Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Executive Secretary Ron Miller is proud of a program the trades unions are working on that gives career opportunities to former felons leaving the prison system. The apprentice bootcamp program graduated its third cohort this week and the program will continue.

[Ron Miller]: “A lot of these guys are kids. They went into the penal system when they were kids because they made wrong choices or they never got the first chance in life to do good. And so they’ve been in the jail system for awhile and they come out and they’re getting their first chance now at a good solid career in the construction trades.”

Miller says his unions are in the midst of the biggest construction boom since the 1920’s and the trades need more members to fill their ranks. So the trades will continue to be part of this effort to give released felons a hand up toward a second chance in life. One of the graduates of this program this week said the unions are a brotherhood that he’s so grateful to have helping him.

[Ron Miller]: “You know, the unions are a brotherhood. In the jail system they have a brotherhood. They stick together. In the military they have a brotherhood, they stick together. So its not much different.

It’s a good support system for folks that need it. And it helps them work together as a team to succeed.”

 

By Doug Cunningham
http://workersindependentnews.com/2017/08/30/la-building-trades-proud-of...