The Economy

Existing Union-Involved Programs

1. Baltimore Youth Apprenticeship Program

The program is a U.S. Department of Labor certified apprenticeship program of 24-months for Maintenance Repairer. The grant was developed as a partnership between a civic group (Civic Works); the Housing Authority of Baltimore City and AFSCME Council 67 for HOPE VI residents to apprentice in maintenance of public housing. The grant will produce approximately 60 maintenance repairers over a five-year period.

During the 6 to 8 month pre-employment portion, Civic Works developed a program centered around problem solving skills, working in teams, life and working skills. Participants also spend 1-1/2 days per week working on their GED. Only those participants who have shown that they are ready for the next phase are promoted into the working/apprenticeship portion. Those participants that do not show the skill level required are kept through another session to attempt to obtain the skills required.

AFSCME wanted a program that would afford an opportunity for people to get off public assistance and not only have a job, but a career path and skills. In order to accomplish this, the program was developed to provide life skills that would enable participants to be good employees and citizens, provide an incentive to receive their GED, provide on-the-job training, provide mentors from the Local to assist participants in their transition, provide the workforce skills necessary, and provide future career advancement.

One of the stumbling blocks the program initially ran into was providing health care and day care for participants from the first day that they went into the program. Over 60% of the participants were single mothers on welfare. They were provided health care through Medicaid. However, once they began the program, they would no longer be eligible for Medicaid and they also would have additional day care costs. Civic Works, the City of Baltimore and AFSCME worked together in resolving these problems.

The second portion is quite unique in HUD grants. Participants are hired by the Housing Authority as Apprentice Maintenance Repairers, and the apprentices are eligible to join AFSCME Local 647 following a 6-month probation. The Housing Authority is responsible for salaries and benefits. Apprentices work four days a week and attend classes at a local Community College. The Housing Authority agreed to increase the salary of the apprentice after 18-months, if the apprentice receives a GED. Any other increases in salary are negotiated through the collective bargaining agreement.

As part of the apprenticeship program, apprentices must attend a minimum of 144 hours per year classroom time, which is paid for by the grant. The classroom program was specifically developed by Dundalk College to include all facets of their employment. Classroom size is small and programs were specially developed to include all levels of comprehension.

Following the 24-month apprenticeship program, the Housing Authority has stated its intent to hire all apprentices. The program also includes language stating that apprentices cannot take jobs away from existing members.

2. America Works Partnership

The America Works Partnership is a national nonprofit organization sponsored by the Painters, Carpenters, and Sheet Metal Workers international unions. Using start-up funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), AWP has become a national model of job-linked training for low-income residents of public housing and recipients of public assistance. The AWP model is a working example of the philosophy that union membership is the key to careers with living wages, through which people can move from dependency to self-sufficiency and dignity.

Working with local building trades unions, AWP offers public housing residents six months of pre-apprenticeship training, which includes life skills, literacy, math, GED, and an introduction to the building trades crafts. Successful graduates move into assured apprenticeship slots in the craft of their choice, working side-by-side with union journeypersons to renovate public housing. AWP also partners with local government and community leaders to anticipate future project requirements, and it works to incorporate project labor agreement language into bid specifications to assure that the work goes union and AWP apprentices will have jobs at those sites.

More than half of AWP's preapprentices move on to apprenticeship slots- close to 75% are immediately placed in jobs. For more information on this or the following six programs around the country, please contact the Human Resources Development Institute.

3. Detroit Work Partnerships

Some local America Works Partnerships have moved beyond training for public housing residents to broader community and economic development activities. Building trades unions in Detroit, for example, are collaborating with public and private partners to bring about economic and community development. One local affiliate, the Detroit Works Partnership, will tap union pension funds to assist public housing residents with first-time home-buying. The success of local affiliates grows out of their strong, locally-based boards of directors. The Detroit program's board represents building trades unions, the mayor's office, community-based organizations, community development corporations, banks, the chamber of commerce, trade associations, and community colleges, among others.

4. ANEW - Kings County, Washington

Unions in King County, Washington, are helping the predominantly female welfare population to take advantage of nontraditional job opportunities in the construction industry. The 18-year-old labor-sponsored program, Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women (ANEW), conducts an orientation for welfare recipients to explain opportunities in apprenticeable occupations. ANEW also provides support services for welfare recipients who enter apprenticeship. Tradeswomen who have completed apprenticeships are among the union representatives who serve on the advisory committee for the area's WtW program.

5. Orientation to Union Careers

Union representatives and apprenticeship coordinators in Sacramento, California, cooperate with the area's workforce development agency in providing an initial orientation to unions and careers which begin in apprenticeship programs. Their presentation is part of a three-day training session on nontraditional employment for women which is offered to welfare recipients.

6. 21st Street Training Program - Wichita, Kansas

The International Association of Machinists (IAM) is partnering with Cessna Aircraft in an innovative training and subassembly facility for residents of the impoverished 21st Street corridor in Wichita, Kansas. Founded in 1990, the 21st Street Training Program guarantees a Cessna job to those who successfully complete training. Trainees - 95% of whom were on welfare - start with basic skills education and go on to vocational training in sheet metal assembly and blueprint reading. They get $7 an hour plus benefits, with increases as they do subassembly work. Related counseling addresses social skills, personal finances, parenting, and personal growth. Results: 70% become job-ready.

The subassembly facility is being expanded, and the jobs it provides are contributing to the city's broader revitalization efforts in the 21st Street area. The IAM members' mentor graduates move from the subassembly training center into the larger, unionized Cessna factories in the Wichita area.

7. San Francisco Housing Authority

San Francisco's Building and Construction Trades Council negotiated an unusual agreement with the city's Housing Authority. The building trades unions agreed to provide union work for public housing residents, who are mainly welfare recipients, in exchange for the Housing Authority's pledge that all of its contracted work would be union-built. Since 1996, about 200 low-income people have joined San Francisco building trades unions through this agreement and are earning union wages as apprentices or journeyworkers. The program enables welfare recipients to benefit from a construction boom spurred by a strong local economy.

In a separate Building Trades Council initiative linked with the America Works Partnership (described above), 20 low-skilled young people from San Francisco public housing have gone through pre-apprentice training and qualified to become union apprentices. Their instructor's benefits were paid by the Carpenters Union.

8. California FoodLink

The Teamsters Union and California Emergency Foodlink - a nonprofit food distribution outlet - have created a partnership to provide job training and placement for persons facing the loss of welfare benefits. The Teamsters and Foodlink aim to train people for a variety of careers, including truck driving, equipment operations, computer repair, and day care. Volunteers from local school districts, the Teamsters Union, and vocational education programs will train participants in courses lasting up to 12 months. The program will make arrangements with employers to hire graduates as openings occur.

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