PIPING UP FOR HIS TRADE: As pipe group’s first full-time president since early ’00s, Hayden gives association consistent voice

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As president of the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association, Terry Hayden can find himself at odds one day with environmentalists over pipeline projects and on the next with conservatives over policies perceived to be harmful to unions.

In other words, he and his fellow pipe-trades workers can’t be easily fit into a ready-made political box. With their policy preferences being somewhat complex and unorthodox — to the casual observer at least — association members thought it might be time to enlist someone who could devote his days to giving the industry a single voice.

Enter Hayden, the first person to serve as full-time president of the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association since the early 2000s.

“One thing we’ve seen when we’ve compared ourselves with other states was that we never had someone who would be the constant face of our organization,” Hayden said. “We’ve never had that connection, someone who would connect with others and be a spokesman for the industry.”

Hayden officially took on into his current position just over a year ago, in June 2017. His duties have him representing eight separate pipe-trades unions whose 9,000 members throughout the state work as plumbers, sprinkler fitters, steamfitters, HVAC technicians, industrial pipefitters and fabricators.

But even before becoming the full-time president of the pipe trades association, Hayden had served for several years as the organization’s part-time president. At the same time, he was working as business manager of Local 434 United Association of Journeymen Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, which has its main office in Mosinee and represents a large swath of western and central Wisconsin.

Hayden said he was being stretched thin.

“Being a business manager of a local union is more than a full-time job already,” Hayden said.

Like many union officials, Hayden got his start in the industry by working his way up through the trades. His entrée into pipefitting came in 1986, when he began doing work on refrigeration units in bars, restaurants and supermarkets. He became a steamfitter apprentice in 1991 and eventually found a job with a national contractor working on chillers, boilers and refrigeration systems. After becoming employed directly by Local 434, he helped to open and run three training centers and oversee health and retirement plans.

All that experience more or less made him the natural choice when members of the Pipe Trades Association decided they once again wanted a full-time president.

Hayden said the association has long employed a contract lobbyist to advocate for various policies in Madison. When his fellow members decided to make him their full-time president, they were looking for something else: A person who could draw on actual experience in the trades.

“They wanted someone who was not necessarily a political person or a lobbyist to speak for the industry, to set an example,” Hayden said. “They wanted someone who could speak from the standpoint of experience about apprenticeship-related issues, and about how the skilled trades have heavily invested in apprenticeships.”

Hayden was born in Eau Claire and lives there to this day. Now, though, he spends most of his working days in Madison, where he also sits on the Wisconsin Apprenticeship Advisory Council.

Hayden’s advocacy for the industry has had him speaking against Republican officials’ pushes to repeal the state’s prevailing-wage laws, roll back sprinkler standards for multi-family residences and allow third parties to administer certification tests to people seeking to get into certain parts of the pipe-trades industry. At the same time, he has found common cause with conservative groups as they marshal support for projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline or a proposed replacement of a section of Enbridge Energy’s lines under the Straits of Mackinac.

Hayden said there’s no inconsistency in these stances. He’s simply standing up for the interests of his members.

“Our position is that this country needs an all-above energy policy simply because what will drive changes in the types of energy we use will be technology and market forces,” he said. “In other words, we are going to depend on fossil fuels for some time yet. And, in the case of oil and natural gas, since we are going to depend on it, we should be transporting it in the safest way possible, which is pipelines.”

The Daily Reporter: What surprises you most about your job?

Hayden: The large number of really great people that I get to meet and interact with while representing the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association.

TDR: Which living person do you most admire?

Hayden: My Father, Ben Hayden, who instilled in me a strong work ethic and taught me the importance of honesty and sincerity.

TDR: What other job have you considered trying?

Hayden: When graduating from high school, I considered college and a career in computer science, but found that I really liked working with my hands. I made eyeglasses for a few years until finding a career that I love in the Pipe Trades.

TDR: What is your greatest fear?

Hayden: My biggest fear has always been failure, but it never stopped me from trying new things and learning from my mistakes.

TDR: What is your greatest extravagance?

Hayden: I collect Hamer guitars that were handcrafted near Chicago.

TDR: What would you never wear?

Hayden: Flip-flops.

TDR: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Hayden: I tend to be a very thoughtful and methodical person. I sometimes wish I was more spontaneous.

TDR: What would your colleagues be surprised to find out about you?

Hayden: Even though I am not a kid anymore, I still love playing video games. Follow @TDR_WLJDan