BAC Apprenticeship and Training Task Force

JOURNAL: ISSUE 1 - 2015

Ironworkers General President Walter Wise addresses the Task Force in December 2014.

Between May 2014 and February 2015, the BAC Apprenticeship and Training Task Force has conducted three two-day meetings to identify specific steps to increase the number of apprentices union-wide, improve retention rates and implement and monitor a more efficient, uniform training system with standard curricula that meets the needs of craftworkers and employers alike. Task Force members include the BAC Executive Board and 40 Local Union leaders and signatory contractors appointed by the union and International Contractor Association (ICE) respectively. During the course of its three meetings members have heard from industry experts and innovators in the building trades training community, including a presentation by Ironworkers President Walter Wise on their evaluation process for their training programs, and a briefing by United Brotherhood of Carpenters officers and training officials plus a tour of the UBC’s national training center in Nevada.

The Task Force expects to wrap up its deliberations by fall 2015 when it issues recommendations on achieving greater standardization of the BAC-IMTEF training system. As BAC President James Boland told Task Force members in May, “We can devise the best programs or the most brilliant work plans imaginable….but our ultimate success hinges on the people on this task force to provide the proactive leadership and support to fellow officers, employers, members and JATC trustees to put the solutions you come up with into practice.”

Above, the BAC Apprenticeship and Training Task Force, February 2015.

A subcommittee discusses certification. From left, ICE Executive Director Matt Aquiline, ICE President Mike Schmerbeck, Mike Kassman and Bob Arnold of IMTEF, and BAC Secretary Treasurer Henry Kramer.