NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | November 20 , 2015 | PAGE 3
During National Apprenticeship Week, Nov. 2-6
Apprenticeship gets some long-overdue recognition
Sheet Metal Workers and Oregon
Tradeswomen Inc. recognize
‘Women in Apprenticeship Day’
The Sheet Metal Institute, Sheet
Metal Workers Local 16, and
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.
(OTI) hosted a “Women in Ap-
prenticeship Day” Nov. 4 to cel-
ebrate Oregon’s success in intro-
ducing women to apprentice-
ship. The event was part of the
National Apprenticeship Week
put on by the U.S. Department
of Labor to promote apprentice-
ship opportunities and to show-
case to businesses the positive
impact they have in workforce
training.
More than 200 events took
place nationwide during the
week of Nov. 2-6, with North
American Building Trades
unions (formerly the National
Building and Construction
Trades Council) hosting open
houses in more than 15 cities.
In Portland, sheet metal in-
dustry employers, union offi-
cials, public officials, female
pre-apprentices, apprentices, and
graduates of the Sheet Metal
training program talked about
apprenticeship opportunities.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales
and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
each issued proclamations de-
claring Nov. 4 as “Women in
Apprenticeship Day.”
APPRENTICESHIP: DID YOU KNOW?
■ Nearly two-thirds of all registered apprentices in the United
States are trained in the construction industry.
■ Among construction apprentices, roughly 75 percent are trained
in the unionized construction sector — known as the joint
apprentice training committee (JATC) system.
■ Every year, North America’s Building Trades Unions and its
signatory contractors direct over $1 billion in private
investments towards this JATC system.
■ When wages and benefits that are paid to apprentices are
APPLAUDING APPRENTICES. Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 apprentice
Lisa Davis demonstrates how to repair a fan motor at the Sheet Metal
Training Institute in Northeast Portland. The soon-to-be journeyman
was a graduate of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.’s pre-apprenticeship pro-
gram before entering the sheet metal trade. She told her story to
women pre-apprentices and apprentices, part of “National Apprentice-
ship Week.” In the background from right to left are Connie Ashbrook
and Leigh McIlvaine of OTI; Sheet Metal Local 16 journeyman Allie
Medeiros; and Sheet Metal Local 16 Business Manager Charlie Johnson,
a graduate and former instructor at the Sheet Metal Institute.
trained journeymen. Appren-
tices are paid at a percentage
rate of the journeyman scale, plus
fringe benefits. Their wages in-
crease as they progress through
the program. The length of train-
ing depends on the craft. At Sheet
Metal Workers, for instance, it
takes 8,000 hours of on-the-job
training and 800 hours of class-
room time to earn a journeyman
card.
Charlie Johnson, business
manager of Sheet Metal Work-
In Oregon, more women are
ers Local 16, said journeyman
becoming apprentices
sheet metal workers make $38
At 6.9 percent, Oregon has more an hour, with “unparalleled”
than double the national rate of fringe benefits that include a
women in construction trades pension and full medical bene-
apprenticeships. According to fits. “I don’t think there are too
Connie Ash-
many oppor-
brook, execu-
tunities out-
tive director of
side the con-
“There is nowhere else on
OTI, registered
struction
earth that you could go to
apprenticeship
trades that of-
become better skilled in
programs in the
fer that kind
Portland metro-
the craft you want than
of income,”
politan area that
these apprenticeship pro-
Johnson said.
her organization
Many ap-
grams right here in your
partners with
prenticeship
home state of Oregon.”
have nearly 10
programs also
percent women,
are assessed
— Oregon Labor Commissioner
on average.
for college
Brad Avakian
“We’ve got a
credit, which
ways to go
can apply to-
though,” Ash-
ward an asso-
brook
said.
ciates or bachelor’s degree.
“Half of Oregon’s registered ap-
Elana Pirtle-Guiney, work-
prenticeship programs have no force and labor policy adviser to
women at all.”
Gov. Brown, said bureaucrats
Apprenticeship training is an talk a lot about how to help Ore-
“earn while you learn” system gonians get better training and
that offers people the chance to higher wages without crippling
learn from — and work with —
them with budget-breaking debt
that can often accumulate when
attending college. “And we
know the answer,” she said.
“We know that apprenticeship
programs are the perfect way to
do it. We can get people into
high wage jobs and into career-
path jobs, and anybody can ap-
ply. But not enough people do.”
Apprenticeship is on the rise
According to the U.S. Labor
Department, apprenticeships are
on the rise, increasing from
375,000 in 2013 to 445,000 to-
day. By the year 2020, approxi-
mately 30 percent of all jobs
will require a post-secondary
degree or credential. Experts
also project a shortfall of nearly
3 million Americans lacking the
post-secondary education re-
quired to fill these jobs.
Recently the Obama Admin-
istration made an unprecedented
investment of $175 million in
“American Apprenticeship”
grants to expand the apprentice-
ship model into new occupa-
tions and new industries. It’s
part of the president’s challenge
to double and diversify the num-
ber of apprentices in America by
2019.
The Oregon Employment
Department was awarded a $3
million grant. The money is be-
ing used to form Oregon-Ap-
prenticeships in Manufacturing
(Oregon-AIM) to aid employer
recruitment and create training
programs in advanced manufac-
factored in, that annual investment exceeds $11 billion.
■ Our unions and contractors operate more than 1,600 training
centers in the United States.
■ If the Building Trades training system, which includes both
apprentice-level and journeyman-level training, was a degree
granting college or university, it would be the largest degree
granting college or university in the United States — over 5
times larger than Arizona State University.
■ If the Building Trades training system was a public university
system, it would be the third largest public university system in
the United States — almost twice as large as the University of
Texas system.
■ If the Building Trades training system was a K-12 school district,
we would be the fourth largest school district in the U.S., only
behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
— F ROM N ORTH A MERICA ’ S B UILDING T RADES U NIONS
turing.
“We are truly committed to
go beyond the talk, and really
expand apprenticeship into
other industries,” said Shalee
Hodgson of the Oregon Em-
ployment Department. “Manu-
facturing is where we’re starting
with it.”
Industries that will be tar-
geted to form apprenticeship
programs include:
• Industrial Machinery Mechanics
(also industrial mobile me-
chanic)
• Machinists (also industrial main-
tenance machinist)
• Computer-Controlled Machine
Tool Operators, Metal and Plas-
tic
• Numerical Tool and Process Con-
trol Programmers
• Electrical and Electronics Repair-
ers, Commercial and Industrial
Equipment
• Electrical and Electronics Engi-
neering Technicians
• Sawing Machine Setters, Opera-
tors and Tenders, Wood
Hodgson said one of the
goals is to have at least 300 new
apprentices registered in Oregon
in advanced manufacturing oc-
cupations over the next five
years. In particular, the program
wants to create apprenticeship
opportunities for women, peo-
ple of color, veterans, and recip-
ients of Temporary Aid to
Needy Families and Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance
Program.
Oregon Labor Commissioner
Brad Avakian told the pre-ap-
prentices from OTI that Oregon
is renowned for its apprentice-
ship programs.
“There is nowhere else on
earth that you could go to be-
come better skilled in the craft
you want than these apprentice-
ship programs right here in your
home state of Oregon,” he said,
pointing to the sheet metal, elec-
tricians, plumbers and steamfit-
ters, and laborers training facili-
ties.
Also speaking at the Sheet
Metal Institute were Betty Lock,
regional administrator for the
U.S. Department of Labor’s
Women’s Bureau, and Oregon
state Sen. Chip Shields.