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The Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 529 Waco Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, or JATC, operates a college-accredited five-year registered apprenticeship program that was started in 1946 for men and women who want to begin a career as a plumber, pipefitter or welder. The apprenticeship program takes five years to complete, as apprentices must log between 8,500 and 10,000 hours of on-the-job training. The average 40-hour-a-week job adds up to almost 2,000 work hours per year. The starting wage is 50 percent of the journeyman scale, but apprentices recieve a raise every six months as they meet the requirement to progress through the program. Mandatory classroom instruction takes place two nights a week, with classes lasting three hours each night.
The Southwest Pipe Trades Association (SWPTA) is affiliated with the United Association (UA) of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada. SWPTA was chartered in 1914 to represent the common interests of the union workers and the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), contractors of the southwest plumbing and pipe fitting industry.
The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA) represents approximately 355,000 Plumbers, Pipefitters, Sprinkler Fitters, HVACR Service Technicians, Welders and Pipeliners working in the construction industry throughout North America.
To ease the transition into civilian life, the United Association established the UA Veterans in Piping (VIP) Program to equip military service members preparing to leave the service with sought-after skills that can lead to lifelong careers in the increasingly in-demand pipe trades. Through 18-week accelerated courses – provided free of cost on military bases across the country – VIP participants earn industry-recognized certifications and direct entry into solid private-sector jobs with good pay and benefits.
UA Local 529 and the Waco JATC have proudly accepted several UA Veterans In Piping Program graduates into the apprenticeship program and the Local. Thanks to the commitment from leaders at Fort Cavzaos, the men and women who have served our country and received training through the UA’s Veterans In Piping Program have become an asset to our Union and our Local.
As an organization with diverse functions, the U.S. Department of Labor carries out its mission through several offices and agencies to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the U.S.; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.
With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure workers’ safe and healthful working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education and assistance. OSHA is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. The administrator for OSHA is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. OSHA’s administrator answers to the Secretary of Labor, who is a member of the cabinet of the President of the United States.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) works tirelessly to improve the lives of working people. It is the democratic, voluntary federation of 58 national and international labor unions that collectively represent 12.5 million working people. The AFL-CIO strives to ensure all working people are treated fairly, with decent paychecks and benefits, safe jobs, dignity and equal opportunities. They help people acquire valuable skills and job readiness for the 21st-century economy. In fact, their affiliated building trades union combine to operate the most significant training network outside of the U.S. military.
Since 1941, the Texas State Building & Construction Trades Council has provided support and information to its affiliated members relating to prevailing wages, legislative issues, trade licensing and the enforcement of current laws affecting the construction industry and current events that affect the organized trades in Texas/
The Texas State Building & Construction Trades Council strives to strengthen the organized construction industry in the state by lobbying and educating elected officials and the public on issues related to Prevailing Wages, apprenticeship, health insurance, pensions, workers’ compensation and health and safety for all workers in Texas. They also urge workers to join unions through organizing in order to enjoy the benefits of union representation through collective bargaining.
More than six million active and retired AFL-CIO union members hunt, fish or shoot. Collectively, they make up the largest constituency of sportsmen and women in North America. As a union-operated, union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) conservation organization, the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) is committed to uniting these millions of union sportsmen and sportswomen into the one community with a shared commitment to educating future generations of sportsmen, conserve healthy wildlife habitat and volunteer their time and skills for projects that improve access to quality places to hunt, fish and shoot.
The United Association National Pension Fund (UANPF) was established in July 1968 to provide retirement benefits for employees who are represented by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentice plumbers, pipefitters, sprinkler fitters, service technicians and welders (United Association) or by a United Association Local Union or District Council. The Plan is a collectively bargained plan funded by a Taft-Hartley trust fund. The Fund maintains a multiemployer-defined benefit pension plan funded solely by employer contributions and investment earnings. The contributions are made in accordance with collective bargaining agreements or other participation agreements. Participants do not have individual money accounts with the Fund and do not make employee contributions. Instead, contributions made by employers are deposited into the trust fund to provide for defined retirement benefits, payable to eligible participants under the Plan.
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