Last week, Representative Jack Patrick Lewis voted in favor of legislation that seeks to increase the state’s trades’ workforce by requiring the hiring of apprentices for all contracts awarded for public works projects over $10 million. Effective a year after signed into law, this bill would require projects to hire apprentices to work 5 percent of the total amount of hours worked, which would scale up to 10 percent in three years and 15 percent in four years.
“The labor of our state trades, and the apprentices that help fill out their ranks, built this great Commonwealth,” expressed Rep. Lewis (Framingham). “This legislation ensures that they remain a key part of our continued growth and prosperity by requiring that a certain percentage of hours be worked by apprentices. With this, I am confident that the next generation of the trade workforce will be secured.”
“Investing in the trades’ workforce will bolster workforce development, ensuring that the Commonwealth is able to meet the growing demands for new infrastructure projects. Apprenticeships can also lead to the creation of more union jobs and help to replace highly skilled workers who are aging out of the workforce,” noted House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (Quincy). “I want to thank Chair McMurtry and Chair Decker for their work on this legislation, as well as all my colleagues in the House for recognizing its importance.”
Public agencies must require, as a condition of awarding a construction contract over $10 million for any public works, that all construction managers, general contractors and subcontractors maintain or participate in an apprentice program, approved by the Division of Apprentice Standards (DAS), for each apprenticeable occupation represented in their workforce. Construction managers, general contractors and subcontractors must register all apprentices with DAS and comply with applicable apprentice-to-journeyperson ratios established by a trades licensing board or the Division.
The bill provides for an exemption upon a written determination by the public agency that, after good-faith solicitation, no qualified and responsible bidder maintaining or participating in an apprentice program is reasonably available for a specific trade or scope of work. Any construction manager, general contractor and subcontractor who fails to maintain or participate in an apprentice program and is not exempt cannot be deemed a responsible and eligible bidder.
The bill also requires prevailing wage payments by employers to include apprenticeship programs approved by DAS within the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and operated in compliance with DAS. The bill establishes a Special Commission on Apprenticeships to study and make recommendations on the development, accessibility, quality, funding and utilization of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs across all industry sectors.
The bill passed the House of Representatives 154-1 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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