New Orleans Unions Plant Seeds for Growth With First Preapprentice Training Program
Hoping to boost its visability in an open shop stronghold and bolster numbers and skill levels of a badly needed craft workforce, the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. is bringing its message to the Hurricane Katrina recovery zone through a fast-track training and job placement center that will feed recruits to union apprentice programs for the first time.
The Gulf Coast Construction Careers Center in New Orleans is a joint venture between the building trades and the Louisiana Works Workforce Commission, a state-funded workforce development program. “Our goal is to deliver 225 people per year, 675 in a three-year time period,” says Art Lujan, the center’s executive director. “We want to achieve the highest possible number because the industry needs them.” The AFL-CIO is using the program to test innovative strategies and develop a template for fast-track training in other low-density union markets, he adds.