.”
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