Training the Next Generation

Biden cabinet official visits Portland NECA-IBEW training center

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, a former Boston building trades union leader, wants more women in the trades.

Apprenticeship is catching on

A new union program is skilling up behavioral health workers, and even lawyers are looking at apprenticeship as an alternative to the bar.

Want diversity in construction? Hire union

Local union apprenticeship programs have had much more success than non-union getting Black, Hispanic, and women workers into construction.

Operating Engineers recruit at the rodeo 

Operating Engineers Local 701 became a sponsor of the Canby Rodeo this year, and set up its popular mobile simulator at the fair.

UA Local 290’s training facility welcomes Labor Secretary Walsh

Walsh, together with Congressman Peter DeFazio and Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle, toured the union’s training facility in Springfield.

Journeyman card counts toward college credit

Mount Hood Community College has agreements with over a dozen union apprenticeship programs to award equivalent college credits.

Maybe shoulda Googled ‘rat contractor’?

Crestline, a heavy civil general contractor headquartered in The Dalles, doesn’t have a state-approved apprenticeship program.

New labor representation on Apprenticeship Council

Laborers Local 737 political assistant Danielle Garza joins several other unionists on the Oregon Apprenticeship and Training Council.

Subsidized child care helps parents enter building trades

For parents who want in to the building trades, finding childcare has been a hurdle. Now a Labor’s Community Service Agency program is making a difference.

STARS banquet canceled, Painters still receive bonuses they earned

Part of a program to field the best-trained workforce in the industry, Local 10 members get bonuses for skill advancement and safety classes they take.

Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices compete

The annual contest in bricklaying, tilesetting, marble, and pointer/cleaner/caulker requires participants to build a project from a blueprint in five hours.

New construction tech debuts at Local 701’s Canby facility

For a week in early March, journeymen and apprentices in Operating Engineers Local 701 got hands on with a new breed of high-tech heavy equipment.

Oregon Tradeswomen is moving to Gresham

On Jan. 10, the group will move into a newly renovated 8,300-square-foot space, part of the 5.5-acre Rockwood Rising development.

Building trades sounds alarm on DOL apprenticeship proposal

In June, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed to give private organizations free rein to create new watered-down standards and self-certify subpar apprenticeship programs.

STARs of Painters/Drywall Finishers Local 10 and Floor Coverers Local 1236

After completing skill advancement and safety courses, members of Painters & Drywall Finishers Local 10 and Floor Coverers Local 1236 got cash and other bonuses at the May 31 STAR Awards banquet.

Plumbers & Fitters Local 290 apprentices test their skills at annual contest

About 100 apprentices competed, and the top finishers in each discipline will take part in the Western Regional Apprentice Contest this June in Idaho.

The next generation of Cement Masons

Cement Masons Local 555 and Plasterers Local 82 drew a record crowd of 243 to their annual holiday dinner.

America’s top pointer

Matt Botts of Bricklayers Local 1 Oregon won first place in his union's national apprentice competition.

Portland hosts (and wins) IBEW Western States Electrical contest

IBEW Local 48 apprentice Ethan Rinier took first place in the 2018 Western States Electrical Contest for newly graduated journey-level electricians.