During the week of November 12, the Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers and the Insulation Industry International Apprentice and Training Fund will celebrate the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Apprenticeship Week, which is a week dedicated to show appreciation and bring awareness to apprenticeship programs.

An apprenticeship is when an individual begins to train and learn about a particular skilled craft. The Insulators Local Unions offer registered apprenticeship programs to men and women interested in joining their trade.

Insulators Union Joint Apprentice and Training Committees (JATCs) provide their apprentices with on-the-job training and supplemental instruction in training centers all over the United States and Canada. A registered insulator apprenticeship can be completed in four or five years, depending on the specific craft an individual is learning.

Our apprenticeships follow the “earn while you learn” model, where they receive livable wages, excellent health insurance and retirement benefits while working on the jobsite with journeymen. Additionally, they receive classroom instruction to provide them with safety training and other specific industry knowledge.

Throughout their apprenticeship, Insulator apprentices gain new skills, while they develop and refine skills they have already learned. As their overall skillsets increase, apprentices receive wage increases.

Upon completion of the apprenticeship program, an apprentice becomes a journeyman and receives journeymen wages.

A registered apprenticeship program provides many benefits, some of which include a debt-free education, livable wages, medical insurance, retirement benefits and the opportunity to live a middle class lifestyle. This training translates to a skill that will make you highly employable Mechanical Insulator in the increasingly in-demand construction field.

According to the United States Department of Labor, National Apprenticeship Week has grown quite significantly, since first celebrated in 2015. Over the past three years, more than 200,000 people attended nearly 2,000 events in every state.

Click here to see what the Insulators did in 2017 to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week.

Do you want to start in a registered apprenticeship program with the Insulators Union? Click here to begin your career!

Click here to learn more about the United States Department of Labor National Apprenticeship Week.