AUGUST 2010, Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton edition of The Union News

Building Trades Unions again involved with youth apprentice program

BY PAUL TUCKER
THEUNIONNEWSABE@AOL.COM

REGION, July 18th- The pre-apprenticeship program in the Lehigh Valley began on July 5th for the second consecutive year.

Last May affiliated local union members of the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Lehigh Valley announced the new program at the Lehigh Valley Career Link in Allentown.

The labor federation along with the United Community Services sponsors the program and is funded by the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board. Funds are provided through the Pennsylvania allocation from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The program is intended to provide youths from the Lehigh Valley, which must first meet the financial requirements, the ability to study and learn about becoming a construction tradesperson.

The program will provide for the eligible youths both academic preparation and work experiences to enter the building trades apprenticeship programs.

There are 19 local unions affiliated with the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Lehigh Valley which represents workers employed within the construction trade industry. Many of those unions are involved with the program and are asked by Vicki Henshaw, who directs the program, to participate in classroom discussion and informing the youths of what is involve to become a construction tradesperson.

Ms. Henshaw, which has worked in the Lehigh Valley within the social services for many years, told the newspaper last year there were fourteen youths enrolled in the program and this year there is twenty.

“The program was a success in 2009 and much of this years program is the same as last years,” said Ms. Henshaw. None of the youths enrolled in this year were involved in the 2009 program.

Following the summer long program the youths will receive their certification for completing the course during a event in which their parents will be asked to participate.

Apprentice classrooms of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union Local 375 in Allentown are used for the classroom studies and is headquarted in their building on Liberty Street.

William Dorward, Area Marketing Representative for the Sheet Metal Workers International Union Local 19, which represents employees that install duct work for heating and air conditioning and metal roofs throughout the Lehigh Valley, in a earlier newspaper story the pre-apprenticeship program has been conducted in the Reading area for several years and is very successful.

The youths will get acquainted with the building trades apprenticeship programs, visit job sites, and learn about building trades unions. They will be required to study math, construction safety and building trade work readiness. The requirements for the program will mirror a real union apprenticeship program.