By The Pa. AFL-CIO

– The Pennsylvania Apprentice Coordinators Association, in conjunction with the Building Trades Unions held the 4th Annual Apprenticeship Awareness Day in the Main Rotunda at the State Capitol Building on June 9. The Building Trades Unions, represented by the nearly 1,000 workers present, provided around 250 million dollars for the five-year training programs. This year alone, there are over 10,000 apprentices in Pennsylvania, as well as 14 new programs. State Senator Christina Tartaglione referred to the apprentices as “the heartbeat of the commonwealth.”

Many were present in the Capitol, including Frank Sirianni, the President of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, Kathy Manderino, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry, State Senator Andrew Dinniman, Robert O’Brien, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry, State Representative Gene DiGirolamo, Rick Bloomingdale, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President, Frank Snyder, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer, and multiple others. Natalie Holzer, shown in the picture, shared her job-hunting preceding college, and how gaining an apprenticeship at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades helped to turn her life around. The speakers provided their support as well as stressing the importance of the apprenticeship programs. The Pennsylvania union apprentice members are known for being some of the most highly paid, highly productive, cost-effective, and safest workers.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6005