UA Local 38 Plumbers & Pipefitters Apprenticeship Program

Local 38's Apprenticeship Program is comprised of plumbing, steam fitting and refrigeration sections. Apprentices are members of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, and graduate with the skills and knowledge they need to count themselves among the very best plumbers, steam fitters, refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics in the world.

To become one of Local 38's Craft Certified technicians, an apprentice must successfully complete 10,000 hours of combined classroom and on-the-job training. Apprentices start out making a percentage of the Union journey-level wage, and receive pay increases at the end of each six-month training period. They must attend evening classes on a weekly basis (with summers off) throughout the training period. Apprentices receive detailed instruction in job safety, health, industry regulations, and the fundamental skills required for working with tools of the trade. As apprentices advance through the program, job-site experience is supplemented with classroom instruction in pipe trades mathematics, reading blueprints and isometric drawings, computer-aided design (CAD), sanitation, codes, control systems, elements of hydraulics and heat, physics with an emphasis on liquids and gases, and plumbing, steam fitting or refrigeration and air conditioning theory.