Labor Department apprenticeship rule exempts construction programs

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AUTHOR: Jenn Goodman
PUBLISHED: March 11, 2020

Dive Brief:

  • A Department of Labor rule issued yesterday that will help expand apprenticeships in the U.S. leaves out programs that seek to train apprentices to perform construction work. Those groups instead can continue to participate in a separate Registered Apprenticeship Program
  • The rule establishes a system for advancing the development of Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs), a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s workplace policy agenda. It will take effect May 11.
  • The idea of exempting the construction industry from IRAPs has drawn fire from major contractor groups like the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). On the other hand, building trade unions like North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) have praised the plan.

Dive Insight:

IRAPS are recognized by a third-party entity under standards established by the department in the new rule. Through these programs, individuals will be able to obtain workplace-relevant training and progressively advancing skills that result in an industry-recognized credential while getting paid for their work.

An IRAP is developed or operated by entities such as trade and industry groups, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, unions and joint labor-management organizations. They are seen as a way to help alleviate the labor shortage in new industry sectors and occupations that don’t traditionally have apprenticeships.

“Apprenticeships are widely recognized to be a highly effective job-training approach for American workers and for employers seeking the skilled workforce needed in today’s changing workplace,” Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a statement. “This new rule offers employers, community colleges, and others a flexible, innovative way to quickly expand apprenticeship in telecommunications, health care, cybersecurity, and other sectors where apprenticeships currently are not widely available.” …

In the end, the department concluded that registered apprenticeship programs are more widespread in the construction sector than in other sectors and therefore don’t need to be included in the plan. The decision could spur at least one legal challenge according to Bloomberg Law, and includes a clause to limit a potential lawsuit from the construction industry. …

… NABTU President Sean McGarvey said the union is pleased with the outcome and that the industry’s current apprenticeship programs won’t be “watered down” by having to participate in IRAPs.

“Given the widespread and effective nature of our privately financed and jointly managed registered programs for the construction industry, the final rule recognizes our rightful place as the standard bearer in the workforce development space,” he said.

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Study: Construction apprenticeships lead to higher average pay than college degrees in Illinois (IL)

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AUTHOR: Kim Slowey
PUBLISHED: Jan. 16, 2020

Dive Brief:

  • The Illinois Economic Policy Institute, in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal, released the results of a study that found that those enrolled in joint labor-management registered apprenticeships experience comparable training hours, graduation rates and pay as those who attend a four-year university in Illinois. …
  • Despite the potential for periods of unemployment due to the cyclical nature of the construction industry and accounting for the gaps between when a job is over and the next one starts, a union journey worker ($2.4 million) can expect to make about as much as someone with a bachelor’s degree ($2.5 million after student debt) during the life of their career. While the total earnings figure factors in student loans, those who “earn while they learn” through apprenticeships don’t have the burden of student debt.

Dive Insight: …

  • Joint construction programs have had a 54% completion rate since 2000, comparable to a public, four-year university’s rate of 61%.
  • The racial makeup of graduates from joint construction programs is similar to that of public universities in Illinois.
    Sometimes, apprenticeships in specific trades in Illinois can result in even higher wages. After completing a five-year apprenticeship through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association) Institute a journeyman wireman in Illinois makes more than $49 per hour.

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Punching In: Slowing Down the DOL Apprenticeship Train

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Bloomberg Law
Nov. 12, 2019

Ben Penn: With National Apprenticeship Week upon us, Team Trump surely would like the public to believe the Labor Department has cleared up an appropriations error surrounding the administration’s principal job training initiative.

The DOL recently admitted to misusing about $1.1 million on the Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program that still hasn’t been finalized, dipping into a pot of money designated for a separate apprenticeship program that’s been around for decades. The snafu took place under former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, based on orders from an ex-policy adviser. The department says it already has taken multiple steps to correct the issue. Besides, the $1.1 million in question is a drop in the bucket relative to the DOL’s overall budget.

Nothing left to see here, right?

Were it only that simple.

Not everyone’s certain the DOL has resolved the spending mistake. Lingering questions could slow the White House’s effort to put together a final rule to establish the new, industry-led job training model.

We already know the department’s inspector general looking into the potential budget violation and the Democrat-controlled House Education and Labor Committee is continuing its oversight requests.

Now we can add North America’s Building Trades Unions to the list of groups demanding answers. The construction union umbrella organization is one of the few labor groups that have found a way to work on certain issues with the Trump White House. Lately, however, it’s using the IRAP proposal to ramp up attacks on this administration.

Mike Monroe, chief of staff of the building trades group, called news of the misspent money “frustrating.” The department’s Employment and Training Administration vowed during the Acosta regime that it wouldn’t use the new IRAP system to undermine the longstanding registered apprenticeship system, a crucial job training source for the building unions. Monroe wants to be sure the department is weighing all of the public feedback it received on a proposed rule to establish the IRAP system.

The union led a public comment blitz slamming the industry-friendly IRAP proposed rule, with thousands of blue-collar union members opposing the rule.

“If there are ethical lapses in the misuse of funds then we’re rightfully concerned there may well be ethical lapses in the review and consideration of all the public comments-which is to say they’ve already made their minds up here,” Monroe said. “Our membership is watching this issue really closely” and “we are highly concerned that this undefined process that is now being funded inappropriately, it seems, may undermine their ability to safely earn a living in the construction crafts.”

Even if only $1.1 million was misspent, the ongoing scrutiny offers a convenient vehicle for NABTU, Democratic lawmakers, and others on a mission to stop the White House apprenticeship push in its tracks.

(Read More)

City apprenticeship program raises standards for workers and taxpayers (AZ)

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By Jennifer Grøndahl| Karla Walter
November 5, 2019

It’s no secret that Phoenix has become a Baby Boomer mecca. America’s largest generation has been flocking here for years, bringing with them revenue for local businesses and tax dollars for the city, but also their garbage. Garbage that the city now needs to collect.

Phoenix, like many cities, has struggled to keep up with the growing demand for government services like garbage collection, while also facing high retirement rates among aging municipal workers.

But unlike many cities, Phoenix has also come up with an original solution to meet this demand. When the city and LIUNA Local 777, which represents many municipal workers, realized they were facing a shortage of qualified sanitation workers, they partnered to create an innovative apprenticeship program that trains area residents to become skilled sanitation workers while maintaining a high level of service for taxpayers.

As a local leader who helped implement these apprenticeships and a researcher at a national think tank focused on policies to make government work better, we believe the Phoenix-LIUNA Local 777 partnership should serve as a national model.

Through the city’s solid waste equipment operator apprenticeship, workers obtain their commercial driver’s license and receive specialized instruction on operating trucks through narrow city streets and customer service skills. Previously, the city required applicants to have a commercial driver’s license before being hired, which was a significant barrier to employment, because tuition for commercial trucking schools costs thousands of dollars.

By giving sanitation workers an opportunity to earn these skills and credentials while on the job, the city ensures that workforce training is of high quality. Moreover, the Phoenix-LIUNA Local 777 partnership focuses recruitment on women, veterans and youth, attracting employees who reflect Phoenix’s diversity and who might not otherwise have had access to high-quality city jobs.

For apprentices, who are often transitioning from near minimum-wage jobs, city employment offers a significant earnings boost and a clear career path. The involvement of existing city employees makes the apprenticeships a success. Veteran employees help with recruitment and program graduates informally mentor new apprentices.

As a result, the apprenticeship graduates have higher levels of loyalty and motivation to both the City of Phoenix and the union. Nearly all who start the program finish, and despite their more junior status, graduates are among the most successful employees, at times outshining more senior workers.

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Study Finds Apprenticeships Are on the Rise in Minnesota (MN)

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Overall participation in apprenticeships grew by 27 percent between 2014 and 2017. About 96 percent of those are in construction.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
AMANDA OSTUNI

Apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly popular way for Minnesotans to kickstart their careers.

A study by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute (MEPI) and Dr. Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that participation in apprenticeships in Minnesota grew by 27 percent between 2014 and 2017, with 11,500 individuals enrolled in a program in 2017.

Apprenticeships are largely utilized as an alternative to college. MEPI policy director Frank Manzo says they have grown in popularity alongside the rising costs of college.

“An apprenticeship program offers the ability to earn while you learn,” Manzo says. “You go through roughly the same amount of classroom and on-the-job hours as you would through a bachelor’s degree program… but you’re getting paid to do it instead of accumulating debt.”

Citing data from policy research organization Mathematica, Manzo says apprenticeships provide an average annual earnings boost of $4,700-greater than most boosts provided by a bachelor’s or associate’s degree.

In addition to helping the individual, the MEPI study finds that apprenticeships serve as a significant boost to Minnesota’s economy.

“The data shows that every dollar spent on apprenticeship programs increases Minnesota’s GDP by $21,” says study researcher Robert Bruno, in a press release. “That makes apprenticeships one of the most effective investments we can make-not just in workers, but in the economy.”

The construction industry is at the heart of Minnesota’s apprenticeship participation. Even though construction accounts for just 11 percent of national occupations suited to apprenticeships, about 96 percent of the total number of individuals actively enrolled in Minnesota apprenticeships between 2015 and 2017 were working in skilled construction trades. This amounts to an annual industry investment of $30 million.

Manzo says this disproportion comes from the fact that construction is the only industry in the state to fully embrace apprenticeships thus far. He adds that the industry has been motivated by the impacts of the widespread labor shortage.

“They’re having difficulty finding qualified craft workers, so the solution is either pay people more and attract more workers into the industry or invest in training more workers and build up their skill sets,” Manzo says.

With the training approach, Manzo says many construction companies readily got on board with apprenticeships, working together to establish programs where workers could bounce between companies as jobs were available since the industry is naturally volatile and different companies win different bids at different times.

Manzo says he’d like to see state initiatives broaden the breadth of apprenticeship opportunities, particularly into fields like healthcare, IT, agriculture, and manufacturing.

“[Construction apprenticeships] have produced skilled construction workers that build our infrastructure, ensure schools are built safely,” Manzo says. “These programs could be replicated in other industries.”

(Read More)

(PDF Copy of Study)

Labor Training Program Aims To Bring Younger People Into Illinois Construction Trades (IL)

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By ERIC SCHMID
9-12-19

EDWARDSVILLE – A new program that gives high school students hands-on experience with the construction trades kicked off this year.

Over two years, juniors and seniors from local high schools will learn to pour concrete, install pipes, construct scaffolding and other aspects of the trades from certified labor instructors through the Illinois Laborers’ and Contractors Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program.

The program started in Marion, Illinois, last year and expanded to Edwardsville after labor leaders saw its success. It’s part of a larger push from local labor organizations to attract younger people to unions.

The average age of construction labor apprentices in downstate Illinois is 37, said Vicky McElroy, the apprenticeship coordinator at the Edwardsville training facility.

“We thought this was a way to get some good students and young people into the trades,” she said.

Sixteen juniors from Edwardsville High School make up this year’s inaugural class. The students go to the training facility for two hours every morning for a mix of classroom training and hands-on courses.

It’s new territory for the training center’s instructors, who are used to older apprentices.
“In some ways it’s a very big advantage,” said Jason Jackson, one of the course instructors. “If I’m teaching them math or labor history or anything like that, I can actually send them home with homework.”

He acknowledges there are challenges, too. One of those is managing a room full of teenagers, he said, and another is fitting hands-on activities, like pouring concrete, into the two-hour course blocks.

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Construction Apprenticeship Training in Pennsylvania (PA)

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Publication Date: February 22, 2019
Executive Summary 
After a deep industry decline in and after the Great Recession, the Pennsylvania construction industry has in the last several years again faced a shortage of skilled craft workers. This shortage could grow more severe in the years ahead due to an aging construction workforce, leading to high rates of retirement. Since the early 1990s, the share of the Pennsylvania construction industry workers aged 40 and over has risen from less than a third to nearly half.
In the context of emerging skills shortages, this report evaluates the role of apprenticeship training in meeting Pennsylvania’s need for skilled construction workers, relying primarily on official government data. The report highlights the distinction between apprenticeship programs governed by joint committees of labor and management, hereafter referred to as joint or union programs, and programs governed unilaterally by individual employers or employer associations (non-union programs).
  • Union programs account for nearly six out of every seven construction apprentices in Pennsylvania. Over the 2000 to 2016 period, 85 percent of construction apprentices in Pennsylvania participated in joint labor management programs and 15 percent in non-union, management-only, programs.
  • Union programs account for nine out of every 10 Pennsylvania construction apprentices who are not white and male. Union programs had 4,883 Non-White and Hispanic male construction apprentices from 2000 to 2016 and non-union ones had 568. Over this same period, 1,083 female apprentices participated in union programs, and 83 females participated in non-union programs.
  • Union apprenticeship programs graduate more than six veterans for every one veteran graduated by nonunion programs. Nearly 3,000 (2,749) veterans have participated in union construction apprenticeship programs in Pennsylvania since 2000, compared to 516 veterans who participated in non-union ones.
  • Graduation rates are higher in union apprenticeship programs, including for minorities, women, and veterans. Of those enrolled in union apprenticeship programs from 2000 to 2012, 56% had completed their apprenticeship by 2016, compared to a completion rate of 44% for non-union programs. For minority male and female apprentices, and for veterans, graduation rates were about 25% higher for union apprenticeship programs than non-union.
  • Wage rates at entry and especially at completion are higher in union apprenticeship programs. Starting wages for union apprentices are 36% higher than for non-union apprentices. Upon completion (or “exit”), the union apprentice pay premium compared to non-union apprentices climbs to 60%.
  • Higher shares of blue-collar union trades in Pennsylvania have a two- or four-year college degree than nonunion trades and the share of blue-collar union trades with a college degree has risen to one in four. The share of unionized blue-collar trades that have a two-year or four-year college degree has more than doubled since the early 1990s, to just over 25%. The share of non-union trades that have a college degree has also risen but remains 10 percentage points below the union share.

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(PDF Copy of Report)

New Memphis program encourages more students to pursue careers in construction (TN)

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BY LAURA FAITH KEBEDE
MAY 14, 2019

About 200 more Memphis students will be able to work toward certification in construction jobs next year thanks to a two-year state grant and an additional curriculum announced Tuesday.

The after-school program, known as Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate Training, or PACT, is Gov. Bill Lee’s latest push to train more high school students to enter careers straight out of high school in areas such as masonry, carpentry, landscaping, painting, plumbing, and construction technology.

“I’ve long known that there is a shortage of those skilled workers because we have left that part of education out of our public school system for decades,” said Lee, who ran a similar training program out of his family business in Williamson County.

“They have giftings and skills that college kids don’t, and yet we do very little to direct paths for them in successful careers,” he added.

The program is meant to help bridge the gap between young people looking for work and companies that can’t fill construction jobs. Memphis has the nation’s highest rate of youth not working or in school. As more building developments spring up, some companies have even turned down projects because they don’t have enough workers, according to local media reports. Memphis was named one of the fastest growing markets in construction in 2017 by the Associated General Contractors of America.

“Understanding what this program is about really gives me as the president of a company in the building industry a huge sigh of relief,” said Jennifer Ransom of The Ransomed Group.

About 100 students at five high schools this year were certified in skills required for construction jobs, but Shelby County Schools hopes to dramatically increase that number through the new program, said Tanika Lester, the district’s manager of college and career technical education programs. About 2,400 students earned certifications across more than a dozen other career fields this year – more than double the district’s goal, Lester said.

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McGarvey of North American Building Trades Unions addresses MBTC convention (MA)

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April 19, 2019 – Construction Design & Engineering

Plymouth, MA The Massachusetts Building Trades Council (MBTC) unveiled its 2019 agenda to elevate the interests of construction workers and union contractors across the Commonwealth. The three-day convention was held at HOTEL 1620.

Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTC), served as keynote. McGarvey represents millions of workers from 14 national and international unions in the U.S. and Canada. He addressed hundreds of local labor leaders and delegates who made the trip to the town for the convention. The delegates at the convention came from 74 member locals, who together represent 75,000 men and women from across the Commonwealth.

The 2019 agenda discussion included policies around Apprenticeship & Training, providing career paths for more women & people of color, workplace safety, building more affordable housing, state and federal legislative priorities, and veteran employment.

Cracking down on the state’s wage theft epidemic remained a top concern, with MassBTC president Frank Callahan calling on the state legislature to provide additional funding for investigators within the Attorney General’s office. “Funds spent on wage enforcement more than pay for themselves in the form of taxes from recovered wages, and fines and penalties paid by the violators,” said Callahan. “Expanding wage enforcement personnel isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s an economically wise investment for taxpayers too.

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Laborers Graduate Apprentices, Urge Union-Built Affordable Housing (NY)

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April 20, 2019
By Steve Wishnia

NEW YORK, N.Y.-The about 60 Laborers International Union apprentices lined up in a side room at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan Apr. 17, clad in brilliant saffron-orange caps and gowns.

“When you graduate, you’re part of this forever,” Local 79 apprentice coordinator Timmy Valentine told them.

…

Introducing the commencement speaker, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Prohaska praised him for his work last year getting the City Council to pass the Construction Safety Training Act, a bill to expand the amount of safety training required for workers on construction projects in the city.

“Just because we build this city doesn’t mean people have to die,” Williams said. He noted that the 111 new journeymen had completed 400 hours of classes and almost 4,000 hours on the job over three years or more. “In particular, I’m thankful to see so many women graduating,” he added.

“We all know how important it is to have union jobs on construction sites,” he continued. “A union is not just a job, it’s a career.”

One thing the city can do, he said, is to make sure that the affordable housing it builds is affordable to the people who build it. He got a standing ovation when he said that if the city is giving subsidies or tax breaks to developers, “we deserve union jobs.”

Prohaska made the same point in an op-ed article published in City Limits earlier in the day. “My vision is one where developers put Bronx residents to work-and help them pursue careers-building new housing they can afford to live in,” he wrote. “Here’s how to get it done: as developers seek city and state subsidies for new construction projects in the Bronx, they should be required to hire local residents and create union career-path jobs in construction.”

Without expanding union construction careers, he said, residents, especially immigrants and people of color, will be “vulnerable to poverty wages, economic stagnation, and exploitation whenever they work on unregulated construction sites.”

(Read More)