94 – Guaranteed Job? Listen to This Episode

In this episode, Peter and Sonny discuss the groundbreaking partnership between ABC and Meta to launch America's Workforce Academy, a first-of-its-kind workforce development initiative designed to address the skilled labor shortage in construction. They explore how the program will provide free training, paid stipends, industry-recognized credentials, and guaranteed job offers for graduates pursuing careers as data center technicians. 

 The conversation also examines the growing demand for skilled trades, the expansion of data center construction, the impact of technology and AI infrastructure, workforce development strategies, and the role of public policy, private investment, and industry leadership in strengthening America's construction workforce and economic future.

 Topics discussed:

• ABC and Meta's America’s Workforce Academy partnership 
• $115 million investment in construction workforce development 
• Free training, paid stipends, and guaranteed job opportunities 
• Data center construction and AI-driven infrastructure growth 
• Skilled labor shortages and workforce pipeline solutions 
• The future of merit shop construction and economic competitiveness

 To read more and apply to the program, you may follow this link: https://www.meta.com/actions/americas-workforce-academy/ 

The full audiovisual version of this episode is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dLRN4rwneWc 
 

“The Obvious Podcast” is a production of ABC Florida East Coast Chapter. Unless otherwise stated, all content reflects the opinions of the guests and hosts.

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Transcript

Sonny Maken 0:09

Welcome to the Obvious Podcast, episode number 94. My name is Sonny Maken. I'm the COO of ABC Florida East Coast. And I'm Peter Dyga, president and CEO at ABC Florida East Coast. You are watching or listening to the podcast where all opinions expressed are our own unless we say otherwise.

Peter Dyga 0:27

Love the show. We ask you to subscribe on any major podcast platform or watch us in action on YouTube. Follow the Obvious Podcast on Instagram, X TrueSocial, and TikTok. All the links you need are in the show notes. You can reach out to us anytime at theobvious at theobvious@abceastflorida.com . And if you're enjoying the ride, help others find us by leaving a review wherever you listen. So happy Friday, son.

Sonny Maken 0:53

Happy Friday. This show, hold on. This show is sponsored by Snyders.

Peter Dyga 1:00

We'd like you to be, because I I buy a lot of your little jalapeno pieces. So love them.

Sonny Maken 1:06

Jalapeno uh pretzel pieces, guys. Come on. All right. Welcome back. We had a good time in D.C. We did. It was uh quite a momentous week. Yes. Let's talk about let's talk about why we were in D.C. and why that even matters to uh our audience and to our members and to the ABC community.

Peter Dyga 1:23

Yeah, it's a great question. So uh twice a year uh ABC holds a legislative conference, uh one in our state capital in Florida, and a lot of other uh state ABCs or ABCs do it in their capital as well. I wouldn't say all, but a lot of them. Uh and then once a year in our nation's capital, which is ABC chapters from all 67 from around the country coming together to basically lobby on behalf of our uh you know our interest in Washington at the federal level. So we have great speakers, high-profile politicians, political consultants, uh agency heads, um, all sorts of uh great breakout sessions. Um generally great conferences meeting.

Sonny Maken 2:02

Do you know what my favorite type of economics is? No. Mike Rowe.

Peter Dyga 2:07

Your favorite type of economics?

Sonny Maken 2:10

Mike Rowe.

Peter Dyga 2:11

Oh boom boom boom. Took me a second. Yes.

Sonny Maken 2:18

Micro. Micro. So since you were talking about speakers who came to Washington, there's a connection.

Peter Dyga 2:23

Yeah. We had Mike Rowe at our legislative conference.

Sonny Maken 2:26

All right, and his brother Micro was also there.

Peter Dyga 2:29

Yeah. So that would be too funny, wouldn't it? That would be cute if his parents were.

Sonny Maken 2:34

I would have named I would have had two sons just for that reason if my last name was Rowe. Yeah. Why was Micro at the um ABC Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Peter Dyga 2:42

Well, first off, I'm I'm surprised, but not everybody knows who Mike Rowe is. Yeah, somebody asked us that yesterday. Quite a big uh personality in the TV, I think. Hopefully people recognize him. Uh I think he became real famous for a show called Dirty Jobs. Uh has been an advocate, I think, for blue-collar uh uh workers and skilled trade workers. Skilled trade and whatnot for for quite some time, yeah. Um promoting them and advocating on behalf of uh the the kind of jobs that uh for a long time not too many people wanted to do. Or at least uh that's was one of the things he said. So he was there because he was uh partnering or announcing a uh uh really a one-of-a-kind um, literally one-of-a-kind uh partnership between ABC and Drumroll, please. Meta. So uh yeah, again we talked about it.

Sonny Maken 3:31

Formerly known as Facebook.

Peter Dyga 3:33

So um we say it was a momentous week because uh in addition to all the normal things that happen at a legislative conference, uh a partnership that was literally months, you you could say years in many cases, when you like think back about relationships uh that started, but was a long time in the works. Was only we were only able to talk about it uh uh on that Monday uh right before our legislative conference got to be. So we were one of uh eight chapters that were approached uh say maybe three or four months ago by ABC National. And we were picked not by ABC National but by Meta it themselves, who uh picked these areas of the country uh where they either had data centers uh either under construction or future data data centers planned. And that's why they picked the eight chapters they did, and they had all of us chapter presidents sign an NDA whilst we negotiated uh with Meta and also national with the chapters, because you know the chapters are the one, quite frankly, with the you know the experience delivering the uh education products around the country. We a lot of us you know, we've we've talked about what we're gonna be doing, and we're gonna get into more details about this, um, the partnership and what it entails. But really it mimics what we've been doing here at the ABC Florida East Coast chapter and the ABC Institute for for quite a while, doesn't it?

Sonny Maken 4:53

Yeah. So, I mean, what does the institute uh uh do on workforce development again?

Peter Dyga 4:59

What do we do on workforce development?

Sonny Maken 5:01

What do we do?

Peter Dyga 5:02

What don't we do, Sonny? So people don't realize we had a great conversation today, actually, with a member, uh member that's been around for a few years uh that has a need for hiring, and they were just surprised to find out that the ABC and the ABC Institute has a list of 800 plus graduate pre-apprentices. So, what is a pre-apprentice? So, this is somebody who's gone through some form of a pre-apprenticeship education, uh, which for us usually entails uh you know basic introduction to construction knowledge and tools and safety, usually includes an OSHA 10 card. Uh, it's somebody who's shown a level of commitment by actually showing up to class. Yep. I mean, this really sets them apart, uh, you know, and and they've made a a determination in their life that they're interested in the construction trade. So when you consider the advantages this list of individuals or ABC Institute Pre-apprentip graduates has over, say, your traditional uh methods that you might have used. I mean, in back in my day it might have been classified ads, but people are going, what are classified ads? I don't know what those are. But nowadays it's more like LinkedIn or ZipRecruiter or whatever. You know, so you might do that, and you might I think it's true today what I was told years ago, which is you know, maybe if I get one out of ten or one out of twenty successful candidates through that process, you probably consider themselves lucky. And when you those aren't free. You know, you post those jobs and you go through the effort of interviewing them and sorting through the thousands that you may get or hundreds. What we've done is done that for you. Yep.

Sonny Maken 6:30

I mean, even better than think about all the time you would save, right? Yeah. Yeah. To have all of that sort of initial due diligence done for you. By the way, for the low, low cost of zero dollars, right? We don't even charge for this. Right. It is a member. It's a member benefit.

Peter Dyga 6:47

Anyway, this member that we met with today was just thrilled to find out that I mean, all this time that they used to have to spend. Then we got into the, you know, they're all coming to you with an OSHA 10 card. What does that cost you? Well, if the company pays them by the hour to actually sit in the class for And the cost of the instructor and the cost of the card and the OSHA 10 card. Anyway, that that value alone, right? So but then you talk about the fact that you're getting a candidate that has expressed an interest in the industry, wants to work in the industry, and has come to some form of class. So they've shown some kind of level of discipline or commitment. So in any event, we've been doing this for a while, and that in essence is the Meta ABC partnership. But again, we say it's it's um unique or it's one of a kind, and it is for a for a couple reasons. Trevor Burrus, Jr. So what makes it unique? So well, one, I think the level of private investment. Um Meta has announced with this partnership a minimum of first-year investment of 115 million dollars. It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. Even today with the inflation, that's still a lot of money. So and that's just Meta. And the this partnership and then Mike Robey in there, I'm certain that we will attract additional investors and people that want to invest money. So I'm sure it will be something uh you know, in a in north of or in addition to the 115. So that's one of the things. I think you know, you may be able to say it's the largest private uh investment in um uh construction uh education and training. Um but that's not that's not probably the most unique thing. Probably the most unique thing is something that we've never really been able to do, but they are. And they are promising people who complete the five-week program a job offer with a metacontractor. So guaranteed employment if you finish this training.

Sonny Maken 8:27

And the training is only five weeks.

Peter Dyga 8:29

Five weeks split up into two parts. Uh that'll be a more intensive four-week part that uh is only going to be held initially in four parts of the country.

Sonny Maken 8:37

Okay.

Peter Dyga 8:38

So you will have to a graduate of the first week program will qualify for the four-week program, and you will have to travel and and meta and will pay for the entire travel cost, your entire hotel room while you stay for the month and go through your what else? What's the cost and what's the cost of the to the student?

Sonny Maken 8:57

What's the cost to the person who wants the job? Absolutely nothing. Zero dollars? Zero dollars. So wow.

Peter Dyga 9:03

So now they're gonna have to finish the first week, and this is the you know, maybe the the the part again that um uh why the partnership I think was so value to Meta, because our experience at ABC is kind of, I think, where they got they developed this program so that the first week is gonna be offered anywhere in the country, any ABC chapter that has the capacity to offer it. It's a full-time one-week program where you will the applicants will undergo a drug test and a background screening.

Sonny Maken 9:32

Okay.

Peter Dyga 9:32

And then they'll get a basic uh 40-hour uh you know introduction to construction um power tools and the you know the the the curriculum is actually safety and things like that. Yeah, the curriculum is still kind of under development, but the idea is to give them a very basic introduction, but also their OSHA 10 card. Uh and again, they've shown some level of commitment, right? They've actually got up every morning and gone to class for a week. And if you pass the drug test and the background test, those are the people that will be offered the full ride scholarship, if you will, or whatever. For the next four weeks for the next four weeks. Okay. Where they'll give them a plane ticket paid for, a hotel room, they'll make all the arrangements. And they got a stipend as well. They get a thousand, I think it's a thousand dollars a week stipend for the four weeks as well, so they're paid to actually go through.

Sonny Maken 10:14

Not only is it not costing them nothing, they're getting money to train.

Peter Dyga 10:18

Yeah, it's not only not costing them, they're actually getting paid for sitting in class. Wow. And then again, the thing that really makes this unique, is I don't nobody's ever been able to do this, but Meta, through their contractors, is promising an offer of a job. So what's that certification called? Uh it's going to be a data center technician. Wow. You know, which will be kind of all the MEP trades, if you will. Um Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing.

Sonny Maken 10:43

Correct. Yep. Okay.

Peter Dyga 10:45

So that's pretty exciting. It's very exciting. One of a kind. How many people are they looking to hire? So 150,000? Holy smokes. Is the one that Meadow would like to put through this program, which that's the kind of graduates, I think, uh, you know, through the four weeks. So my guess is we may need, I mean, I hate to say ten times that many finishing the one-week program. Really pessimistic view. But we'll need a lot. We'll need a lot to go through that one week. We're gonna put a link, right? I mean, hopefully right here in the bottom to the actual uh website. Uh uh, we're gonna direct most people to the Meta uh page that uh you get to that page, you can learn more about the program, but then they'll be right at the top a for uh learn more. And it'll basically be uh you know your address and your phone number and email address so that uh they can start sending you information on local offerings. And again, the curriculum is still being worked out, so there's uh it's not gonna be any uh immediate uh but but very soon hopefully we'll be kicking off that first week program.

Sonny Maken 11:41

I mean, what an answer, because I know you and I have spent a lot of time on the show talking about the shortage of skilled trade workers, right? Uh I read all sorts of data, but I think for every three that retire, like one is replacing them in the marketplace right now. The retirement tsunami is I mean, it's it's I mean, it's hitting. People are people who have done the skilled trades for 20, 30, 40 years are all retiring, and they're not being replaced. And this is just a way, a very serious way to sort of accelerate that process and to bring new people into the industry. So they're not looking for people that are experienced, they're not looking for people who know anything about the skilled trades. They will train you. They will train you, they will teach you.

Peter Dyga 12:25

And by the way, you know, they're guaranteeing a job, but you don't have to take a job with a metacontractor. You can take that very valuable certificate, bring it back home if you'd rather, you know, and and uh go to work for anybody in the industry that would hire you in a second with that kind of training and credential. So uh it's a great opportunity. If you know anybody, your you yourself, your cousins, your nephews, your you know, your mailman's kid, your mailman's kid, your neighbor's kid, who knows? Send them this link and have them sign up. So in the show notes, too. Thank you, Mr. Producer. So I'm curious, Sonny, because I got s certain uh thoughts on this, but you as more of a uh newcomer, although it's three years now, but about to be four. Four? Yeah. Why why ABC, do you think? Why would an organization like Meta partner reach out to ABC?

Sonny Maken 13:18

You know, last week's episode was called Sonny in the hot seat, right? That was last week, right? Man, time flies. I should be ringing the bell too from the beginning. Yes, this whole episode should have been ringing the bell. Right. Um if you want something, a free gift, let us know why the bell's being rung. The reason uh AB uh Meta has partnered with ABC, Meta is a tech company, right? ABC is a con is a collection, a conglomerate of 67 chapters across the country. So you can go anywhere. You can go to West Virginia, you can go to Kentucky, you can go to Indiana, you can go to Florida, you can go anywhere and be able to deploy the right organization and the right people that you want to do uh the training in, right? Because there is clearly uh I mean some of the numbers around data center construction are like staggering. You know, billion, multi-billion dollar projects, and 60-70 percent is devoted to the electrical trade alone. You don't have enough electricians in this country, you don't have enough plumbers in this country, you don't have enough um um whatever. Uh the skilled trades, just there's a shortage of severe. Uh the level of sophistication required to build these projects, you know, and this is this is much more than just AI. I mean, they're planning on quantum computing. I mean, there's a lot of uh things coming down the pike that are going to revolutionize uh how people live their lives. And it's not going to be built by uh people that are unsophisticated. We talk about that are untrained.

Peter Dyga 14:54

Yeah, we talk about that a lot here. Those um especially again, not to offend my residential uh side of the construction industry, but the kind of work the commercial contractors do. By definition, it's more sophisticated. It's more sophisticated. It takes you can't do it with all entry-level people. And if we're not constantly developing uh uh uh skilled uh craft professionals, there's gonna come a point in time where it's like, you want to build that sophisticated project? You you can't. We don't we don't have it. Give it give us a few years to develop that talent, and then that's what's gonna happen if we're not constantly developing it. So that's why it's so important. And you know, somebody like Meta really they really saw uh the critical need and the gaps you know that existed, and they realized that the same kind of jobs they need to succeed are the same ones in the in the industry, in the construction industry.

Sonny Maken 15:43

So and if we don't step up, China will step up. They have a billion people. They'll be like, yeah, come build whatever you want. And here, right, you're seeing this now, you know, data centers are now becoming controversial. And I know there's a lot of uh fact versus fiction conversations to be had around that whole topic as well. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Peter Dyga 15:59

As there always is around these controversies between fact and fiction, between people that lack a vision of actually we don't know anything about that, do we? No, we people who lack a vision about the future or uh taking risks or doing something new, or um you know that's that that's the story of humankind in many ways. You know?

Sonny Maken 16:20

I mean it's amazing how well anyway, we can talk about that later. Um for another show. Yeah.

Peter Dyga 16:28

We're facing the point is we're facing the same thing now. Yeah. There are people out there that is starting to get a little bit of momentum about the dangers or the risks or the you know, the the challenges or the problems. And sure, any kind of endeavor, especially of this magnitude, right, is gonna come along with its own set of challenges. Um every single time. Every time. You know, but are we a are we a nation or are we a culture of of uh overcoming these challenges and not just for overcoming sake, you know, we we believe that the what we're trying to achieve is is is of is is important and valuable. So not to mention the fact that I think part of the uh tagline, if you will, this whole thing is the future is for everyone. Yeah. Which I love that Meta came up with that. The future is for everyone. Absolutely. The future is for everyone. It's not just for some people, it's for everyone.

Sonny Maken 17:10

And we have had, you and I have talked on on multiple episodes sort of about the whole outsourcing price that the American middle class has paid, right? And how jobs went overseas, how manufacturing went overseas. And if you were just a high school graduate and you were living somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic or the Midwest or the Southeast in the 1960s and 1950s, you had a lot of options. But in the 1980s and the 1990s, you didn't. And uh certainly this administration has made a very concerted effort to reshore a lot of that stuff, to reshore sensitive manufacturing conditions.

Peter Dyga 17:46

By the way, is not to get you know, this is I guess where we you know we get criticized as sort of talking about politics. Well, excuse us. It's part of the it's part of the culture, it's part of the leadership.

Sonny Maken 17:54

Policy affects all of us.

Peter Dyga 17:55

You know, unfortunately, that's the difference between leadership because the real the real results of that thinking and that leadership and that direction is probably going to come long after he's gone. Right. I mean, we'll probably be talking about the benefits, assuming uh we don't get some wayward judge to like block all this. You block all this and determine that uh actually judges are you know the most powerful policymakers in the country and not the elected president. So the only position elected by us all. Right. Anyway, that's a uh a side conversation. So but the benefits of this are gonna be so we're really gonna realize them much further down the road, probably. Because it doesn't happen overnight. You don't onshore and and and and turn around. So you have to So really you know, if Did you see, by the way, the clip of um there was a recent um big company that had a public offering and uh Space made our first trillionaire, I think, in the butt did you see. Yeah, that's crazy. Did you see the uh there was an interview of a welder that had shares in the company that was paid? I guess people worked for the company and and he he became like $900,000, $600 or $900,000 in value. And actually more because it's an immigrant guy with a little bit of an accent who was interviewed.

Sonny Maken 19:14

He was from Mexico. What a story. What a story. Millionaire from from welding and from just not so you know, he said a lot of people sold their stock, but he kept his.

Peter Dyga 19:22

Anyway, it's my point. If you want to any any of you listening to this show, first off, the the name of the program that Meta and ABC have given us is the Americas Workforce Academy. So Google it. That's all you need to do. You don't even need to do the little link in the show notes or at the bottom of the bag.

Sonny Maken 19:39

You can, but you don't have to.

Peter Dyga 19:40

But uh, if you Google America's Workforce Academy, you'll you'll find it. The future's for everybody. Yep. And you anybody who's willing to work hard and develop a skill and a trade, which you're now given an amazing opportunity at no cost with a guaranteed job offer in this industry. So tell everybody you know.

Sonny Maken 20:00

This is amazing. This is an amazing opportunity. And one thing I do want to say, because I uh we see this with our with our students all the time. Um if you're from an immigrant family and your parents are from a country where construction is looked down upon, I just want your family and and for your parents to understand, and you know, and you're you're the best one to communicate that message. This is not that construction. That's a great point, right? 2026 construction in America is not 1970s construction in a in a separate in a country that's that's uh somewhere somewhere else. It's a very different industry, it's a very different world, and it's a very different um uh pay and very different uh reputation. You know, it's it's not it's not the same. All right, we're out of time, guys. Yeah.

Peter Dyga 20:43

So anyway, welcome to a new age, the future's for everybody. ABC and Meta have announced a partnership called America's Workforce Academy. Uh we're gonna be building uh construction trade professionals or career-centered technicians or data center technicians, um, a credential for moving forward for the future. And that one week training is coming to a local offering near you.

Sonny Maken 21:07

So that uh the link is fairly self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, I shoot us an email. All right, all right. Anyway, thank you, Sonny. Thank you. All right. Proud to be ABC. That's right. Thank you for listening and honoring us with your time. We look forward to sharing another episode with you next Friday.

Peter Dyga 21:22

Oh, yeah. There's something I was supposed to say. Yes. Uh which is for comments, send us an email at theobvious@abceastflorida.com. Until next week. Ciao.