Unions Provide Training and Opportunity for Millions
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rade unions play a vital role in the development of new workers while providing for their members’ health and welfare on the job. These longstanding groups work to prepare the next generation of craftsmen and women and help them provide for their families. There are some real differences between union training and other kinds of skilled career training. Union training, called an apprenticeship, combines classroom training with on-the-job learning. Apprentices work their day jobs and attend school a couple of times per week, the actual schedule of which varies from trade to trade. With today’s skilled jobs being more sophisticated than ever, training has had to keep pace. And that’s just what you find with union apprenticeship programs, which cover a range of skills in demand in the workplace. Union welding programs, for instance, commonly certify members in different kinds of welding — 2G, 3G, stick, MIG and TIG — versus schools that award a certificate in just one. Union apprenticeships can take up to four or five years to complete, after which the worker is a certified journeyman in their trade. Apprenticeships are offered by virtually every union today to provide industry-specific training at no charge to members, be it the rank beginner or continuing education for longtime members. According to Tanif Crotts, head of the Arkansas Building & Trades Council, union training programs are cutting edge, embracing the latest in workplace technology by trade. “Union employees work in some of the most advanced manufacturing and industrial jobs there are, and union training has kept up with that to keep our members in demand,” he said. “One fast-growing area of union training is mechatronics, which includes the setup, installation and operation of robotic arms. This technology is commonly in use in automotive
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BLUEPRINT | 2022 | ARKANSAS TIMES
manufacturing and assembly. Another recent area of training has been laser alignment in tooling, something local unions added to their curriculum as soon as the technology hit the market.” Another advantage to union training programs is it employs a “learn more, earn more” mentality. Within unions, apprentices are more than just students — they are full-time employees within their chosen field, earning a paycheck while they perfect their craft. As apprentices move through training programs, they’re typically rewarded with pay raises for classroom performance, hours worked and proficiency. An apprentice may start at 70% of the journeyman’s wage, then increase to 80% the second year, 90% the third year and reach full pay at graduation. Specialists are hired at even higher wages due to the additional training they have, often earned in a year or less. Once at full pay and with the qualifying number of work hours, a union journeyman also receives robust benefits, including health benefits for the worker and the worker’s family. Actual benefits, pay percentages and timelines vary from union to union. And, as any union member will tell you, being in a union doesn’t just pay dividends while on the job. Labor unions look out for their members and they have each other’s backs in times of difficulty, Crotts said. “A union’s responsibility doesn’t end when a member completes an apprenticeship,” he said. “Our larger role has been to stand up for better working conditions and higher pay, things that individual workers could not attain on their own. Organizing and speaking as one have given American workers much more power and say-so over their professions and their futures. “Locally, unions support members in other ways, acting as a resource for jobs or helping a family where a member has been injured on the job. Many of our members say being part of such a brotherhood is one of the most appealing things about being a union member.”
