At JJ White, mentoring in today’s union workforce doesn’t move in only one direction…
Mentoring within today’s union workforce does not move in only one direction. At its best, it is collaborative, dynamic, and rooted in mutual respect across roles, experience levels, and generations.
On a current project, our Project Manager, Michael Pellegrino, who brings more than 45 years of experience executing major projects, has been leading a union crew through a demanding scope of work under a tight schedule and significant financial pressures. As a Registered Architect in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Michael’s hands-on, self-performed union field experience is closely aligned with the general trades. However, this project involves heavy mechanical systems, creating a natural gap in discipline-specific experience.
Recognizing that gap, Michael intentionally partnered with Jay Stettnisch, an up-and-coming Mechanical General Foreman. That decision has proven invaluable. By combining Michael’s decades of project leadership and strategic oversight with Jay’s deep mechanical field knowledge, the team has benefited at every level, including how the work is sequenced, how safety expectations are enforced, and how the crews are positioned for success. These are lessons that are not learned in a classroom; they are earned through years in the field.
Jay’s experience shaped by his apprenticeship training and his time as a journeyman leading work in the field brings current methods, tools, and practical insight gained across multiple projects. He has learned, sometimes the hard way, what works and what does not. By strategizing together, leveraging Michael’s project execution experience and Jay’s field-driven mechanical expertise, the work continues to progress in a positive direction, resulting in strong performance and a high level of client satisfaction.
This exchange reinforces a fundamental union value: we all have a responsibility to teach, and we all have a responsibility to learn. Titles do not define knowledge, experience does. And experience takes many forms across different generations of the workforce. When teams work together, brainstorm solutions openly, and remove ego from the process, learning occurs in every direction.
When mentoring flows both up and down, everyone benefits. Apprentices learn faster. Journeymen take greater ownership. Foremen lead stronger, more confident crews. Project Managers deliver successful projects while maintaining their fiduciary responsibility to the company. Most importantly, the quality of the work and the reputation of the trade are protected. …and yes, with a strong team an architect can lead mechanical work.
That is how union skills are preserved, strengthened, and passed forward, not just from the top down, but in every direction, every day, on every jobsite.