Week one of our 13th MC3 Apprenticeship Readiness Program cohort is in the books! We spent last week at the Nashville Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center (NEJATC), learning about labor history, the benefits of unions, studying for apprenticeship applications, and much more.
We spend much of our time in the classroom hearing from instructors, union representatives and labor organizers, covering everything from workplace safety to the principles of the labor movement. A full one-third of our class time centers on helping students get comfortable with one of the more intimidating parts of a new career in the building trades: math. By strengthening math skills, we equip our students for success on apprenticeship aptitude tests and in the coursework that comes after.
Practice makes perfect, and we know that there’s a lot to learn when it comes to how unions function, what your rights are as a worker, and how you can be involved in your union. In our program, students participate in an hours-long simulation, where they sit as workers and management, going through the process of reaching a collective bargaining agreement so they know what to expect when they’re sitting at the table with their union!
On Friday, we stopped by Nashville Sheet Metal where David LaRue of SMART Local 177 gave us a tour of the facility, and talked to our students about working in a union sheet metal shop.
More to come…WEEK TWO IS UNDERWAY!
If you’re considering participating in our June 2024 program, apply HERE.