BUD’s Fourth Class Hits on All Cylinders
Date Posted: May 6, 2016
Posted In: News, Workforce,
The fourth graduating class of the Building Union Diversity (BUD) program set new benchmarks for success. All 14 of the pre-apprentices who began the program completed it, and four had jobs at graduation.
John Gaal presents Jemell Cooks with his BUD completion certificate.
John Gaal, EdD, director of training and workforce development at STL-KC Carpenters Regional Council credited the St. Louis Agency for Training and Employment with the vetting the candidates received in the program.
Gaal thanked the participating unions and their respective management associations for their efforts in making sure that the program participants got a solid exposure to the industry. He credited the participants for their desire to become part of the industry.
Going into the graduation ceremony two students had offers — one from Acme Constructors and the other from Johnson Controls. At the ceremony Earl Strauther, director of diversity and inclusion for PARIC Corporations, announced that his company would be hiring two graduates. Several others were scheduled for interviews the next day.
Employers with their new BUD-graduate employees.
Program graduates were Jemell Cooks, Antonio Gear, Kyle Holeman, William Jolley, David Kesner, Jonathan Long, Tonya Smith, Stephen Sutler, Albert Thomas, Emmett Upchurch, Frederick Upchurch, Frederick Williams, Littrell Yates, and Christopher Zomphier.
Strauther said that he was involved in the development of the BUD program while at SLATE as employment and training advisor. After joining PARIC in February, he set employing graduates of the program as a goal. Strauther said that the new hires would be receiving hiring letters and $350 worth of tools immediately.
The training in the BUD program includes both classroom and shop training, and participants will earn national skills certifications as they progress through the training. In round 4, participating union apprenticeship training program providers include floor layers, carpenters, IBEW electricians, ironworkers, laborers, operating engineers, sheet metal workers, and plumbers and pipefitters.
The BUD program brings together a comprehensive network of participating joint labor-management Construction Skills training providers, SLATE, the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, Laborers, Carpenters, MSD, United Way and the Missouri Division of Workforce Development (DWD).