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You
can become a ... CARPENTER |
What Is A Carpenter?
Look around you. Just about every building in your community was at least partially built by skilled carpenters.
…your home
…your school
…the malls where you shop
…the office building.
To be a carpenter is to be a member of one of the oldest and most respected trades. You can build a lifetime career in carpentry, if you like working with tools and like to create things. Hammer out a well built future with training in carpentry
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What Do
Carpenters Do? Carpenters measure, saw, level and nail wood and other building materials. They install tile and insulation, acoustical ceilings, cabinets, siding and much more. They work with many tools and materials to build houses, erect skyscrapers, construct bridges, tunnels and highways. Carpenters make up the largest single group of skilled workers in the country. |
How Do You Learn Carpentry? You can get a head start by studying math and enrolling in shop work in your school. Classes in industrial arts and mechanical drawing will help you decide whether or not you have an aptitude for the trade.
Then, when you're out of school, apply for apprenticeship training with the local labour-management program of the Carpenters' union and the construction contractors.
Many communities have joint labour and management apprenticeship committees which will accept your application for training. Many young people start out by telephoning, writing or visiting a local union of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and asking for information on how they can become carpenter apprentices.
What Are The Hours And Working Conditions? The typical workday for a carpenter begins early. He or she is often on the job site with a toolbox before day-break, and he or she is hard at work before the sun is high in the sky. Much of the work is outdoors, but modern construction methods have eased the problems of the summer's heat and the winter's cold. The average carpenter usually wears a hard hat, tough, durable work clothes and safety shoes or sturdy hi-top shoes.
Carpenters often bring their lunch from home, unless there is a lunch counter or lunch truck nearby. Carpenters are usually paid by the hour and as a union member they get … "time-and-a-half" or "double-time" for all work over eight hours of the day. Apprentices often start on a job by helping to build concrete forms, cutting sheets of drywall and performing other beginning tasks. As they gain experience, they move into more complicated jobs.
What Do We Mean By Apprenticeship Training?
An apprentice is someone who is learning a trade by working under the guidance of skilled workers, called journeymen. It's on-the-job training. You earn while you learn and are paid a wage from the first day you're hired by a contractor. Apprentices usually start at about 50% of the skilled journeyman carpenter's rate of pay. Your wages are increased at periodic intervals until your wages are up to 85% or 95% of the journeymen's rate, which is usually in your fourth year of training. You're making money at no cost to you for the training.
Why Is Apprenticeship Training Best For You?
You can go to a trade school teaching carpentry and get a certificate making you eligible for some jobs in the field. You can even try your luck by being a carpenter's helper, doing unskilled work. But if you really want to be an all-around carpenter, who can perform any skilled task he or she is asked to perform, you had better get the broad experience you can only get by completing the 7,200 hours of work experience required to graduate as a journey-man carpenter.
The Pay And The Benefits Really Add Up
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The rewards of apprenticeship training are the good wages and benefits you receive as a union member … a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. There are almost a half million UBC members in the United States and Canada. You'll be working under the protection of a union contract for a good contractor, which means you will probably have some form of health insurance and pension and welfare benefits. It pays to be the best you can be - an apprenticeship-trained carpenter!
For More Information Contact A
Local Union In Your Area! click here
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