Tell the Department of Labor you support the construction industry’s exclusion from IRAPs

Construction jobs can be dangerous, but my Insulators Union Registered Apprenticeship Program provides me and my co-workers with industry leading training to ensure my safety and the safety of those around me on the jobsite.

Through regular, mandatory safety classes, Insulator journeymen and apprentices who are members of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, make up the safest mechanical insulation workforce in the United States. If poorly trained construction workers are allowed on the jobsite, there is a greater likelihood an accident or death will occur. This does not even begin to address, possibly long-term health issues if this under-trained workforce improperly handles the various materials common to the mechanical insulation industry, such as asbestos containing products.

Do not put the lives of everyone who steps foot on a construction site in jeopardy. We all want to go home to our families at the end of the day. Our lives matter; keep IRAPs out of the construction industry now and in the future.

Our Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers signatory contractors often bid on projects that require a workforce trained to the industry’s highest standards. In an Insulators Union Registered Apprenticeship Program, just like the one I completed, we receive the best training and education. Through a combination of mandatory classroom education and on-the-job training, Insulator Union apprentices develop elite skills.

Thanks to our state-of-the-art training centers, where our apprentices receive industry leading training, including OSHA safety classes, we produce highly trained and highly skilled mechanical insulators. As someone who successfully completed the Insulators Union Registered Apprenticeship Program, I can work anywhere in the country in order to support my family.

Our training is so important, that my union Brothers and Sisters are proud to say that part of our hourly wages supports our training programs. No taxpayer dollars are used to train union insulators. Do not change a system that has worked for more than 115 years.

I fully support keeping IRAPs out of the construction industry indefinitely.

Not only am I an apprentice in an Insulators Union Registered Apprenticeship Program, but I am also a veteran, who fought for and defended America.

After leaving the armed forces, I needed a good job. Thankfully, I learned about the Heat and Frost Insulators Union and their registered apprenticeship program, which provided me the ability to earn while I learn. Unlike some of my fellow military members, I was able to support my family through livable wages and great benefits after leaving the service. Do not replace the current training system and make it harder for my fellow veterans, including women and minorities, to get good paying jobs in the construction industry.

We sacrificed so much for our country; do not mess up my life and hurt my family by ruining an apprenticeship program system that has worked for over a century. Keep IRAPs out of the construction industry forever.

I am against bureaucrats re-writing Department of Labor rules to allow IRAPs in the construction industry. Current DOL rules make it possible for mechanical insulators like myself, and other highly trained and highly skilled construction workers, to earn a good living and achieve the American Dream.

If those rules were re-written, highly trained and well-paid American construction workers would be replaced on jobsites across the country with unskilled, poorly trained workers. Some of them may not be living in the U.S. legally.

Save the American Dream and help keep millions of American construction workers, who completed registered union apprenticeship programs, off of government subsidies. Stand up for the American worker and keep IRAPs out of the construction industry.

To me, the choice is clear. The President needs to keep his promise to create more good paying jobs by keeping IRAPs out of the construction industry. Seasoned bureaucrats of the “swamp” can break the President’s promise by pushing a plan no one wants, except the special interests who do not care if construction workers are poorly trained or the safety on jobsites.

This change represents a clear and present danger to anyone who walks onto a construction jobsite or works in a facility with systems that must be maintained or constructed by men and women who have only the highest training. President Trump, the choice is clear, please keep your promise and keep IRAPs out of the construction industry– today and in the future.

A Building Trades Registered Apprenticeship Program benefits the workers, contractors and project owners, which is why we support keeping IRAPs out of the construction industry. Registered Building Trades Apprenticeship Programs like that of the Heat and Frost Insulators Union, train veterans, men, women and minorities in my community to perform highly skilled quality work, instead of bringing in cheap, foreign unskilled labor.

Some people in the construction industry think Americans will not do these jobs, but I know that is not true. We need more – not less – opportunities for my neighbors to get good jobs with great wages and benefits in the construction industries. I agree with the decision to keep construction free of IRAPs – today and in the future.

During his 2016 campaign, President Trump promised to create more good paying jobs. He has worked hard to keep many of his campaign promises and by keeping IRAPs out of construction, he can keep another promise by maintaining and creating good paying jobs.

IRAPs will hurt my family and America if poorly trained construction workers take my job and the jobs of fellow building trades members.

Do not let bureaucrats re-write Department of Labor rules, which will destroy the best registered apprenticeship programs in American history.

Keep your promise Mr. President and keep IRAPs out of construction permanently.