Work on the various parts of the I-81 project is humming along, as hundreds of people do everything from drive dump trucks to lay steel girders. The state is highlighting success with local hiring, which ensures residents in select Syracuse zip codes an opportunity to work on the project in their own backyard.
Jorrell Johnson is a first-year ironworker apprentice, and is one of 136 local hires.
"I do a lot of rebar work, structural work. Right now I'm digging holes 81 for post structural work," Johnson said. "So it depends on how it goes for the day. Different things.”
Johnson says he likes the physical work more than his previous jobs in restaurants and hospitals. It’s worked out so well that he’s telling his friends and family.
“I have a couple of friends that want to get into the iron workers, so hopefully that follows through with them," Johnson said. "Another cousin, he came to iron workers too. My sister. She's getting into the roofers union.”
New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon says that's exactly what they hoped would happen.
“It's seeing people you know involved in the work," Reardon said. "I just told our apprentices you're the first wave. So you have a lot of responsibility. You can go back to your community and say I could do it. You can do it. That's an important part of this, that people often self-select out they go. 'I don't know anybody who does this.' So now they're going to know somebody who does it. They've got a job, they've got free education, and they've got a career.”
Shakeila Brown is also recruiting others. She’s been on the job for about six months after earning her Class-A CDL to drive a dump truck. Like Jorrell Johnson, she’s a minority from one of the targeted zip codes.
“A lot of people, they see me. They question, how do I get in? What do they need?" Brown said. "And I'm constantly shooting out different opportunities that they can use that they wouldn't have to pay for.”
Brown says she’s made it her goal to recruit more women. Right now, just nine percent of the local hires on the I-81 project are women. Overall, local hiring averages about 14 percent, which is just shy of the state DOT‘s goal of 15 percent. The remaining workers come from across Central New York.
