In front of a bright blue backdrop that declared “BUILD UNION” in the Northeast Regional Carpenters Training Center, three men sat down at a table in July to sign papers for the next chapter of their lives.
They were the newest graduates of the Carpenters Apprentice Ready Program, a pre-apprenticeship program with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.
While many resources and attention are focused on steering high school graduates toward college, there is a growing effort in New Jersey to highlight opportunities to learn trades in apprenticeship programs. The focus on directing a new generation into apprenticeships comes as New Jersey is beginning construction on two ambitious projects — offshore wind farms near the Jersey Shore and the Gateway Tunnel project beneath the Hudson River.
To ready themselves for the influx of work in the offshore wind industry, the union purchased a dive school in Sicklerville in Winslow Township in Camden County to train its workers underwater welding work.
Unions have also ramped up their recruiting and apprentice programs in anticipation of the new jobs headed to New Jersey, said Robert Briant Jr., the CEO of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association, which represents about 1,000 members in transportation, marine construction and more.