WHAT RECRUITING TAKES

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What recruitment REALLY takes

Nine-year pursuit lands major company in Whatcom County

Jennifer Noveck, Ph.D.

In 2013, nearly a decade ago, the Canadian-owned company Marcon Metalfab first contacted John Michener, economic development project manager at the Port of Bellingham. Marcon is a metal fabrication company specializing in dynamic bridge components that has contributed to infrastructure and transportation construction and rehabilitation projects throughout North America. As such, the company was looking for a metal fabrication company in Whatcom County to purchase. At the time, nothing was available.

Well trained in business recruitment, retention and expansion work, Michener knew Marcon would be a great addition to Whatcom’s local economy. Importantly, the product it made was much needed in the state of Washington, with its 7,000-plus bridges over many rivers, lakes and waterways.

With 15 years of economic development experience, Michener has assisted multiple companies with retention and expansion projects and has facilitated millions of dollars of investment in Whatcom County. In 2013, he earned the Economic Development Finance Professional certification. In 2021, after intensive coursework and six

months of studying with other development professionals, Michener earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer. CEcD is a national recognition that denotes a mastery of skills in economic development, professional attainment and a commitment to personal and professional growth. There are currently only 1,100 active CEcDs in the United States.

With patience and persistence, Michener kept in regular touch, visiting Marcon to check in when he traveled to Lower British Columbia for business development work. Six years later, in 2019, Marcon was ready to once again look at an investment in the U.S., and this time the company wanted to create its own facility. Having already established a good relationship, Michener worked diligently with Marcon decision-makers, meeting with them several times at the company’s Delta, British Columbia, location and throughout Whatcom County to show them prospective sites. During Marcon’s site selection, COVID-19 hit, creating a completely new level of business and border restrictions. Undeterred, Michener continued to work with Marcon, setting up meetings with the Whatcom County executive, getting cross-border letters of entry signed, helping with visa applications, and taking multiple other steps to allow the business recruitment work to continue.

In September 2020, his hard work paid off; the company closed on a 50,000-square-foot building in Ferndale, with additional land for future expansion, and began investing in the new Whatcom County facility. Michener continued to assist Marcon to help overcome permitting challenges.

In March 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, Marcon opened for business. To date, Marcon has invested $11.5 million in land, building, equipment and working capital. Twenty-four people are employed at the new facility, and the company plans to add an additional eight positions within the next few months. The annual payroll is estimated at $1.85 million and growing.

“As a community, we are proud of the work John performed to bring this dynamic company and the number of well-paying jobs that came with it to Whatcom County,” said Don Goldberg, director of economic development at the Port of Belling-

“New job opportunities, along with Marcon’s significant investment in their new Ferndale facility, are big wins for the citizens of Whatcom County.”

– Rob Fix, executive director of the Port of Bellingham

ham. “By maintaining the relationship with Marcon over a number of years and then assisting them with all issues of setting up in the United States, John was instrumental in helping the company gain the certainty they needed to go ahead and make the investment.”

Michener’s work with Marcon was recognized by the Washington Economic Development Association as the 2022 Economic Development Project of the Year for business recruitment. According to WEDA, the award celebrates the successful creation or completion of a creative, economically significant and/ or model project in a community or region. Factors influencing who wins the award include the extent of the economic impact, the development of partnerships, innovation, originality, whether the project or program can be duplicated as a “best practice,” and whether the project or program appears to be cost-effective.

According to his training, Michener said, over 85% of all new jobs come from startups and retention and expansion activities. Successful recruitments that result in well-paying jobs, while creating great news headlines, are rare and often take even more time, he said, giving truth to the adage that “economic development is measured in decades, rather than years.”

“Sustainable economic development is central to the Port’s mission for Whatcom County,” said Port of Bellingham Executive Director Rob Fix. “I’m proud of our economic development team for having the persistence and professionalism necessary to bring Marcon Metals to Whatcom County during the height of the global pandemic. New job opportunities, along with Marcon’s significant investment in their new Ferndale facility, are big wins for the citizens of Whatcom County.”

To learn more about the Port of Bellingham’s economic development work, visit www.portofbellingham. com/154/Economic-Development. ■

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Washington wants to require state training before you can get a job

Expanded apprenticeship requirements could cripple industries and leave many workers on the outside

Mark Harmsworth

For many trade industries in Washington, state-run apprenticeship programs are the gateway to licensing and job opportunities. Now, the Washington State Apprenticeship & Training Council, part of the state Department of Labor & Industries, is looking to expand apprenticeship programs to other industry sectors, creating a certification requirement and the unionization of industry segments where there were none before.

This expansion is problematic, as it will drive up employer costs, decrease employee salaries and limit the availability of jobs.

For an example of an existing certification program that has limited the number of available workers, look to the electrical industry. The electrical certification program for moving from trainee to electrical journeyman to master electrician requires multiple hours of on-the-job training and a state-sponsored training program overseen by WSATC. While this creates a standard approach to training across the industry, it also limits the potential job opportunities for electricians. Partly due to the pandemic, partly due to retirements, and partly because only the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Construction Industry Training Council offer the certification programs for new recruits, Washington is now facing an industry shortage of electricians. To make things worse, Senate Bill 6126, signed into law in 2018, allows only state-approved programs to offer certification, creating a virtual monopoly for CITC and IBEW on the certification process.

The WSATC, because of the limited certification opportunities, has become the body controlling the number of electrician jobs in the state.

Now WSATC is asking for legislative authority to expand its charter to create apprenticeship programs in several new industry sectors. The proposal lists the sectors under consideration: building trades, manufacturing and engineering, health care and behavioral health, education and early learning, information and communications technology, biotechnology and life sciences, creative economy, hospitality, and personal services.

These are job sectors that currently do not require state certification for employment and have functioned without government oversight for decades without any problems or restrictions.

More troubling is the fact that only two organizations would be able to offer the certification for the sectors: CITC, which took about 20 years to achieve certification status, and IBEW, which will certify workers only for union-operated 29

shops.

For an organization to become qualified to offer certifications, WSATC must approve the certification, and since WSATC is mostly made up of union members with a vested interest in keeping the certification process under union control, the qualification process is arduous and difficult to achieve. The high bar to entry discourages many organizations from attempting to gain certification status.

The goal of IBEW is to expand union influence into new industry sectors that are currently non-unionized and limit job opportunities to union members only. Additionally, the certification of new business sectors will not be free. Each employer will have to pay for the training of employees. The training courses will be run by CITC and IBEW.

With tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon being headquartered in Washington state, the expansion of certification requirements to information and communications technology could create significant barriers to entry for new developers, operations engineers and technical program managers.

Likewise, the hospitality sector, with a labor pool that has been hit particularly hard by the state’s pandemic lockdown mandates, could be handicapped further if an apprenticeship program for workers were implemented.

Apprenticeship requirement expansion into new industry sectors is not required and should be explicitly excluded from any legislative authority held by L&I and the WSATC. The expansion is a brazen tax and authority grab by unionized organizations to control the private business sector and to include and exclude workers seeking employment. It is an attempt to control the creation of jobs and where employees can work. ■

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Mark Harmsworth is the Washington Policy Center’s Center for Small Business director. Mark Harmsworth was elected in 2014 to the Washington State House of Representatives, where he served two terms. His focus was on transportation and technology, including serving as the ranking member on the House Transportation Committee. Mark works in the technology industry and is an owner of a small business after completing a long career at Microsoft and Amazon.

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