Over 210 members, family, and guests came out to the Monarch Hotel in Clackamas Dec. 10 for a holiday party to celebrate newly graduated apprentices and longtime members. The event was organized by Cement Masons Local 555 and Plasterers Local 82, both sister locals within the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association (OPCMIA).
Local 555 was the more numerous of the two, and celebrated one of its training center’s largest ever graduating classes. It takes persistence to become a journeyman cement mason: 6,000 hours of on-the-job training plus 600 classroom hours. Apprentices learn how to expertly set up, pour, and finish curbs, sidewalks, and slab on metal decks, as well as surveying and patching.Â
But it pays off. Journeyman cement masons in Local 555 make $41.97 an hour plus $19.17 an hour in fringe benefits. The local’s jurisdiction is Oregon, Clark and Skamania counties in Washington, and southern Idaho.
