[ Jurgen Goering wrote in 130607 MMDigest, Apprentice Program
 [ in Germany, "This kind of a system does not exist in North
 [ America, ..."

Dear Jurgen,  You may not be aware of it, but the Union Building
Trades, in the United States of America and Canada, have had Apprentice
Training Programs in North America since the 1930s.

I was fortunate enough to be the in the first class of apprentices when
IBEW Local Union #3 in New York City opened their door to apprentices
outside of the Father and Son selection of candidates that was dominant
prior to 1962, when I was accepted.

I was ecstatic to think that after, a 5-year apprenticeship, I would
be getting the top Journeyman's rate of $4.96 cents an hour for
a seven hour day and one hour overtime per day, at time and one half,
for a weekly salary of $210 per week, a princely sum in that day.
To me that was mind-boggling!  To complete this apprentice ship it
was my obligation to work every work day of the week and attend the
Apprenticeship Training School, after work, two nights each week for
five years.

At the end of four years we were advanced to Maintenance Level of
Journeyman where we were sent to contractors utilizing this secondary,
lower, Journeyman rate.  We were on our own that year to put into
practice what we had learned the previous four years, from on-the-job
and school training, to make, repair, and replace electrical
installations in and around New York City.

My class of Apprentices started out as a body of 1,000 eager young
men over 21 years of age but less than 25 years old.  (You can't
discriminate by age today, so apprentices can be any age, as long as
they pass the required basic minimum age of 21 (the New York state
requirement for electrical workers), the education of high school
graduate, and are physically fit).

Through attrition my class was reduced to a graduating class of about
700.  This is and was the largest single class of graduates in the
history of Local Union #3 in New York City, which began in 1891.  Our
graduation was held in Avery Fisher Hall, the home of the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra, in the new Lincoln Center, in 1967.  This was
five years and seven months after starting my apprenticeship, in my
case on June 6, 1962.

The apprenticeship program is alive and well in the Union Building
Trades movement, the only thing different is that the school education
has been enhanced.  After the regular two days of school of electrical
education, the apprentices take an additional two hours of college
courses, so that at the end of the five-year education they receive
an Associates Degree from the college along with their International
Journeyman's Certificate.

I just had to correct your misunderstanding.

Thank you,
Walter Kehoe - Retired Electrician
Syosset, New York

 [ Apprentice training for electrical industry workers today is also
 [ provided by the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee
 [ (NJATC), visit http://www.njatc.org/about.aspx   -- Robbie