The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Union employers, apprenticeship programs and community service agencies set up shop on St. Paul’s East Side last night, recruiting talent from the distinctly working-class neighborhood and beyond at the Union Jobs and Resource Fair. Many Latino, Hmong, Karen and East African families call the East Side home, and the job fair, organized by the St. […]
Jim Hendricks clapped his hand five times, and the room bustling with more than 30 busy children Saturday morning fell silent. Everyone turned to face Hendricks, a business representative for the Carpenters union, awaiting his instructions. Holding up two pre-cut pieces of wood, Hendricks demonstrated the method for fashioning them into the sides of a […]
Decking the apprenticeship hall with festive concrete has become an annual tradition at Cement Masons Local 633. The local hosted a holiday party at its training center in New Brighton last night, and members strolled through a “Peanuts”-themed winter wonderland fashioned by first- and second-year apprentices. All of the work to create the concrete […]
Minnesota’s workforce is experiencing tremendous transition. Thousands of our experienced baby boomers are retiring, while many employers are seeking a workforce capable of meeting increased levels of skill to operate new technologies with precision. An emerging, yet familiar, pathway for some employers to successfully bridge that gap is registered apprenticeship programs. Registered apprenticeship programs have […]
The trophy on display in Local 1’s New Hope training center may be small, but the accomplishment behind it – Brandon Peterson’s first-place finish in the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers’ International Apprentice Contest – is as grand as they come. Peterson, a 33-year-old apprentice tile setter from Ham Lake, advanced from local and regional tiling competitions […]
A tenant for 111 years, St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455 finally has a home of its own. The union held an open house at its new facility at 1301 L’Orient Street in St. Paul yesterday, celebrating with apprentices, members, retirees, public officials and union leaders. Local 455 acquired the property – a former fabricating […]
Calling it an investment critical to the union’s survival, Ironworkers Local 512 Business Manager Charlie Roberts cut the ribbon on a new $3.1 million apprenticeship training center in St. Paul yesterday. A large crowd of journey-level, apprentice and retired Ironworkers attended the ceremony, which marked the completion of Local 512’s 18,000-square-foot facility on Pierce […]
Apprenticeship has long been the backbone of the Building Trades unions. Their on-the-job training programs put workers on a path to family-sustaining careers while ensuring union contractors have access to the highly skilled labor pool they need to remain competitive. It’s a win-win model. Now, with a push from the federal government, unions and employers […]
Analise Adams, a 22-year-old from Minneapolis, was working in a Linden Hills childcare center two months ago. When her aunt, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, told her about a free training opportunity for women considering careers in construction, Adams decided to take a chance. She quit her childcare job and […]
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