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Apprenticeship
Terms of Apprenticeship: Earn While You Learn
Not less than Five (5) years, consisting of Ten Thousand (10,000) hours of on the job training or Ten (10) Six (6) month periods of reasonable continuous employment and the required hours of related classroom instruction which will be no less than One Hundred and Sixty hours (160) each year.
The term of apprenticeship shall include a probationary period which shall not exceed One year or Two Thousand (2,000) hours of reasonable continuous employment.
Upon successful completion of the probationary period the applicant will be qualified to receive all the benefits in the collective bargaining agreement.
The term of apprenticeship may be extended one (1) year upon satisfactory proof that the apprentice cannot command the journeyperson skill level required.
If accepted, our membership pays for all the training you receive. You will work on different jobs and be under the guidance of qualified journeypersons. When you are not working you will attend structured training classes to learn the different skills needed to become a journeyperson. Pay is determined by where you are in the program and through collective bargaining what our base rate is.
1 st year @ 60% of rate (this is a probationary year)
2nd year @ 65% for first 6 months, 2 nd 6 months @ 70%
This 5% increase continues every 6 months till the 5 th year which will be paid at 95% for entire year unless you are on a modified site or contract. All pay raises and percent advancements are subject to you doing all the work and training to the level required to receive each advancement.
What we do is described on our About Us page.
The basic classes we teach are described on our home page Training.
We have a 5 year apprenticeship program registered under the guidelines recommended by The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship. Our governing body is the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. We will teach you how to be a construction Millwright. Very few schools in the country teach you how to do all the different aspects of our trade. You need to get a broad background in subjects where you use your hands and your mind to assemble and construct anything with a number of other people involved.
How Our Apprenticeship Works
You must be 18 years old
You must have a High School Diploma or GED
You must be physically able to perform the work of our trade.
You must live in the jurisdiction of our Local Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Our WV counties include: Northern zone- Barbour, Braxton, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur and Webster. Central zone- Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt and Wood. We have two counties in Ohio in this zone, Washington and Athens. Southern zone- Boone, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming.
You are required to pick up your application in person on the dates and times assigned. No one will be allowed to make application for another person. You must provide proper Identification proving residents' within our jurisdiction to receive an application (Driver's License, or Approved Picture ID). We do charge an application fee of $10.00 dollars to cover the test expenses. The doors will be locked when the announced ending time comes each day. If you are in line you will be brought in the building and served. If you are not present within the time limit you must come back on a different designated date if you want to apply. Dependability and punctuality are two of the skills required in our trade
Our Application Policy
You must bring a copy of your birth certificate, your school transcripts, work history, military discharge DD214 (if you were in the service) and three references (Name ,Address, Occupation and Phone number) when you receive the application. The application will be filled out on site and returned to us while you are here. Once the information is turned in and verified by us you will be given a test date and time.
We give a math test and a mechanical aptitude test on test day. The mechanical test is a 1/2 hour timed test and you have 2 hours for the math test. After instructions, total testing time is approximately 3 hours. Test day will be on a Saturday! We start our test on time, you must be present when the test starts or you will not be allowed to take the test! You are not allowed to bring a calculator or cell phone to take the test. You are not allowed to bring any reference materials with you into the building on test day. You will not be allowed to take anything out of the building after the test is over! You will be notified in writing by mail in a timely manner on the outcome of your test.
Only those applicants who pass the written tests will be given an interview. This interview date will be sent to you by certified mail with the time and date of interview stated in the letter. All interviews will be done at our Union Hall on 4600 Camden Avenue, Parkersburg, West Virginia
Recommended Educational Background
Math: we need basic math skills in addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, decimals, percent, square root, converting decimals & fractions, ratios, area and volume of different shapes, basic algebra, basic geometry.
Mechanical background: shop classes- auto or machine shop
Drafting or mechanical drawing, blueprints
Science classes
Welding and fabrication classes
Surveying or Optical instruments
Communication skills
You the future job seeker need to base your studies to be able to go down several different paths within a given field. No individual trade or company will be able to hire all the students graduating in a given year from a specific vocational or even educational program.
Example:
If you graduate from a machine shop program on standard manual equipment and all the company uses are computer operated machines you still do not have the skills needed. If you also have computer skills the employer could bring you in at an entry level position and with further training make you a productive machine operator. This would mean the employer has to have a training program in house. This is an expense the employer may or may not want to fund. If the employer chooses not to spend money to fund in house training you need to already possess the skills require to be employed. To you this means further education. Several processes in the employer's facility use welding skills to assemble a piece before it is machined. If you have welding skills with machine skills the employer can bring you in at an entry level welding position and then with further education or training advance you to machining jobs.
Technology changes every day so to compete in a global market you need to constantly be upgrading your education and skills. Where the employer does not do in house upgrading skills it is your responsibility to get training the employers require to get the positions you seek.
This is the Union Trades Apprenticeship advantage: We train our members and upgrade their skills as technology expands in our trade for our trade.
You must also be aware of people who want to change occupations or have been displaced by layoffs or plant closings. These people are upgrading their skills to gain the same employment opportunities you are seeking. The job market is very competitive so you need to be competitive too.
If you need further information you may contact:
William E. Boso
Training Director
304-422-7637