Posted on 08/25/2011 6:43:41 AM PDT by thackney
Employers in the Eagle Ford shale say there’s a desperate need for truck drivers to haul water, sand and oil. But they’re having trouble filling those jobs because too many applicants fail drug tests and background checks.
They want to get the word out that anyone with a commercial driver’s license who can pass the tests is pretty much guaranteed a job, Manuel Ugues, business services director at Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend said at the second meeting of the Eagle Ford Task Force Wednesday.
The meeting was held at Coastal Bend College.
Workforce Solutions polled 10 employers in the Eagle Ford shale, and they reported that one out of every four applicants fails a company’s screening, Ugues said.
There are no easy solutions to finding good employees, task force members agreed, but Kirk Spilman, asset manager in San Antonio for Houston-based Marathon Oil, said his company has had good luck hiring former military people. “We’re proud of the recruitment from the military. We just hired seven people, and they’re very disciplined,” he said.
But Spilman added that qualified job applicants for his industry, especially in South Texas, aren’t likely to file applications online.
“You need a job fair,” said Glynis Strause, dean of institutional advancement at Coastal Bend College.
Ugues was one of several speakers who addressed the 24-member task force, which was formed earlier this summer by Railroad Commissioner David Porter. The task force includes county officials, landowners, water district officials, oil company representatives and educators.
Wednesday’s agenda touched on ways to find qualified workers, and Strause outlined the college’s programs
The task force, in setting an agenda for future monthly meetings, decided that water usage and the effect of drilling on the local community should be the initial topics for future discussions.
The task force needs to look at damage to South Texas roads caused by heavy trucks used by the industry, several members said.
“We’re going with hands out, begging, because we can’t raise enough to repair our roads,” said DeWitt County Judge Daryl Fowler.
Water usage for hydraulic fracturing is another issue the task force should address soon, members agreed.
Talking about water usage “is critical,” said Terry Retzloff, founder of TR Measurement Witnessing of Campbellton, an oil and mineral consulting firm. “It’s a big elephant.”
It would be beneficial, said Stephen Ingram, technology manager at Halliburton, for members of the task force look for ways to educate themselves on water usage and the state’s water laws.
And Mike Mahoney, general manager of the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District in Pleasanton, said he needs, for planning purposes, “a reasonable estimate” of the amount of water the industry is using now and what will be needed in future years.
Getting accurate information to the public about industry practices and countering misleading or inaccurate information will be a key focus of the task force, members agreed. To that end, members suggested a website for the group, but there are no concrete plans for one.
America has created for itself a permanent, unemployable, indolent class who are happy to forever be on public assistance.
I have a friend who is a manager for an industrial electrical shop. They will take anyone for their training program - if they show up on time, don’t do drugs, will work 10 hours per day for what may be considered low pay during the journeyman period, show some initiative, and have managed to get through high school.
They can never find enough people.
The ACLU makes it’s grand entrance declaring the qualifications as too stringent for “lower” income types...in 3, 2, 1...
When metals started going up they were reopening the mines and took months to hire all the people they needed. This company along with a positive drug test they also wouldn’t take anyone who had a wage garnishment for any reason, including child support.
Back when things were booming my son convinced his boss to only let him have work-release prisoners for laborers. He said that at least they were there everyday and were happy to be there rather than sitting in jail.
too many applicants fail drug tests and background checks?
Round here, the Marcellus Shale seismic survey crews claim to try to hire locals but can find few who pass those two tests and then show up every day.
My family are miners and the mines here are looking for workers. Pay and bennies are good and they will train in many of the positions. Problem? Applicants can’t pass the drug test. If they do many get canned after failing random testing after they hire on.
This certainly puts a chink in the argument that drugs are victimless crimes.....when so much of the population makes themselves virtually umemployable, where else will companies look for employees? Illegals.
My company looks for $100,000+ engineers. Can’t find them. Go figure.
Depending on the amount of experience and area of expertise, that dollar amount might be 50% low.
They’re even mining copper in the upper peninsula of Michigan again.
HUMM...Maybe it’s time for me to get my Class “A” CDL...
In Denver that’s still good money.
Hardrock mining is doing well right now. But it’s always been “Chicken one day, feathers the next” in this business.
Agree. Having trouble finding qualified applicants? Quit discriminating against the slightly older drivers. Have a couple of friends in this category and things look good going in initially until they reveal their age. Go figure. Not even a chance at a company physical they both maintain.
At least they can pass the backgtound checks. /s
Whiskey Tango
Hey gringo, if that ID doesn't pass the background check I got a couple dozen more I can use.
Are you really claiming that we are victims of their drug habits because jobs are going unfilled? You do realize what a stretch that is, don't you?
If it’s one of the reasons there is pressure to bring in illegals, then yes. If there aren’t enough qualified Americans to do the jobs, and if this article is true, and most are being rejected for drugs, then I can definitely see the correlation.
If I drink a fifth of scotch and smoke 2 packs a day, I pass the drug test, BUT . . . if I smoke a joint at home to help relieve the pain in my knees from old athletic injuries I don’t pass?
If I was involved in “youthful indiscretions” I get denied, BUT . . . if I have been robbing people selling shady mortgage deals, overpriced underperforming health “Insurance” and shoddy “Home Improvements” I get hired?
Friends, if you need someone to drive a truck, how they drive a truck should be the test.
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