|
Heavy Equipment Operation Training
QUESTION:My son, after some experience on my compact tractor and backhoe, has expressed
an interest in becoming a professional equipment operator. I have heard local
excavation contractors say that good operators are hard to find. A recent
editorial in construction equipment magazine stated that more young people need
to be encouraged to enter this field. My question is where does one obtain the
required education/training besides the military? Are there journeyman programs
similar to the other trades? Specialized schools? He would also be interested
in any websites associated with equipment operation. He is a sophmore in high
school so we have considerable time left to research his options.
ANSWER: The only place worth considering is the Operating Engineer's union.
Look up the local in the city nearest you.
Advantages:
1. Brendan will actually be able to live on the wage he is paid as an
apprentice. In an open shop, this is not the case. Eight dollars an
hour to start is common in open shops. Add ten dollars an hour, and
then add benefits for a real apprentice. To start.
2. The training is recognized around the world, other simply aren't.
You're either a real Operating Engineer, in good standing, or you need
to get off my machine. The danger is too great to trust to untrained
personel.
3. The training is structured, formal, and complete.
4. The safety clauses in the working conditions of the current contract
will ensure that Brendan survives the training. There are no working
condition clauses in open shop contracts.
5. The Local will ensure that Brendan actually gets paid. He is on his
own in an open shop.
6. The fringe benefits will make visiting a doctor, a dentist, or
getting eyeglasses a fiscal possibility, without resorting to macaroni
and cheese for the last week of the month.
There is one disadvantage, and that is that it will be difficult to get
in.
Start early. Jump through all the hoops, wait out the waiting list,
don't give up, and don't look back. The only two things an apprentice
can do wrong is to be late, or disobey instructions.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't waste all the time I did
in open shop companies. I would work on union jobs, or I would collect
unemployment, and wait for a call from the hall.
|
|
|
|
