(Describer) A construction worker bolts together two ten-foot I-beams . Men use tie-wire to form lengths of steel reinforcing bar, or "rebar" into a grid pattern. A title: Ironworkers. Dominique Tatum , Apprentice, Ironworkers Local 55.

[rock music]

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As an ironworker, you're gonna do work on bridges. You're gonna be building structures, building foundations. You're gonna be welding. You're gonna be up in the sky with the birds, seeing beautiful views. Ironworker is a different type of guy. You know, you have to-- you have to have it-- you have to be on your game at all times.

(speaker) It can include anything from, like,

(Describer) Rob Monak .

the Cleveland-Cliffs project-- that's a pretty visible structure-- to the Huntington Center. Ornamental would be almost the artsy side, if you will. If you look at the Toledo Hospital and the glasswork at the Generations of Care project, that's more towards the ornamental. And then the reinforcing, of course-- if you drive across any bridge in the city of Toledo here in 2020, you'll see all kinds of rebar getting placed to make that concrete rigid and strong. Actually doing work, like, looking at it in a book versus doing it in the field, the technical side of everything is pretty challenging.

(Monak) So to get into our apprenticeship, you have to graduate-- you can have your high school diploma and/or GED-- and a valid driver's license. You have to take an aptitude test, differential aptitude test, and test into the program. Now, that test, differential aptitude test, very math-heavy: trigonometry, some geometry. And then the other components are mechanical reasoning, spatial awareness-- you know, we look at a two-dimensional set of blueprints, per se, and we're putting together a three-dimensional real-world building structure or whatever-- and some abstract reasoning.

(Tatum) It gives you a step-by-step approach to your thought process. Putting up structural steel and tying rebar, you actually have to plan things out.

(speaker) You got take and follow orders, okay,

(Describer) Thomas Miller.

just like you was in the military, but not so strict. A guy that wants to work in all kinds of elements. You know, we're not talking about a thunderstorm or a snow blizzard, but, you know, the weather is not always in our favor.

(Describer) Chris VanGunten.

As myself being a foreman and journeyman, the apprentices that are coming up, we are teaching them, so we do see the way they take strides in, you know, what level they're working at and getting trained at. And you can see the work, and you take pride over that, so I mean, you can definitely see progress in all the steps they take. It's neat to see somebody who comes in green, per se, and then mature throughout the program, throughout the process, and it's not just elevating in the craft. It's elevating as a man or a woman. Out in the field, I work with a lot of people who haven't been around my environment. I learn a lot of different personalities, a lot of different ethics, I guess, the way people think. I liked our instructor down here. I actually think his teaching method was important. It's actually made me a better ironworker. He actually gave me a little bit of self-confidence, like, "Hey, Dom, man, you're doing great," and, "These guys look up to you, man, and you can set a standard," like, you know, so... he's talked to me a lot about finances: "Hey, man, you got to-- you can't be that ironworker "with a $200,000 house and, you know, barely scraping by." He's taught me-- you know, told me stuff that I actually took heed to. It was really hard to just make that commitment

(Describer) Marion Lindsey.

to leave what I thought was really good to actually go to something that was so much better.

(Tatum) I was working a $10-an-hour job. I...I had-- I had one kid and another on the way. I had to do something. And someone told me about ironworkers. I said I was pretty handy. I came in, and it's worked. Like, the guys respect me. I can do my work. It's satisfaction.

(Describer) Lindsey.

(Lindsey) I mean, she gets to be home. I'm home every night. I don't have to-- don't have to travel if I don't want to, but I can if I want to. It's just a great opportunity. It's been great for me, for sure.

(Describer) Miller.

To do ironwork, you can step back at the end of the day and say, "Look what I helped build."

(Describer) Jimmy Taylor.

(speaker) "You know, there should be a monument to ironworkers, you know, just a monument to ironworkers here in town." I said, "There are. "Look at all the buildings. Look at the bridges. "Your father, our father, our grandfathers, "we all built those. Those are our monuments."

(Monak) To be able to see what I've done out in the field, it gives certainly a sense of pride, because the projects that we work on are here for-- are here to stay. You know, after I'm gone from the Earth and on to the by and by, you know, my children and hopefully my grandchildren can drive by and say, "My dad" or "My grandpa worked on that project." You're building your community. And that's really important that you have an opportunity to do that, to build your community. Building communities, building families, and doing that together is really neat.

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(Describer) On an I-beam framework, a construction worker guides a diagonal, structural-support bar into place. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.