NWLP-03-18-11:NWLP
3/15/11
10:16 AM
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UA apprenticeship instructor Dave Hiebert shows Tigard High School senior
Alex Hawk the art of brazing a copper pipe joint.
UA Local 290 apprentice Ben Caswell shows students from Tigard and Tualatin high schools how to braze. Looking
on is Local 290 Business Manager John Endicott.
High school students get lessons in pipe trades at UA training center
Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 has
opened its training center to students
from the Tigard-Tualatin School Dis-
trict.
Under the tutelage of apprenticeship
instructor Dave Hiebert and appren-
tices Ben Caswell and Darrel
Lawrence, 11 students from Tualatin
and Tigard high school spend an hour
every other day learning to weld, braze,
solder — and experience first-hand
how important math is to the trade.
“Most of these kids have never ap-
plied math to work,” said Local 290
Business Manager John Endicott.
“Once they did, they connected the im-
portance of math.”
Just to apply to the apprenticeship
program requires one year of high
school algebra. To get in, however, will
likely take much more than that.
“If you decide to go this route,
you’ll be competing with others who
have lots of math,” Hiebert told the stu-
dents. “Math is a very important part of
this trade.”
The students, a mix of sophomores,
juniors, and seniors taking industrial
arts and technology and career educa-
tion classes, paid close attention to their
instructors the entire class.
“The students are very attentive;
there is no screwing around,” said UA
Director of Training Mike Pollock.
“They’re asking a lot of good ques-
tions. Several students say they are very
interested in the trade.”
“I’m really pleased with what took
place today (brazing),” Hiebert added.
“I’m told this is all they talk about with
their friends at school.”
Endicott told the Labor Press he
wants to expand the program. “This is
not a one-time thing. We’re gearing up
to do it right,” he said.
Pollock said discussions are under
way to extend the class through spring
term and to expand it next year to two
classes every other day with 20 stu-
dents in each class.
Initially, the training center was go-
ing to foot the entire bill, including
safety equipment and bus transporta-
tion to and from school. The Plumbing
Mechanical Contractors Association
then offered to assist with the purchase
of safety gear, if needed. Students get
to keep welding jackets, welding
hoods, safety glasses, and gloves.
Pollock said none of that was nec-
essary, however, because after learning
about the class, the Oregon Bureau of
Labor and Industries steered the train-
ing center to a $10,000 federal grant
that covered the cost of transportation,
safety gear, and instructors’ pay.
(Editor’s Note: Four years ago, Lo-
cal 290 wrote letters to the superintend-
ents of the Tigard-Tualatin, Wilsonville,
and Sherwood school districts offering
free use of their training center. Getting
no response, the union followed up with
letters to school board members in
those districts. Still nothing.
Upset but staying positive, union
and training officials continued pro-
moting their facility to whomever
would listen.
Business Manager John Endicott
said he told the story every time he
talked to a politician.
Then, earlier this year, Training Di-
rector Mike Pollock said a parent of a
Tigard-Tualatin School District student
approached him randomly for ideas on
how to get students exposed to shop
classes, since they weren’t being of-
fered at school. Pollock told the man of
the training center’s plight with the
school district and how its invitations
to use the facility went unanswered. A
short while after that conversation, the
Tigard-Tualatin School District called
Endicott asking about bringing stu-
dents to the training center.)
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MARCH 18, 2011