Steve Turner’s mission is to bring awareness to the skilled-labor shortage

Steve Turner (right) owns Turner’s Upholstery in Rye, which concentrates on upholstery for cars — a job he’s been doing since he was 15 years old. (Photo by Allegra Boverman)

Turner’s Upholstery in Rye is quintessential New England, a classic white farmhouse built in the 19th century. The business and homeowner, who grew up in the house, closes the door to the business, located in the renovated garage attached to the house. He will finish up his day’s upholstery work and along the way say goodnight to his lone employee. But his day is far from done. Five in the afternoon is only a time in the day for Steve Turner.

“I don’t sleep much. Sometimes not at all. Usually four or five hours,” he says, while settling in at the sewing machine, stitching together the fabric that will be part of a new car seat. His business concentrates on upholstery for cars. The 55-year-old is doing a job he has been doing since he was 15.

While most daytime workers exhale and celebrate the end of a workday, Steve Turner pivots toward his two passions. For the past six years he has been running ultramarathons. In early October, he finished his second Moab 240 Endurance Run in Utah. That is 240.3 miles to be exact, a distance he completed in just over 100 hours. In May, he plans to tackle a 257-mile event in Arizona. He loves to run. It gives him a place to channel his energy.

But what brings him the most zeal is the nonprofit he started in 2017, Bring Back the Trades, which is dedicated to bringing awareness to the need for young people to enter the skilled labor workforce while also providing a monthly $1,000 scholarship to a student in trade school.

On this night, Turner will catch a quick dinner with his wife, Shari, before he talks some more about Bring Back the Trades as a guest on Michele Horlbogen’s The Gentlewoman Boss Podcast, which will be broadcast live on You- Tube. Talking about Bring Back the Trades is something that Turner does throughout the day.

“There is so much to do. Bring Back the Trades is nationwide now. I am now getting sometimes five or more people a day calling or emailing about how they can help or be involved.”

Turner didn’t envision all of this during the dark, early August hours in 2017 when he awoke with his mission. The next day he had a hat printed with “Bring Back the Trades” on it. One of his friends saw it and wanted 12 of them for his employees and customers. A Facebook page was soon created, and Turner was on his way.

Blue-collar pride

The message that Turner brings is one that is dominating the industry but isn’t gaining mainstream traction. For every five people retiring from a trade, there are less than two replacements. The resulting math isn’t difficult to do. Young people are needed to step into the skilled labor workforce. This is the crux of Turner’s mission. He wants to see the trades as a viable career path, not just a fallback for young people who are unsuccessful at college.

“I’m terrified at where we are heading,” says Adam Hoots of the South Carolina-based Skilled Trade Alliance, whose mission it is to rebuild the workforce pipeline in the construction and skilled trades. “Right now, 86 percent of construction jobs are over budget and past completion dates.

That will only get worse.”

Turner feels the same way. “We just passed an infrastructure bill which will create a whole lot of jobs in the skilled labor industry. But who is going to do them? We can’t get enough people now.”

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed last fall by Congress, will provide over 10 million jobs over the next decade, according to the White House. But who is going to do these jobs?

“We do echo Steve’s concerns with the worker shortage we have right now,” says Josh Reap, CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors of NH/VT. “We are doing our part to promote and train people, but it will be hard to get it done right away.”

Reap’s organization is a chapter of the national organization that promotes construction and betterment of the industry. ABC and New Hampshire PBS have collaborated on a video series that gives details on trades such as welding, plumbing, masonry and construction. The resources are out there to learn from. Businesses are ready to hire and offer apprenticeships. The only thing lacking is the employees, and the goal is to get young people into these jobs. But Turner knows the audience he needs to reach — parents and school personnel — and it’s a tough sell. Unlike generations earlier, parents aren’t likely to encourage their child to become a plumber or electrician.

It wasn’t always this way. Blue-collar pride once resonated with the public. In the early 20th century, skilled laborers, such as plumbers and electricians, were considered as valuable as lawyers and doctors. By the 1980s, high school students were being pushed toward college with the belief that a four-year degree was the only option for a successful life.

“The trades are seen as a fallback by so many: schoolteachers and counselors, parents especially. They will have their child start college, and if they can’t make it, then possibly settle for a trade. It’s hard to get parents to see the true value of the trades as an option. Parents seem to confuse comfort with value. That working with your hands is somehow not as valuable as a desk job.”

If you think that going into the trades will mean a deadend, low-paying career, Turner will have you think again.

“One of our early scholarship winners is now 22 and in the field as an electrician. He just bought his own house with a large down payment. He has no college debt and can work seven days a week if he wants. Makes a lot of money. And you know what? He’s happy.”

As he says on the podcast, “I’m not against traditional college. My son did that and works in the marketing industry in Boston. It’s hard to change parents’ view that college is the only choice for their child. They need to really look at who their child is,” Turner said on the podcast. “It took us 30-plus years to get into this predicament; it’s going to be a slow road to get out of it.”

‘It helped so much’

It was dark that October night in Utah. And cold. Turner was lying in the back of a van at four in the morning, talking to himself while his body ached.

He had woken up after sleeping 90 minutes. Before that, he had been running and walking for 22 straight hours. He was about 170 miles into the event and had another 70 to go. It was time to get back up and get moving.

“The idea of giving up crossed my mind. Why the need to finish? I had run it the previous year and didn’t need to convince myself or anyone that I could get the distance. But I finish everything I start. So I got right up out of the van and finished. Now I’ve got a 257-mile one in Arizona. People tell me that it makes Moab seem like a walk in the park. But unless I get a physical injury, I’ll finish it.”

Running is something Turner took up in his late 40s, and in the six years he’s been at it, he’s down 90 pounds. In the summer, he often reaches 100-mile weeks. When he started, many of his early runs were with his sister Donna, who would be on a bike. Together they did biathlons, she on the bike, he pounding the pavement.

Ultrarunning connects with the dedication he brings to Bring Back the Trades.

“They are habits. Maybe obsessions. I had some problems with alcohol earlier in my life. Eating and drinking were what I did. Now running and Bring Back the Trades.”

The week before he left for his ultrarun in Utah, Turner was stationed at a table in the Seacoast School of Technology. Located in Exeter, SST is a regional career technical vocational school serving six surrounding districts. Students receive their “traditional” classes at their home high school but travel to SST for one of 12 career tech programs. SST was hosting an open house for parents, and Turner was one of a few vendors. He got a lot of attention when he mentioned the word “scholarships.” Especially from the parents.

One of Turner’s favorite things about Bring Back the Trades is when he contacts the monthly scholarship recipient. Not only does the future tradesperson get $1,000 to pay for his or her school, but one of BBTT’s sponsors, Timberlane Pro, outfits the recipient with clothing and boots.

Cora Dean is from the Northwoods of Wisconsin and the September BBTT scholarship winner. Just out of high school, she attends the Advanced Welding Institute in Eagle River, Wis. She remembers when Turner called her to say she had won, and it brought her to tears.

“Paying for school has been difficult. It’s a full-time program, so I don’t have a chance to work a lot to pay for it. It helped so much, especially since I live on my own.”

For 16-year-old Cody Casse of Brookfield, NH, the traditional high school classroom wasn’t preparing him the way he wanted for a career in automotive technology.

He dropped out of school and is getting his degree through adult education. This April, he is starting at Lincoln Tech in Connecticut for diesel tech. He says he’s got a job lined up with a family business in Vermont working on diesel engines and making good money once he finishes the 18-month trade-school program. In November, Cody was at an open house where Turner was passing out Bring Back the Trades flyers. So he applied and was chosen as the December recipient.

“To get a scholarship to help pay for Lincoln Tech was crazy. I couldn’t believe that someone would invest in me. What a great feeling.”

As Steve Turner moves into the next phase of his life, his plan is to eventually do Bring Back the Trades on a full-time basis.

“This is the longest race of my life, and I intend to finish.”

‘It took us 30-plus years to get into this predicament; it’s going to be a slow road to get out of it.’