55 IAM Local 1943 members recently graduated from the Maintenance Apprenticeship program, receiving their Maintenance Mechanic Journeyman certificates from the State of Ohio. The program included on-the-job training with the Mobile Maintenance Department, and related instruction from IAM Local 1943 members who have been certified as instructors and are experts in pipefitting, hydraulics, welding, mechanics and electrical work.
These graduates along with those from the recently completed HVAC Apprenticeship program have afforded about five dozen members this year with the opportunity to advance their careers and ensure their future livelihoods.
“The Apprenticeship programs our Local helped develop have really been a home run for our members,” said IAM Local 1943 President and Directing Business Representative Neil Douglas. “It is a testament to all those who have been involved with this program’s inception that State Representatives came to speak to us at our luncheon for the graduates about the importance of apprenticeships and advancing education in the manufacturing sector.”
“Local 1943 members have established a training program whose success hopefully will be a template that can be used by other locals and the companies for which they work,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Brian Bryant. “Their Apprenticeship program has advanced the careers of dozens of Machinists and illustrates that the best trained worker is one trained by a fellow union brother or sister.”
The Ohio AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute supported IAM and AK Steel, now Cleveland-Cliffs, to register their apprenticeship and provided resources for program development.
The IAM/AK Steel Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship standards were approved by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in April 2018.
Click here to read more about Local 1943’s Apprenticeship program.
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