SUMMER 2015
Carpenters Today Skilled Labor, Empowered by Industry-Leading Training, Builds Careers & Communities
Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters
No shortage of trained, proficient carpenters in our marketplace. COVERING 81 COUNTIES IN THREE STATES.
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The members of Midwest Wall and Ceiling Contractors are proud to hire and train Union Carpenters. AIR-TITE Construction, Inc. Elmhurst, IL 630-530-9001 www.air-tite.net
Alps Construction, Inc. Homer Glen, IL 708-301-3366 www.alpsgc.com
Anning-Johnson Co.
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Melrose Park, IL 708-681-1300 www.anningjohnson.com
ASC Insulation & Fireproofing, Inc.
Bensenville, IL 773-594-1600 www.jadecarpentry.com
Kelly Plastering Co.
Lemont, IL 630-257-3001 www.remcorp.biz
Frankfort, IL 815-464-0606 www.kellyplastering.com
Kole Construction Co. Inc.
Acoustics & Specialties, Inc.
Lakewood Carpentry Services, Inc.
Naperville, IL 630-375-9720
Forest Park, IL 708-771-2150
Denk & Roche Builders, Inc.
McNulty Bros. Company
Heitkotter, Inc.
Montgomery, IL 630-892-5612 www.heitkotter.com Chicago, IL 773-731-5030 www.hanolan.com
Chicago, IL 312-943-8100 www.reedcorp.com
REM Contracting Corporation
Country Club Hills, IL 708-798-0540
Romeoville, IL 630-378-2006 www.koleconstruction.com
Bensenville, IL 630-521-1025 www.denkandroche.com
Reed Construction
John A. Eby & Sons, Inc.
Elgin, IL 847-695-6570 www.ascfireproofing.com
Hyland A. Nolan Contractors
Sunday, July 26, 2015
JADE Carpentry Contractors, Inc.
Palos Park, IL 708-361-5145
Northwest Insulation
Elgin, IL 847-695-9999 www.northwestinsulation.net
Pepper Construction
Barrington, IL 847-381-2769 www.pepperconstruction.com
Service Drywall and Decorating Roselle, IL 630-351-3838 www.servicedecorating.com
Smart Interiors LLC Frankfort, IL 708-516-3243
The Krez Group Morton Grove, IL 847-965-7831 www.krezgroup.com
The Levy Company Northbrook, IL 847-564-8950 www.levycoinc.com
Thorne Associates, Inc. Chicago, IL 312-738-5230 www.thorneassociates.com
Tripar Drywall, Inc.
International Decorators, Inc.
Performance Contracting, Inc.
Barrington, IL 847-526-7477 www.4idi.com
Lake Zurich, IL 847-719-9100 www.pcg.com
Mokena, IL 815-485-5780 www.tripardrywall.com
J.P. Phillips, Inc.
R.G. Construction Services, Inc.
Wilkin Insulation Co.
Franklin Park, IL 847-288-0008 www.jppconstruction.com
Elmhurst, IL 630-782-0180 www.rgconstruction.com
Mt. Prospect, IL 847-439-9050 www.wilkininsulation.com
MWCC Associate Members include Clark Dietrich Building Systems, Gypsum Supply Co., L&W Supply, M.R. Lee Building Materials, Inc., Marino/WARE Industries, MBA Building Supplies, Meyer Wholesale Group, National Gypsum Company, Prime Scaffold, Inc., Pro Fastening Systems, Inc., Reinke Supply Co., Rock-It Interiors, Inc., Trim-Tex Inc. and Wm. J. Matthews, Inc.
THE VOICE OF THE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR WALL AND CEILING INDUSTRY IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS 500 N. Michigan Ave. #600, Chicago, IL 60611 • 773-442-8260 • www.midwestwallandceilingcontractors.org
Training sets us apart from competition
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photos by Mark Welsh/MWelsh@dailyherald.coM
Instructor Al Jotautas of Lemont points out details to a group of apprentice carpenters inside the classroom at the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters’ Apprentice and Training Program in Elk Grove Village.
Apprentice carpenter Abigail Muniz of Orland Park uses a transit level to aid in the development of her education outside the classroom.
Those pre-apprentices, as they are called, are paid a small weekly transportation stipend during their initial training. Once they complete
the nine-week basic training and have received their Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and scaffolding cards, they
See Training on Page 4
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Curtis Byrd of Oak Forest works on building a rail ail system to hang ceiling tiles as he learns the trade.
are issued $300 worth of tools and are officially recognized as apprentices and members of their local union. The new apprentices are hired by a signatory contractor and begin to learn on the job. For three years they attend school one week out of every quarter, receiving 12 to 14 weeks of additional training over three years to hone their skills and master their craft. Over the course of their fouryear apprenticeship the students receive a no-cost education at the CRCC’s expense, valued at about $17,000 annually, and are trained by experienced journeyperson tradespeople in their chosen specialty, all of whom have dedicated themselves to passing on their trade to those who wish to follow in their footsteps. During the four-year apprenticeship the new carpenters receive both on-the-job and classroom training, and progressively work their way up the journeyperson pay scale. In Cook, Lake and DuPage counties, for instance, they earn 40 percent of journeyperson wages during their first year, 50 percent during their second year, 65 percent during their third year and 80 percent during their fourth year. Rates paid to apprentices vary by county. “It bears mentioning that we could not do any of this without the help of hundreds of dedicated signatory contractors that are willing to employ and give this opportunity to our apprentices,” Sticca said. Signatory contractors help finance the apprentice training program and journeyperson skill advancement through established financial contributions.
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t a time when the headlines scream about young people being burdened by thousands of dollars in student loan debt, the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters (CRCC) is providing enterprising and hardworking individuals from all walks of life with another option for education and advancement. The CRCC annually provides no-cost apprentice training to several hundred new tradespeople and evening and weekend advanced training to another 12,000 journeyperson carpenters, millwrights, pile drivers, lathers and a number of other specialty crafts that fall within the expansive carpentry trade. Courses are taught in both English and Spanish, and are offered through the CRCC’s Illinois training facilities located in Elk Grove Village, Chicago and Rockford, and at its Pewaukee, Wisconsin, training center. Once prospective carpenters pass a math test, proficiency test and drug test and are accepted into the program, their names are entered into a training course scheduling lottery. Nine-week training classes are added to the calendar intermittently until everyone who passed the tests is trained, explained Vince Sticca, director of the CRCC’s Apprentice and Training Program in Elk Grove Village. Then another call for applications is released and the process begins again with a new crop of students. Sticca stated that the program will accept applications again this fall, so recruiting has already begun through job fairs, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, signatory contractors, veterans groups, newspaper advertisements, church groups, local chapters and through the school’s website at www.chicap.org. As part of that application, program applicants are asked to choose from 17 specialties ranging from residential carpenter to heavy and highway carpenter to flooring installer, millwright or insulation installer, and are trained within their specialty from the day they walk through the training center doors.
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Training
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Continued from Page 3
Seth Gudeman, Craft Committee Chairman of the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association (MARBA), has a unique and intimate perspective of the Carpenters union and its workforce. “I can say firsthand that the men and women who comprise the membership of the Chicago Regional Council are the reason for the success of our industry,” Gudeman declared. “That success is due in large part to the training these individuals receive at the Carpenter Training Center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. In addition, the cooperative, collaborative efforts of joint labor/management committees safeguard our industry’s future by emphasizing safety and innovations in the industry, which leads to efficient and productive employees.” Once students have completed their four-year apprenticeship, a graduation ceremony is held, a certificate is issued by the state and graduates begin to receive full journeyperson wages. “Journeyperson carpenters in the CRCC receive a consistent wage, no matter who they are working for, and they also receive full health care benefits, a pension and an annuity,” Sticca added.
Apprentice carpenters Shannon Boothe of Manteno and Jose Alvarez of Chicago look over their next project in the classroom.
The CRCC recently launched the eXcellence in Training Recognition Award (XTRAsm) initiative, an incentive program designed to recognize and reward carpenters who take advantage of the training, continuing education and certification classes that are offered at Carpenter Training Centers. “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of skill training and certifications for our journeypeople,” said CRCC President Frank Libby.
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“The awards of this program are symbolic of effort and commitment, but the true benefit will be realized by the journeyperson on the job site, when he or she arrives for work and brings a new level of self-confidence to the project and added benefit to the employer,” Libby said. “The Concrete Contractors Association of Greater Chicago (CCAGC) comprises quality contractors with name recognition
built on a respected reputation in the industry,” said Don Deetjen, CCAGC executive vice president and board member, on behalf of the CCAGC. “These contractors employ welltrained, safe, quality-minded, highly productive crews to perform their work. Our organization recognizes and applauds the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and its UBC international organization for the significant contribution of their resources toward the recruitment and training of apprentices and the skill advancement training of journeypeople,” he said. “This concerted effort and investment will go a long way to keep up with the current demand but just as importantly, to meet future industry demands. The focus within this training on managerial challenges and the understanding of those challenges along with the emphasis on safety, quality, up-to-date methods and improved levels of productivity are vital to our team’s survival in a market that gets tougher and tougher.” The CRCC has also partnered with select Chicago and suburban junior colleges on a program that recognizes and rewards apprentice training by granting college credit hours, enabling accredited carpenters to earn an associate’s degree and opening the door to higher education for many
Apprentice carpenter Jose Sanchez of Chicago carries lumber during a classroom lassroom training session.
“But if you are willing to work hard, becoming a member of the CRCC is a career and not just a job. Members can provide a good life and health care for their families, and they can look forward to retiring with a great pension and even an annuity,” Sticca explained. “Our men and women worked on the renovation of Wrigley Field all winter, and you can be sure that they will be telling their grandchildren about that some day. Our members work on buildings, highways and other projects that will last hundreds of years, so they are
helping the economy and establishing wealth while building pride and creating memories. “While students are with us at the training centers we make sure that they are well-rounded, well-educated and safe. When you are a carpenter, in order to move on to the next job you need to know how to do many things, from trim work to foundations to constructing interior systems using metal studs, so we teach all of that and more,” Sticca stated. “And we stress teamwork. Carpenters need to be able to work as part of a team.
They also need to be able to use the latest technology and install the newest materials, so that is why we emphasize continuing education to our journeyperson members.” The depth and breadth of training courses offered to members empowers them to seize a career and bring the requisite standard of excellence to Chicagoland projects and job sites. “Our extensive training program and apprenticeship program are what sets union carpenters apart from nonunion carpenters,” said Sticca. “Our members have access to incredible training and continuing education that keeps their skills sharp and their minds equally sharp to be able to successfully operate and manage the latest technology and materials on project sites. There is no similar program or facility for nonunion carpenters.” Ultimately, it is the commitment and investment from the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and President Libby, the CRCC’s trustees and signatory contractors, and the school’s dedicated instructors and staff who form the bedrock of this program’s success for now and the future. For more information about the CRCC apprentice program, visit www.chicap.org or call (847) 640-7373.
ngs i h T e m o S g n i t t e G p e Ke e. g A h t i W Better
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who felt that a college degree was time or cost prohibitive. Abigail Munic of Orland Park is learning the basics of carpentry at the Elk Grove Village training facility. She said that becoming a carpenter has been her passion since she was a little girl because she enjoys working with her hands. So after four years of working various jobs after high school, she chose to enroll in the training class and is now looking forward to an exciting career. “The average age of our students is 27, but we have some pre-apprentices who are starting a second career in their 40s,” said Sticca. “Forty-seven percent of our new apprentices come from minority groups, including 8 percent who are women, and we particularly embrace the opportunity to train our armed forces veterans after they have completed their service duty to better position them for opportunities in a jobs market that isn’t always kind to veterans. “This is a very physically challenging job,” Sticca continued. “You are generally working in the weather extremes of the Midwest, and you are often carrying heavy materials and working on scaffolds. Work also involves math, dexterity and hand-eye coordination. So you have to be willing and able to do all of that.
Quality Service To The Chicagoland Area
Since 1980
117 S. Lively Boulevard P: 847.439.4223 Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 F: 847.439.3855 www.monarchconstruction.com
Kathleen A Connelly President WBE Certified A Family Tradition Since 1963
5420 W. 122nd St. Alsip, IL. 60803
708-597-1820 www.edonconstruction.com
Sunday, July 26, 2015
A Div. Of Monarch Enterprises, Inc. Carpenter Contractors
• Residential • Industrial • Commercial • New Construction
Member of the Chicago Regional Carpenter’s Council for over 50 Years. Established in 1963, Edon Construction Company Inc. has been one of the leading Union Carpenter Contractor and Component Manufacturers located in the south suburbs.
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How we make a difference
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T
o be a carpenter means to be identified with one of the oldest and most respected trades. While the public often thinks of a carpenter as a man or woman who focuses solely on working with wood, this is far from a complete definition. The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters (CRCC) provides the construction, trade show and maintenance industries with productive, competitive, certified professionals to meet a broad range of societal needs and bring ease and efficiency to our everyday lives. The CRCC’s carpenters and millwrights possess the versatility and skill to build critical transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges, rail, sea walls, deeptunnel projects and pump stations) ; construct both major residential and commercial projects from the concrete to the finished trim work, locks and closures; address the sustainability and energy market through Building Renewable Resource Projectssm; install and maintain machinery and equipment within industrial plants throughout our jurisdiction; erect Chicago’s high-rises and skylines to the region’s municipal buildings and service facilities; and much more. The CRCC puts its diverse skills to work across the Midwest on:
• Houses, apartments and condos • Skyscrapers, schools and office buildings • Health care facilities, assisted living centers and houses of worship • Bridges, railways, tunnels and highways • Trade shows at McCormick Place, the Rosemont Convention Center, Navy Pier, hotels and conference centers • Generators, electrical and wind turbines, nuclear power plants and refineries • Floorcovering including carpet, wood and vinyl products • Mill cabinet industry • Charitable endeavors like home renovations for the needy and aid in times of community crises
The professional construction industry overall generally recognizes that skilled union tradespeople are more
Village. This provides contractors with a pool of highly motivated and skilled carpenters capable of producing a highquality product, on time and on budget.” “An educated, productive, motivated workforce will more than counterbalance the higher labor costs associated with a union partnership,” explained Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters President/Executive Secretary-Treasurer Frank Libby. “The net effect is that a company that hires union labor can improve its bottom line and it can improve its employee productivity with less employee turnover. Employees who are paid a fair wage and have insurance benefits, access to continuing education and can retire with dignity are people who have chosen to make a career in this industry. The most qualified tradespeople tend to migrate toward the best benefits, seeking the highest level of security, job-site
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productive, effective and efficient than those who have not been union trained, translating to increased profitability for the firms that hire them. In fact, a series of studies conducted by Steven G. Allen, professor of economics at North Carolina State University, supported this fact when it found that contractors that use organized labor are 35 to 50 percent more productive than those that don’t. While a small group of builders and developers within the construction industry like to claim that there are not enough skilled carpenters and tradespeople to go around, this claim is misleading and made at the expense of the working class, driving down worker wages, debilitating families and destabilizing communities. “I can confidently say that the success of our industry is due in large part to the qualified and highly trained carpenters available for employment,” stated Chuck Kakos, general superintendent of The LEVY Company and president of the Midwest Wall and Ceiling Contractors Association. “The men and women of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters have studied and worked through four years of apprenticeship and more than 6,200 hours of training and continue to hone their craft with ongoing skill advancement classes offered at the Carpenter Training Center in Elk Grove
CISCO salutes Chicagoland’s working men and women And A Union-Trained Workforce
Proud to be a member of the Chicago Regional Carpenter’s Council
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Carpenters union, either through hiring directly or using union carpenter subcontractors,” stated Executive Director Dan McLaughlin of the Builders Association. “Building our world-class city and its suburbs is a point of pride for all of us, and the Carpenters are such a huge part of that success. Because of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters’ tremendous apprentice training program and its concentration on safety, there is a certain confidence our members have when hiring Chicago-area union carpenters. It certainly is a team that we feel proud to be part of.” With the economic recession thankfully becoming more of a distant memory and as the Chicagoland construction market has picked up steam, the CRCC has been one step ahead in preparation for current and projected growth. With each passing day the Carpenter Training Center is producing new and advanced skilled tradespeople who are ready, willing and able to meet not only construction industry labor demands, but the needs of the communities in which we all live. It is society as a whole that stands to win when proficiency, experience and productivity merge with commitment and desire. That defines the working class of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters — A positive force in building communitiesSM.
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CRCC MEMBER SNAPSHOT James Naughton — Local 1539 EXPERIENCE LEVEL: Second-year apprentice TRAINING COURSES COMPLETED: Layout and Print Reading; Aerial Lift; Fall Protection; Ergonomics; Infection Control Risk Assessment: Best Practices in Healthcare Construction; Insulating Concrete Forms; Interior Systems 1 & 2; Labor Management & Commercial Layout; OSHA30; Power Actuated Tools; Residential Framing; First Aid/CPD/AED; Lead Safety for Renovation and Repair; Scaffold Erector (40-hour Cert.); and Scaffold User Qualification. ROLE MODEL/MENTOR/INSPIRATION: My parents, who have always gone above and beyond for their family and friends. BEST THING ABOUT BEING A UNION CARPENTER: The hands-on training, both in the field and in the classroom, allowing me to become a highly skilled and educated carpenter, earning proper wages and health benefits for my family. FAVORITE VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE: Assisted special-needs individuals with therapeutic horseback-riding lessons. SM
“POSITIVE FORCE IN BUILDING COMMUNITIES ” MEANS: Projecting a professional image throughout the community through craftsmanship and positive attitude.
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safety and wages.” “Within our partnership we can provide this at a cost that no firm can ever match on its own,” Libby continued. “Partnering with us allows companies to retain the most productive and efficient workforce, get the best value for their money, reduce health care and pension costs through our multiemployer programs and reduce the incidence of job-site accidents (which, in turn, reduces worker compensation and liability insurance costs and minimizes Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] citations). “Many of our members do not even realize that the CRCC has the most efficient safety program of any council in the brotherhood,” Libby added. “This safety program was founded in 1979 and has been designed to assist in protecting our members from sustaining job-site fatalities and injuries and also help our contractors to comply with state and federal OSHA standards.” The standards to which CRCC members hold themselves not only keep them safe on the job site, but ensure that all structures are safe, as well. “The general contractors that are members of the Builders Association have a long-standing relationship with the
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A Positive Force In Building Communities
SM
Sunday, July 26, 2015
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Union Carpenters We BUILD Careers
www.CarpentersUnion.org