“COVID-19 continues to impact BUD, the building trades and their training facilities, along with the construction contractors,” said Russ Signorino, program director of Building Union Diversity (BUD).
During a five-week training program, BUD students take and pass their OSHA 10 certification for occupational safety and, after a one-week orientation, spend four weeks learning from floor layers, cement masons, sheet metal workers, carpenters, plumbers, pipe-fitters and the electricians.
That is, when there is no pandemic with stay-at-home and social-distancing public health orders.
“The past few months have been difficult for all of us,” Signorino said. “Most of us have been personally affected or know someone that has been affected, financially, medically or both.”
BUD’s most recent graduating class, BUD 19, finished its five-week training at the very same time that the new coronavirus was beginning to have its major impact. Many contractors instituted temporary hiring freezes, and the training facilities began to close to keep their members and staff safe.
“Most of BUD 19 is still looking for work,” Signorino said.
That is unusual. According to Signorino, BUD boasted an 87 percent placement rate during the first four years of the program.
Because of the public health orders, Signorino had to cancel a BUD session that was scheduled to start April 13. The next session, scheduled to start June 15 with interviews on June 10, is also cancelled.
“Most of the training centers will just be reopening at that time,” Signorino said. “They need to make up much of the training for their members that was postponed over the past few months.”
A BUD session that was originally scheduled to begin on August 17 has been rescheduled. The program will now do interviews on Wednesday, July 29. The classes will start Monday, August 3 and run through Friday, September 4. Graduation will take place on September 9 or 10.
He said he will be contacting trades training centers over the next two months to see when the next BUD class can fit into their schedules.
“We know that restarting in late July may be a little aggressive,” Signorino said. “But we have three months to prepare, including planning to keep our participants, staff and presenters safe. And, finishing two weeks earlier than planned could help this next class find employment soon after graduation.”
In the meantime, he is asking training providers to continue to work with their clients to get them ready for the July 29 interviews. WorkKeys prep and access is now available through the University City Adult Education and Literacy Program.
The BUD Program was designed by the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC). It assembled a team of more than eight cooperating joint labor-management construction training programs to implement and manage this construction skills pre-apprenticeship training program. Its aim is to launch careers in construction trades for previously un- and under-employed individuals from across the St. Louis region, with a particular focus on women and minorities.
BUD offers enrollees a comprehensive introduction to construction employment and careers and provides relevant national skills certification training, with a particular focus on job safety. Once participants have successfully completed training, they are enrolled in the BCTC employer/contractor database. The database serves as a pool of pre-qualified workers at various skill levels and proficiencies and is used by the construction owners and others in supporting the workforce inclusion goals that they are expected to meet and/or exceed, particularly in public supported construction projects.
Despite the current public health orders and work shortages, Signorino is asking contractors to let him know when they have apprenticeship openings.
“Our graduates are ready to go,” he said. “Eighty-three percent are people of color and twenty percent are female.”
For more information on BUD, visit http://budprogram.com or call (314) 303-6082.
