PHCC—National Association and Milwaukee Tool are expanding their partnership through a new workforce-development commitment aimed at attracting, training, and retaining the next generation of plumbing and HVAC professionals.
Milwaukee Tool has elevated its support of PHCC to Strategic Partner status, and the expanded collaboration includes exclusive sponsorship of the PHCC Educational Foundation’s Workforce Advocacy Video Initiative. The campaign is designed to promote skilled trades careers and give contractors, educators, and industry groups new recruitment resources.
For HVAC contractors, the announcement lands at a familiar pain point. Labor remains one of the biggest constraints on growth. Contractors can generate leads, sell equipment, and expand service demand, but without enough trained technicians, installers, apprentices, and field leaders, that demand becomes difficult to convert into profitable work.
PHCC said the initiative will highlight career opportunities in the skilled trades, including the path of Charlie Goede, the 2026 U.S. WorldSkills plumbing competitor and former PHCC National Plumbing Apprentice Champion. The goal is to show young people that the trades offer real career pathways, not just entry-level jobs.
Milwaukee Tool said it invests more than $10 million annually in hands-on education and workforce development. In 2025, the company supported more than 600 apprentice graduations and donated more than $4.5 million in professional-grade equipment to trade schools across the United States. The company has also committed to invest $200 million by 2030 in skilled trades workforce development initiatives.
For contractors, the most important part of this announcement is not the branding. It is the recognition that workforce development has become a national business issue for the trades.
Recruiting can no longer be treated as a seasonal problem or something solved only with a hiring ad. Contractors need pipelines. That means relationships with trade schools, apprenticeship programs, local associations, manufacturers, distributors, and even high schools.
The PHCC and Milwaukee Tool partnership gives contractors more material to support that effort, but it does not replace the work companies need to do locally. The contractors that win the labor battle will likely be the ones that can show young workers a clear path: training, mentorship, pay progression, certification, leadership opportunities, and a culture worth staying for.
For HVAC businesses, the message is direct. The labor shortage is not going away on its own. The companies that build technician pipelines now may be the ones with the capacity to grow when the next wave of demand hits.
