Construction apprenticeships generally take between three to five years to complete. Union programs are robust, with on-the-job training and classroom instruction. Connecticut’s construction workforce represents some of the best trained workers in the nation. We want to hire and train more apprentices and create more opportunities to face the ever-changing needs of our industry. But hiring an apprentice cheaply and then laying them off before they have an opportunity to complete a program is wrong and unethical. Apprentice ratios are not a hindrance to hiring construction workers. Wages and benefits are. And yet, Rep. Ackert, and some of his colleagues, have submitted countless bills seeking to weaken or repeal our state’s prevailing wage law, which protects construction workers from exploitation and poverty.
Apprenticeships only work when there’s a commitment to the apprentice