Every Saturday on Airport Road, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall comes to life with dozens of young apprentices hoping to learn the trade from seasoned mentors. Aside from their jobs with electric companies, the apprentices are required to spend hours each week in a classroom, learning the foundations of electrical work as well as the latest technologies.

At the end of the day, they have to pack up their models and demonstrations and make sure the space is just how they found it. With all that goes on at the union hall, it isn't always easy.

"We're kind of all over the place in here," said Jonathan Mitchell, the program director, "between the basement and the function hall and the conference room. Wherever we can grab space, we've been holding classes."

But a new building is going up on the lot on Airport Road this spring that will give the program all the space it needs - 8,700 square feet of classrooms, laboratories, conference rooms and offices, just for education. The Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee and the union - whose contractors help pay for training each year - have collaborated to pay for the $1.2 million facility that they hope will provide top-notch training and entice more young people to learn the trade.

"It's just going to be us, and it's going to be fantastic," Mitchell said.

The program uses curriculum designed by the National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, which includes hands-on training and workplace safety training, as well as refresher courses for electricians who have completed their apprenticeships, known as journeymen.

The new building will allow the program coordinators to hold more classes during the day and at night - space is only available in the union hall on Saturdays and some nights. It will also provide state-of-the-art training equipment, including solar panels on the roof that will also double as the building's energy source.

"It's an ever-changing industry," Mitchell said. "The technology changes all the time, and we have to keep up on that."

The apprenticeship program lasts for five years, and requires 180 hours of instructional time a year, along with 200 hours of on-the-job training. The state requires less: four years of an apprenticeship program and 144 hours of training. "So we're above and beyond that," Mitchell said.

The union and the training committee place apprentices with electric companies, who also contribute to the training program. Students pay only for their books, Mitchell said.

Classes run from September to May, just like a regular school year. When they have completed the coursework, apprentices take a rigorous exam before they are licensed by the state.

If they pass the test, they receive their journeyman's license and can continue on to get a master's. And they can take the additional necessary courses at the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee's new school. Electricians who are out of work and need to brush up on their skills can also enroll.

Mitchell said the school plans to take about 25 apprentices for each class, or each year of the five-year program - about triple the number of apprentices that they have now. He said he hopes the program will bring in more apprentices to a trade that has seen fewer and fewer applications over the past couple decades.

"It's a fantastic trade," Mitchell said. "And it's a licensed trade. Once you have that in your pocket, you have control over your destiny. No matter what the economy's doing, when you have a license in your pocket there's always . . . a way to make money."

Joe Casey, the business manager for the Local 490, said the electricians will be even better prepared with training in the most up-to-date technology in the electrical field. And the classes won't just be offered to the new guys, he said. It's available to any electrician. (next page »)