Pre-Apprenticeship in Review to Support Indentured Apprenticeship
Currently, more than 400 pre-apprentices provide much needed support and entry-level skills to contractors. Most want the opportunity to become indentured apprentices with the full level of development opportunities and outstanding benefits package offered to Local 104 employees. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and pre- apprentice policies between Local 104 and Bay Area SMACNA allow for pre-apprentices to be dispatched to employers for up to two years. In some cases, however, these individuals have been assigned well beyond the standard term with one or more employers.
In order to encourage pre-apprentices to actively pursue indenture through the Training Program and local JATCs, the JATC Trust is reviewing existing policies and practices to ensure that qualified candidates are actively seeking to achieve the path to apprenticeship. The following are under consideration:
- Ability to achieve a minimum rank number within one year of the date of first dispatch to an employer.
- Completion of apprenticeship application
- Completion and active efforts to meet apprenticeship requirements (Ex. CADL)
Contractors will be notified of upcoming changes in pre-apprentice policies approved by the Local 104 and Bay Area Industry Fund’s trustees. In the meantime, pre-apprentices should be strongly encouraged to purposefully strive to achieve indentured status by improving their indenture ranking. They can do this by raising their test scores, taking elective classes through the JATC for additional ranking points or fixing outstanding requirement issues.