ADVANCED TRAINING MAKES GOOD WORKERS EVEN BETTER
Throughout North America, 23,000
apprentices are enrolled in UA apprenticeship programs.
Another 70,000 journeymen in this nation and Canada are taking advanced training to stay up-to-date in the latest skills and techniques of their trade.
Each summer, hundreds of UA instructors attend the Instructor Training Program at major universities, with the goal of becoming certified instructors.
If the United Association wanted to select the area that best reflects what this commitment to training and excellence can produce, it could well look to Southern Jersey.
Thanks to the Industry Advancement agreement between the South Jersey Mechanical Contractors Association and Local 322, hundreds of workers complete their day by reporting that evening to the comprehensive training facilities maintained by Local 322. In addition to two nights a week of classroom and lab instruction, these trainees also report one Saturday each month to the training center. The pride and discipline associated with this training and exhibited by all those who take part is indicative of the commitment of both Local 322 and the SJMCA to bringing excellence to the job site. All of the trainees want to advance their careers through this instruction. Each of them has been screened carefully. No one with drug or alcohol problems can qualify. In effect, they’re the best of the best!
SJMCA contractors, in coordination with Local 322, have the ability to perform residential projects up to three stories under a Speculative Agreement, which covers all Plumbers, Heating and Air Conditioning on new construction and renovations. Under this agreement, the Speculative Housing Mechanics and Trainees also have the availability to better their skills at Local 322’s Training Facility two nights per week and one Saturday per month.
Apprentices
and journeymen work in the classroom and on actual equipment used
on the job site. Not everyone makes it through the program
because it is so demanding. That commitment to excellence extends
throughout the program. Instructors have sharpened their own
skills in work situations and at the Training Programs.
Apprentices and journeymen maintain current awareness on every
new technical advancement, thanks to the Training Center.
There are even models of refineries and power plants. By using them, instructors can show students how to apply their skills in the most demanding situations.
Does it pay off? Yes! For Local 322…for its members…for SJMCA...for the firms using SJMCA contractors…and for South Jersey.
Local 322 apprentices must go through rigorous educational and training programs which take five years to complete.
Journeymen go through even more advanced training. For good reason. The work being done by SJMCA firms is on the cutting edge of technology.
Thanks to Local 322 and its Training Center, those workers deliver.
During their first two years, apprentices study Safety and Health Training. The proper Use and Care of Tools. Soldering and Brazing. Rigging and Signaling. Math – including the Builders Level Transit, Drawing Interpretation, Technical Drawing and Isometric Drawing. Building Plans. Oxy-acetylene Cutting. Shielded Metal Arc Welding. Science. Properties of Water.
During their third, fourth and fifth years, trainees move to more specialized areas. Plumbing apprentices study:
- Water supply (treatment, mains and services, supply systems, cross connections, hot water supply, valves and pumps)
- Drainage (sewage disposal, sewers and drains, drainage systems, plumbing trap and venting of drainage systems)
- Plumbing Fixtures (fixtures, installations, fixture and equipment controls, appliances and accessories)
- Gas Installations (natural gas installations, L.P. gas systems, sizing and venting gas systems, gas appliances and controls and medical gas systems)
- Plumbing Code (code construction, use of code and code application)
- Special Purpose Installations
(swimming pools, fountains and planters, lawn sprinkling
and vacuum systems, solar heating of potable water, and
space).
Pipefitters devote the third, fourth and fifth years of training to Basic Electricity, Pumps and Steam Systems, Refrigeration I and II, Steam Systems II, Hydronic Systems I and II, Pneumatic Controls, Electric Controls, Industrial Pipefitting and Power Piping, Start Test and Balance and Instrumentation & Process Controls.
Sound imposing? It is. But that’s only the beginning. Because they translate those accomplishments into solid, on-the-job performances for you and your project.
Special training sponsored and produced by the Contractors Association at the local community colleges and Rutgers University provide Local 322 members with advanced and immediate need training, such as:
- Multi-Media First Aid and CPR graduate courses that have produced certified graduates who are authorized to administer emergency and lifesaving procedures at projects where these workers are employed.
- Foremen and Supervisory Training, beyond the normal scope of that required on the job.
- Advanced Blueprint Reading.
- OSHA, Hazcom and other training that can reduce or eliminate downtime on certain projects.
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