Sen. Tammy Baldwin visits Plumbers and Steamfitters UA Local 400 in Kaukauna to highlight apprenticeships, March 4, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
KAUKAUANA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Wisconsin lawmaker is leading a bipartisan act to expand the apprenticeship model nationally.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin toured the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 400 Training Facility in Kaukauna Monday.
There she watched demonstrations and met with apprentices.
Baldwin says she’s a huge fan of the apprenticeship model as it allows people to earn while they learn and master a trade that can lead to a successful career with family-supporting wages.
“It seems to me like the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we passed a few years ago is having a real impact on the number of apprenticeships, the number of young people who are looking at this as a pathway to a good-paying job, a career and mastering these skills and so a lot of the investments we’ve made in rebuilding our water infrastructure, our transportation infrastructure and the broadband build out, all of those are creating a demand for workers who are highly skilled in these trades and you’re seeing the impact,” she said.
Baldwin also touted the National Apprenticeship Act which would expand apprenticeship programs to other areas of industries including health care and IT.
“We have not modernized our national apprenticeship laws since it was originally passed in 1937 and so much has changed in industries, so much has changed in the trades. I’m hoping in modernizing it, we can do a couple of things, one is to create new opportunities for smaller businesses to have some of their workers go through apprenticeship training,” she said.
The act would also streamline the apprenticeship application process and improve wrap around services such as child care, elder care, transportation, and housing to help ensure that would-be apprentices can complete their apprenticeship training.
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