Washington State Apprenticeship Council
Strips Three ABC Programs of Certification
As further proof that non-union ABC apprenticeship programs fail miserably to offer appropriate training, the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council has canceled certification of three ABC programs in eastern Washington.
A Washington State administrative law judge found that ABC’s Spokane chapter “failed to ensure proper training” for sheet metal worker, plumber, and electrician trades as required by the state Labor Department.
The Washington battle over noncompliance began with the sheet metal program in 1995, and in 2000 unions alleged the plumber and electrician programs also were failing to meet state standards.
“At best, these violations were the result of ABC and its members’ failure to provide adequate support and resources to enable ABC to adequately supervise the activities of its apprentices and training agents,” said Administrative Law Judge David G. Hansen. “At worst, these violations were the product of ABC and its training agents trying to maximize profits, at the expense of their apprentices’ quality of training,” Hansen said.
“Whatever the case, ABC has a well-established history of failing to ensure that its training agents are utilizing registered apprentices, in conformity with council policy and orders,” Hansen said. He said that despite “repeated effort” by the council to persuade the ABC to comply with standards, the failure continued.
California’s experience with ABC apprenticeship programs has been equally dismal. In 2001, the California Department of Industrial Relations showed that ABC programs in this state were only graduating 3 percent of their students. And during one 10-year stretch, not a single apprentice graduated from ABC’s Golden Gate Chapter.
Just last month, ABC’s Sacramento lobbyist was nearly laughed out of an Assembly Labor and Employment Committee hearing when he opposed an SBCTC-sponsored bill, AB 2837, that, among other things, requires that California apprenticeship programs graduate a minimum of one apprentice during the prior two years to be eligible for state reimbursement.