Energy industry needs skilled workers as well as STEM experts

Energy industry needs skilled workers as well as STEM experts

Energy Day is an exploration of all the different jobs that the energy industry has to offer.  We talk a lot about science, technology, engineering, and math as being the jobs of the future, but the energy industry needs skilled laborers too.

CBS

At the Colorado Laborers' and Contractors' Education & Training School, Isidro Vigil demonstrated how to fuse the pipes that carry natural gas. These are skills he learned through LiUNA, Laborers' International Union of North America.

"My mission is to provide a safe and productive work force for our contractors," said Tom Miorelli, lead instructor at the Training School.

Contractors who are building a new energy infrastructure. The skills that Vigil is demonstrating translates across industries.

"A lot of our people are putting in pylons for bridges and things like that and for buildings, and so it's very similar, a caisson for a wind farm and a caisson for a building," Miorelli said.

CBS

The skills that Vigil has learned mean that he's capable of working across many construction specialties, and he makes as much as $23.00 an hour doing it.

"We get good pay, very good pay, and the benefits are the best," Vigil told CBS News Colorado. "I can add my son or my spouse to my benefits and it doesn't actually cost me anything."

Vigil makes a living wage, has healthcare for himself and his family, and the chance to save some money for retirement one day – he's piece of the American dream.

LINK: Energy Day

LiUNA will be at Energy Day along with dozens of other energy employers. It runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday,  September 24, 2022 outside of East High School. It's free and open to the public. 

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