Painters Local 447

ORGANIZATION

The International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades was chartered on March 15, 1887, to promote professionalism within the industry. There is a Local Union in the Cedar Rapids area — Painters Local 447 at (319) 366-0569, serving members in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area.

Members of the Painters Union are engaged in painting, paperhanging, drywall taping and finishing, sandblasting, high-pressure water blasting, and other allied crafts.

NATURE OF TRADE

The protection and beautification of the exteriors and interiors of buildings and structures of all types, and many other surfaces important to your everyday living, are the principle activities of those working in the painting industry.

Painters prepare surfaces of buildings and other structures and then apply paint, varnish, enamel, lacquer, and other similar coatings to these surfaces. Painters also prepare surfaces and apply wall coverings of fabric, vinyl, and other materials.

APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING

The accepted training for the painting trade is a formal apprenticeship in which the beginner receives on-the-job training where he/she learns all aspects of the work under the guidance of skilled craft workers and also receives related classroom instruction correlated with manipulative training.

The term of apprenticeship is four years (8,000 hours) of work experience supplemented by 144 hours each year of related classroom instruction for the first three years.

The apprentice is paid in accordance with a pre-determined progressively increasing standard minimum apprenticeship scale of wages in accordance with the current bargaining agreement. The wage rates begin the first year of training at 40% of the journeyperson's wage to 95% during the last term of training.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants, before being accepted for training, must meet the following minimum requirements:

· Must be at least 18 years of age

· Must provide a copy of their high school transcript

· Must be able to master basic English reading skills

· Must be able to perform basic math at the ninth grade level

APPLICATION, SELECTION AND HIRING PROCESS

The recruitment, selection, employment and training of apprentices during their apprenticeship is the responsibility of the Joint Apprenticeship Committee. Information concerning the nature of the apprenticeship, requirements for admission to the program and the equal employment opportunity policy of the sponsor is disseminated annually each spring. Applications are taken annually, usually the first two weeks in April.

All applications are reviewed. Applicants found to meet the minimum qualifications are notified of an interview with the Committee. Following the oral interview, all applicants are rated by using a point system. The applicants are then placed on a roster of qualified applicants. Selection for apprenticeship openings are made from the roster in order of ranking.