By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
It wasn’t even two years ago, Governor Andy Beshear noted, that he was in Grayson attending the groundbreaking for a new IKORCC (Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights) training facility. Now, a year and a half later, the governor was back for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly opened Jerry Burke Memorial Training Center.
“I was here, last April, for the groundbreaking, and now we get to see the result of y’all’s hard work,” Beshear told the crowd of IKORCC union members, leadership, and students. “This $5 million, 15,000 square foot expansion is going to help our carpenters, millwrights, and welders take advantage of new, great job opportunities building world-class facilities from the ground up.”
Beshear noted that many of those facilities could be right here in the Commonwealth – meaning good jobs at home for not only those building the facilities, but those who would be working there to power the next generation of energy jobs in industries like battery production for electrical vehicles and solar power storage.
Beshear noted his support of union tradespeople, as well as his administration’s support and investment in training for the next generation of skilled tradespeople.
“We’ve now invested over $245 million in career and technical training in our high schools,” he said. “We recognize that there are good jobs waiting out there for people, and that our kids should be able to choose whatever path they want, and we should make sure they’re successful in whatever path they choose.”
It’s a tune that IKORCC assistant director for Kentucky, and former Grayson councilman, Jerry Yates has been singing for some time. In his previous role as the head of the local union hall, and as a councilman, Yates focused on bringing training and job opportunities closer to home. This included the drafting of fair bidder legislation for the city and county, to make sure contractors and subcontractors working on municipal or county funded projects were adequately protected and fairly compensated, and that contractors were adhering to all appropriate safety and tax regulations.
In advocating for those regulations and others that benefit locals working in the trades, Yates has often noted that he wants young people to be able to earn a good living without having to leave the region – a break from the old “three Rs” of reading, ‘riting, and Route 23 out of here. It’s a mission and philosophy that the new training center will help the union realize.
But while it’s a path to success that the union can help young men and women achieve, it’s one that often starts with vocational training well before they enter the workforce. For instance, Shawn Bocook, carpentry instructor at the Carter County Career and Technical Center, explained how students who do well in his program, and test at the appropriate level, can cut up to two years off their union apprenticeship.
“Once they get in this program, there’s a certain set of coursework that’s provided through the IKORCC that (the union) wants to see done,” Bocook explained.
That coursework, or track, includes both shop and test related items that students must demonstrate competency in, he noted.
“It’s a two year course,” Bocook continued. “Once they complete all those requirements, and they’re able to demonstrate the necessary skills and test scores, then they’re able to go into their apprenticeship as a second year apprentice.”
This includes starting work at a higher pay scale.
Students must demonstrate those skills while also meeting the requirements of their high school and career tech education, Bocook said, as well as within the scope of the classroom projects.
The requirements, he explained, are, “really a bunch of projects, set up in stages.”
“So, what we have is the option to take those projects that we see, and manipulate it to fit what we’re doing out here.”
It demonstrates the same skillset, Bocook said, even if it’s on completely different projects. For instance, one of the projects they’re currently working on is a tiny house. While it’s much smaller in scale than something like a new manufacturing facility, the rules about proper measurement and alignment still apply. In this way, he said, they can take on the projects that people reach out to the school to have completed, while still adhering to the required curriculum and the union’s advancement track.
Their classroom experience does more than get them ready to enter the union as an apprentice, though. It also helps the students begin understanding where they will fit on a job site and in the workplace dynamic as well.
“They get in these groups, and they figure out; Am I a leader? Where do I fit in this dynamic? And you work to their strengths… So, they start figuring out who they are as an individual, really. And where they fit in this. Then, when they get out here in the ‘real world’ as we want to call it, they’re going to be able to speak for themselves.”
One of the students who hopes to take advantage of the track offered by the IKORCC is senior Sylas Bentley. Bentley, whose grandfather and father have both worked as union carpenters, said he wants to take advantage of the benefits he’s seen the union offer his family.
“I started doing construction when I was about 15,” Bentley said. “I started working with this guy, and when I became a junior (in high school) I got interested in it because it’s something that I’ve already had a little bit of experience with.”
His father worked with the union for “about 15 years,” before changing careers, Bentley noted. But his grandfather retired from the union, he said, and the pension he receives is just one of the strong incentives that he’d like to take advantage of as he grows and advances in his career.
“My pap, he went all the way to 65, and retired from it, and still gets a retirement check. I just think there’s a lot of good benefits with it. You can retire when you’re 55. You can get a lot of good insurance… good pay too.”
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
