Ironworkers Local 5 organizer Ryan Marshall joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to explain why the region’s building boom is exposing a deeper truth: the real “labor shortage” is a shortage of good jobs. From a four-year apprenticeship with paid training, to the fight against worker misclassification and wage theft, Marshall outlined what it will take to protect standards across Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
He also addressed a crisis too often kept quiet in the trades: mental health, substance misuse and suicide prevention, and how Local 5 is pushing resources to members while working to break the stigma.
[AUDIO PLAYER HERE]
Ed “Flash” Ferenc welcomed Ryan Marshall, Ironworkers Local 5 Organizer, to discuss the Washington, D.C. region’s construction economy on this episode of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast. Marchall explained that Ironworkers Local 5 has over 1,200 members across D.C., Maryland and Virginia. He then previewed the central tension shaping today’s jobs debate: is the country facing a shortage of skilled labor, or a shortage of good jobs worth doing?
As an organizer, Marshall said he has spent the last three years recruiting workers, supporting projects and confronting what he described as a growing threat to standards: worker misclassification and wage theft.
Marshall’s path into the trade was not a polished career plan. It was due to a sense of urgency.
“I became a father at a young age,” he told Ferenc, explaining that his first son was born when he was 17. Like many working people, he cycled through “in-and-out jobs” before seeing a social media post that changed his direction. A friend from his neighborhood was “hanging off the side of buildings, working with cranes and welding,” and the work looked both exciting and real.
Marshall reached out. That connection led him to Local 5’s leadership, including Gary Armstrong, now the Local’s business manager, who at the time served as Apprenticeship Director. Within a week, Marshall said, he was on the job as an apprentice on the MGM casino project in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
The story is familiar in the building trades: a family to support, a chance to earn while learning and a union structure that turns a job into a career.
Local 5’s apprenticeship program, Marshall explained, is a four-year program that accepts applicants with or without prior experience. Apprentices rotate through coursework, including Welding I, Welding II, structural and ornamental work, rigging and other core competencies.
The model is designed to keep apprentices connected to the job while they train. Apprentices leave the field for two-week class blocks, receive a $100 per-day stipend, then return to the jobsite and “pick up where they left off.”
Local 5 currently has about 170 apprentices working, Marshall said, with another 100 on a waiting list.
Ferenc asked about outreach, noting that rising college costs and student debt have pushed more young people to reconsider the traditional four-year degree route. Marshall said Local 5’s apprenticeship program is aggressive in its recruitment, visiting 50 to 75 schools a year, including high schools, some colleges, and even middle and elementary schools. He has personally spoken to fifth graders about iron work.
The Local also uses modern digital tactics, including social media advertising campaigns. And on the second Monday of each month, Local 5 holds an open application day where prospective apprentices can take a written test and a physical abilities test.
Asked to assess the region’s workload, Marshall was blunt: “Very busy.”
He said the majority of current work is in Northern Virginia, where the data center boom has reshaped construction demand. Local 5 wants “more of that work,” he added, but still holds a meaningful share alongside steady work from other contractors.
Organizing, he said, is equally active. Marshall described the current moment as the busiest he has seen in three years, with “over a hundred probationary workers” on the roster and another hundred ready to come in when the Local gives the green light.
That growth matters because it signals something beyond short-term hiring needs. It reflects the union’s capacity to bring workers into a standards-based system: training, wages, benefits and a career ladder.
Ferenc connected the Local’s workload to federal infrastructure investments, recalling the push to repair thousands of bridges and the role ironworkers play in bridge construction.
Marshall acknowledged that some projects have been scaled back under the new administration, but major needs remain. He pointed to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, noting that rebuilding will require “over 100 iron workers” on that project alone.
He also addressed offshore wind, a sector that drew significant attention in recent years. Local 5 became the first accredited local in the Iron Workers to become GWO accredited—Global Wind Organization certification—positioning members for renewable energy and offshore work. But Marshall said several offshore wind projects have been halted, calling it “a burden,” even as the local community continues to move forward.
Offshore wind work, he explained, leans heavily on Ironworkers’ rigging expertise: large cranes, heavy picks and connecting massive components at sea. It is specialized work that is not typically covered in depth during standard apprenticeship training.
The interview offered some surprising data when Ferenc introduced the topic of worker misclassification and wage theft—issues he has repeatedly highlighted as corrosive to workers and public budgets.
Marshall cited figures from the Office of the Attorney General in Washington, D.C., which cited the 2023 report by the Century Foundation, and states that 23 percent of construction workers in the D.C. area are misclassified as independent contractors. Maryland and Virginia, he said, are “still in the teens,” around 12–13 percent.
Worker misclassification is not just a paperwork problem. Ferenc emphasized that it drains tax revenue that should support local schools, law enforcement and infrastructure.
The deeper issue, Marshall argued, is that worker misclassification has become a business model. Nonunion contractors build the risk into their bids, undercut legitimate employers and treat penalties as a cost of doing business. That is why, he said, enforcement must go beyond fines.
“What we’re really looking for is disbarment,” he said—banning repeat offenders from bidding—along with stronger consequences, including jail time in certain cases. Marshall’s framing was moral as well as economic: stealing wages through worker misclassification should be treated like theft, not rewarded as “good business.”
Ferenc closed by introducing the topic of mental health being treated as a safety issue in the construction industry, citing the grim reality that suicide rates among construction workers are far higher than the general population.
Marshall agreed and described the cultural barrier: “We’re all tough guys.” The stigma, he said, keeps too many workers from admitting they need help.
Local 5 has partnered with Modern Assistance, a program Marshall described as a 24/7 lifeline for members dealing with depression, addiction, suicidal thoughts or simply needing someone to talk to. The support can include pickup, referrals and treatment pathways.
Marshall said some members are using the resources, but Local 5 wants more members to reach out. The union mentions the help options at every meeting and stays after to talk with any members who want to. Progress, he said, is real but incomplete.
For Local 5, the message is straightforward: solidarity is not only about wages and benefits. It is also about making sure every worker gets home safely, including mentally.
Stay Connected to the Trades. Did you enjoy this interview with Ryan Marshall? Subscribe to the America’s Work Force Union Podcast for more stories about Ironworkers, apprenticeship, and the fight for good jobs. Listen Here