Posted on 08/27/2012 4:51:04 AM PDT by thackney
While the Eagle Ford Shale holds out the promise of tens of thousands of jobs, many job seekers aren’t making the cut, while qualified workers are facing a bottleneck in obtaining credentials for trucking jobs, experts said.
Employers say they’re rejecting 30 percent to 40 percent of all shale job applicants because they can’t pass a pre-employment drug test, said Leodoro Martinez, who moderated a panel discussion about workforce issues at last week’s Texas Economic Development & Energy Summit. The audience included energy industry officials, elected officials, public officials and economic development officials.
Drug use is “a family, school and community problem” that needs to be addressed but won’t be easily solved, said Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio.
Doug Ridge, director of employer initiatives for the Texas Workforce Commission, agreed, saying drug use “is a big, big problem, a major problem.”
The problem isn’t occurring among all applicants, Ridge said after the panel discussion.
“I’m not seeing it in engineers or the professions,” he said, but he said it’s a problem among applicants for jobs on rigs or as truckers.
An audience member asked if students are being told that they could land a great job in the shale — but only if they stay away from drugs.
Ridge cited a program called GeoFORCE, which encourages promising but at-risk students to avoid drugs while showing them the opportunities in the energy industry. The summer outreach program for eighth- through 12th-grade students for now is concentrating only on some Southwest Texas and Houston schools. It’s run by the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences.
“We hold that program out as a best practice,” Ridge said. “It’s a very impressive program, but it’s too small.”
A study by the University of Texas at San Antonio estimated that 20 counties in the Eagle Ford Shale supported 47,097 full-time jobs in 2011, a number that’s expected to grow to 116,972 full-time jobs by 2021.
For now, many of the jobs in demand are for truckers. And a pay range of $25,000 to $80,000 a year is attracting many applicants, according to Workforce Solutions Alamo officials. But even solid job applicants are being stymied by the licensing system, panelists said.
The whole process of getting the commercial driver’s license, or CDL, is backed up, said Martinez, who also is chairman of the Eagle Ford Consortium.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is responsible for handling commercial driver’s license applications.
DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said that DPS “is addressing the increased demand for CDLs with our existing resources, and our examiners are processing them as quickly as possible.” The department is expected to continue having to make do with existing resources. Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, said that because of budget cuts, he isn’t hopeful that the Legislature will be able to increase funding to help expedite applications.
Vinger said applicants could help streamline the process by scheduling their skills test online.
“The skills test is a critical requirement to ensure the proper certification of a commercial vehicle driver, which ultimately impacts the safety of all travelers on the roadway,” Vinger said.
“If you are prescribed pain killers by a doctor, and you take and naturally fail a drug test, would the fact that you have a prescription make a difference in hiring?”
An even more interesting question is what happens if you flunk a marijuana test in Colorado, where unfortunately, a constitutional amendment passed by the voters “legalized” “medical” marijuana. On the other hand, marijuana is still a felony under Federal law, even though our Commie-in-Chief publicly repudiated his sworn oath of office to uphold Federal law by announcing marijuana laws in Colorado wouldn’t be enforced.
Nonetheless, there are numerous Federal requirements still in effect that require certain employers maintain a drug-free workplace, and even state law does not require employers to make an exception for so-called “medical” marijuana users. Thus, while “medical” marijuana may be “legal” under state law in Colorado, employers can (and in many cases must) deny employment if marijuana is detected via drug testing.
Ironically, the applicant knows they have to take a drug test and they can’t stay away from drugs long enough to show clean on the test.
But they don’t have a problem with drugs.
Every drug test I ever took asked for a list of prescription drugs being taken.
Our “pee” tests only showed very recent drug use, up to 13 days but usually not that far. Drugs don’t stay in the system that long.
I take the point is shows a lack of judgement from someone wanting to work in an industry known to test for it. If you don't have that level of self control, or if this was a short-term passing whim to apply for the job, then I don't want to and will not hire you.
From my standpoint, it is indicative of the massive problem they have finding enough qualified people. There are quite a lot of companies that advertise in the US to bring people to the Australian oil/gas industry. I don't think that is typical in reverse.
Doctor: "The good news is, you're clean. The bad news is, you are about to have a litter of pups, you have mange, and fleas. You've been a very bad girl." (swats her on nose with newspaper)
Okay, how many people reading the headline thought “Egale Ford” was a car dealership ?
Okay, how many people reading the headline thought “Eagle Ford” was a car dealership ? No, I’m not on drugs, I just can’t type.
It's common to test for inert metabolic byproducts of THC, which can stay in one's system for up to 30 days - long after the high is gone.
I wonder if anyone is screening for alcohol use.
I have no idea what that means
It means that, contrary to the ravings of the Drug Warriors, off-the-job illicit drug use no more dooms one to on-the-job ineffectiveness than does off-the-job use of the legal drug alcohol.
A google search shows 13 days is the norm for a pee test.
They only screen for current use. Alcohol leaves the system so quickly.
A google search shows 13 days is the norm for a pee test.
I Googled urine test days, and the first result (#5 - http://www.drugtestingnetwork.com/urine-testing.htm) that wasn't about how to beat a test said this:
|
Cannabinoids (THC, Marijuana) Detection Time: |
|
|
1 time only |
5-8 days |
|
2-4x per month |
11-18 days |
|
2-4x per week |
23-35 days |
|
5-6x per week |
33-48 days |
|
Daily |
49-63 days |
I think that the "Hair Test" goes back 6 months, and is comprehensive in terms of looking for various drugs.
A couple of years ago I was moving some production from Mexico to Ohio and the new supplier was making the same claim. Their Plant Manager tried to tell me that their “drug test” failure rate was so high that they couldn’t fill all of the open positions and therefore could not ramp up to meet my demands. So, I went to their plant to look at their mfg lines and try to improve their throughput.
I walked up to the front door and they had a handwritten sign (in what looked like child writing) that stated, “if you are here to apply for a job and use tobacco products, don’t bother. The drug test includes tobacco.”
Well, duh, when you start testing for LEGAL drugs, you will have a high rate of failure. Especially, when you are in the middle of farm country and trying to hire during baling season....Those farmers chew a lot of snuff when they are working their a$$es into the ground!
I told the plant manager he was a moron and the british stooge tried to hold up the UK health ins model as his preferred methodology....to bad it was to late to move that business..
What is the point of my story? Hmm, well I am dubious of any high rate of “drug test” failures, at least until I know what substances are being included in the testing methodology. That said, I don’t doubt that many perpetually unemployable folks are not willing to give up their drugs for 1-3 months.
“A girl where I worked tried to use her dogs pee. Didn’t work.”
I can’t imagine the sight of her wandering around in her back yard chasing fido with a cup!
Yeah but I think the source was selling the test. When we were tested, they asked us “What have you taken in the last two weeks?”. It was a random test.
Ironically, we were tested to show “solidarity” with the factory workers. Several problem employees were eliminated, leading us to believe that the results were ignored for valued employees.
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