Heights officials tour apprenticeship programs
Village officials toured the apprenticeship training programs of three area trade groups on Jan. 14.
They witnessed firsthand the commitment of local unions to equipping a new generation of carpenters, electricians, heavy equipment operators, etc., with the educational tools they need to perform their jobs at a high level.
The visits came in the wake of the Peoria Heights Village Board’s recent passage of “responsible bidder” and “prevailing wage” measures aimed at reassuring residents that work on all public projects will be done by well-trained, skilled workers earning a fair income.
Peoria Heights Mayor Mike Phelan, Village Board members Elizabeth Khazzam and Brandon Wisenburg, and Village Streets Superintendent Mike Casey visited the training offices of the Mid-Central Illinois Regional Council of Carpenters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee of IBEW-NECA in Pekin, Peoria and Bartonville, respectively.
At each stop, participants learned about the quality and quantity of training that local laborers get not just at the beginning of but throughout their careers, sometimes amounting to thousands of hours learning the latest technologies over many years.
A consistent refrain was that “we want to mess everything up here so it doesn’t happen out there.”
These training programs are 100 percent privately funded, with no obligation on taxpayers despite these industries being among the most heavily regulated in the nation. That is a point of pride for the unions.
The trades should be more attractive to young people, said union officials, because these jobs pay well and these students don’t have to go into debt to get the education they need.
In many cases, the graduates of these apprenticeship programs are among the best of the best in their respective fields, said union leaders. “It’s a real education equivalent to any four-year university,” said Paul Flynn, business manager for IBEW Local 34. “You have to be Tom Brady to make the team.”