IFPTE Continues Work to Setup STEM Apprenticeships in Southern U.S.

IFPTE’s executive officers and key staff traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee this week to continue meeting with key stakeholders as a part of the Union’s effort to set up one of the nation’s first STEM workforce development apprenticeship programs. 

The meetings, attended by President Matt Biggs, Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson, and Assistant to the Executive Officers, Brian Kildee, also included interviews with candidates for a community organizer position to help link underserved communities in the Tennessee Valley to workforce development apprenticeships.   The meetings included visits with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) officials, leaders from the Tennessee Department of Labor, and leaders and representatives from IFPTE’s partners in the apprenticeship program effort, including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Jobs with Justice.  

President Biggs commented that, “this was a very productive day of meetings and visits, and got us several steps closer to standing up the apprenticeship program here in Tennessee,” while Secretary-Treasurer Henson noted that, “if this effort by IFPTE, the AFT, and the Jobs with Justice can come to fruition, which we believe it will, it will help to bring the Biden Administration’s vision of providing strong public investment in workforce development, and in turn opportunities for good, Union represented jobs, in underserved communities a reality.”  Kildee rounded out the comments, saying that, “there remains much work to be done and partnerships to be made to stand up this first of a kind apprenticeship program, but we are committed to seeing it through and able to do so as a result of the Biden Administration’s successful efforts to pass both the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act.”