Wabtec's Erie plant, where starting wages have fallen, advertises for hourly employees

Wabtec Corp. has been hiring hourly workers at its locomotive plant in Lawrence Park Township.

There is nothing unusual about that. Like GE Transportation before it, Wabtec Corp., Erie County's largest industrial employer, always has a certain number of employees coming and going. Retirees need replaced and workers are often added when business picks up.

What seems noteworthy is that the company has been looking to fill a variety of union jobs through advertisements purchased on television, radio and in the newspaper.

A recent advertisement in the Erie Times-News, for instance, listed openings for assembly technicians, engineering lab technicians, machinists, paint technicians, production technicians, weld technicians, maintenance fabricators and maintenance technicians.

Competing in the marketplace

Something else has changed. Wabtec now looks for employees without the near certainty that its wages are always going to be the highest in the community.

And the flurry of advertisements — at least on the hourly side of the business — represents a subtle departure for the plant, operated for more than a hundred years as GE Transportation — which typically had more applicants than openings.

And because union jobs at GE Transportation paid more than other factory jobs, people tended not to leave.

The equation has changed — at least to a certain extent — with the last two contracts the company signed with the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America.

Both of those contracts followed strikes at the plant. The first, which lasted nine days, came immediately after Wabtec acquired the former GE Transportation plant in February of 2019. The second, a 70-day strike, spread across much of the summer of 2023.

Both of those contracts kept in place a new progressive wage scale that starts new employees at a lower wage and gradually raises their pay to match those of so-called legacy employees at the end of 10 years.

The latest contract accelerated the pace at which new workers see their wages rise.

But still, there's a difference, one that might have some effect on Wabtec's ability to hire.

How big is the difference?

At the time the last contract was signed in late summer, legacy-scale production technicians at the plant were earning $32.67 an hour, compared with $21.47 for new employees.

While legacy level 2 weld technicians at Wabtec earned $37.07 at the time the contract was signed, new welders earned $24.31 an hour.

Meanwhile, statistics from the state Department of Labor & Industry show the average wage for a welder in Erie is $24.98 an hour, about the same as an entry-level welder at Wabtec.

That doesn't mean Wabtec can't find good employees. But they might not be as quick now to leave their current job for one at Wabtec, said Scott Slawson, president of UE 506 at Wabtec.

The incentive isn't as great, Slawson said. "If I am a trained welder already making more or as much as you are being offered for a starting wage."

Tim Bader, a spokesman for the company, said recently that Wabtec was looking for 15 qualified welders. He didn't respond, however, to other questions about the company's ability to hire workers.

Business is steady

Slawson, who reports that union employment remains between 1,400 and 1,500, said some of the recent job openings are the product of retirements.

That's led to some overtime pay at the plant, but nothing unusual, he said.

As usual, the need for employees will be determined in part by the number of orders that need to be filled.

And how would Slawson describe the flow of new orders coming in?

"Nothing bad, let's put it that way," he said. "Nobody is saying the sky is falling. We are doing a lot of rebuild work. We would like to build some new ones, although we are doing some of that for New York Transit."

A recent earnings report suggests orders are on the rise. The company reported $526 million in equipment sales for the first quarter of 2024. That's an increase of more than 30%.

Hiring workers to fill those orders might not be as easy as it once was.

"People are their own employer," Slawson said. "They are not a commodity. I am not going to sell myself to the lowest bidder."

But wages aren't the only thing holding employers back.

According to a report in the publication Workforce, a lack of skilled industrial workers could lead to 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, according to a study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

At Wabtec, "We are definitely struggling to find the people we need," Slawson said. "In fairness, a lot of that comes down to the fact that there is a whole generation, if not more, that skipped manufacturing. I am heartened by the fact that we are hiring some younger men and women. I think think there is some positivity to that."

Slawson said he hopes that the company addresses the challenge.

"What we would like to see the company do," he said, "is to create some training programs or partner with community colleges to create training programs for some of the area's youth."

Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com.