Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship in
the pipe trades is a highly selective program, each candidate is
carefully screened. No one with drug or alcohol problems can qualify and
acceptance for training depends on the applicant's qualifications and
the manpower needs of the Local at the time of the selection process.
Each member local of the New England States Pipe Trades has their own
selection process and Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC).
This committee consists of persons with considerable experience
representing both the Mechanical Contractors Association and the UA
Locals. The apprenticeship program is five years of intensive technical
training consisting of at least 8,500 to 10,000 hours of on-the-job
training and approximately 1,080 hours of related training in the
classroom.
The New England States Pipe Trades have Apprenticeship Programs for
steam fitting, sprinkler fitting, plumbing, pipefitting and
refrigeration. Apprentices train in one of these categories depending
upon the local which accepts you into apprenticeship school. Each skill
requires learning a vast body of specific knowledge. Apprentices receive
detailed instruction in job safety, health, industry regulations, and
the fundamental skills required for working with tools of the trade.
As apprentices advance through the program, job-site experience is
supplemented with classroom instruction in OSHA safety and health
training, pipe trades mathematics, reading blueprints and isometric
drawings, computer-aided design (CAD), sanitation, codes, mechanical
codes, process pipe welding, control systems, elements of hydraulics and
heat, physics with an emphasis on liquids and gases, and plumbing, steam
fitting, or refrigeration and air conditioning theory.
The pay structure for an apprentice to journeymen is going to vary based
upon the contract negotiated by each local. All apprentices are paid by
experience with annual raises as they learn and progress to journeymen
status.
Apprenticeship News