ASA President Pledges to Train and Educate 35,000 Employees

Press Release Summary:

The American Supply Association (ASA) signs the Pledge to America’s Workers. ASA pledged to train and educate 35,000 employees over the span on five years. This initiative addresses the concern of ASA members regarding the huge gap in skilled workers in the PHCP/PVF industry. The outcome of the discussions is the strategic initiative – Project TALENT™. The initiative has 3 key components: 1) development of a media campaign to brand the PHCP and PVF industries; 2) development of a career portal where potential candidates can learn more about career opportunities ; and 3) providing ASA members with a “career opportunity toolbox” that will help them market the industry. 


Original Press Release:

ASA President Pledges to Train 35,000 Employees

Washington, D.C. – September 27, 2019 The American Supply Association (ASA) went recently to the White House to sign the Pledge to America’s Workers. ASA pledged to train and educate 35,000 employees over the span on five years. This important initiative addresses the concern of ASA members regarding the huge gap in skilled workers in the PHCP/PVF industry.

ASA President, Steve Cook, states, “There is a critical need to hire and train qualified replacements throughout the supply chain. ASA is committed to the pledge and excited to participate. However, there is still more hard work to do.” In fact, statistics show that for every five plumbers that retire, only one is being replaced. According to ASA’s 2015 Labor Study, the total workforce for the PHCP/PVF wholesale industry is estimated at 205,408 full time and part time employees and by 2020, 25% of the employees in the PHCP and PVF industries will have retired.

Beginning in 2018, ASA volunteer leaders met to discuss the future needs of the industry and the customers served. One outcome of the discussions is the strategic initiative – Project TALENT™. The overarching goal of Project TALENT™ is to enable ASA members to attract workers. The initiative has 3 key components: 1) development of a media campaign to brand the PHCP and PVF industries as an industry of choice; 2) development of a career portal where potential candidates can learn more about career opportunities in the industry and connect with ASA members looking for qualified candidates; and 3) providing ASA members with a “career opportunity toolbox” that will help them market the industry and their companies and ultimately, attract qualified candidates.

The Pledge to America’s Workers stemmed from part of the National Council for the American Worker, the Trump Administration is asking companies and trade groups throughout the country to sign the Pledge to America’s Workers—committing to expand programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers from high-school age to near-retirement.

Since President Trump signed the Executive Order, more than 300 companies and organizations have signed the Pledge, contributing to over 14 MILLION new education and training opportunities for American students and workers over the next five years.

ASA members were also on the Hill last Wednesday advocating for legislation such as the Jumpstarting our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act. This bill would extend Pell Grant funding to short, job-focused community college education and training, which means that Pell Grants would now be available to students looking to go into the skilled trades. Also, the Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging Demands for Skills (BUILDS) Act, promotes industry partnerships made up of local businesses and industry organizations, workforce boards, and education and training providers to support workforce training programs in targeted infrastructure industries.

ASA members didn’t stop there. ASA members also came together to advocate for CTE programs and apprenticeships in any upcoming infrastructure bill. Any investment to improve infrastructure systems could create millions of new jobs, requiring millions of skilled workers to fill them. ASA supports ensuring that there is an educated and well trained workforce to meet the demand. It is important that during this discussion what goes into buildings such as plumbing, heating, cooling, and piping, but the need for a workforce to manufacture, distribute, sale, install, and build these critical products are not left out.

Together, with the Pledge to America’s Workers and this critical legislation, there can finally be a bridge to start addressing the skilled workers gap in our industry. To learn more about Project TALENT™ and the other two ASA strategic initiatives D.NEXT™ and VITALITY™ and how you can help to support these initiatives please contact ASA’s CEO, Mike Adelizzi, at madellizi@asa.net

The American Supply Association is the national association for full-service wholesaler-distributors and their suppliers of plumbing-heating-cooling-piping and industrial pipe-valve-fitting products and related services. Learn more about ASA at www.asa.net.

EDITORIAL CONTACT:
Amanda Belknap
VP. Marketing & Communications
American Supply Association
630.467.0000, ext. 203 | news@asa.net

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