Forty apprentices and more than 25 family members, friends, and walk-ins participated in Apprentice Appreciation Day at the Savannah training center Dec. 4. They met with local and regional leaders, toured the facility, and the apprentices competed in two contests. Learn more about the event.

The U.S. Department of Labor has recognized the UBC's Military Veterans Program with a 2021 Hire Vets Gold Medallion Award. The program also is receiving a Labor Department grant to assist military service members and their spouses dislocated by pandemic-caused delays. Through this grant, 39 MVP graduates received $1,500 each to purchase tools in 2021. In 2022, graduates will get $1,500 for tools and the program will receive $2,750 per graduate.

We can't wait to welcome more graduates from this initiative into the SSMRC. Read more about the program.

The SSMRC recently purchased compressors worth approximately $30,000 each for the Moss Point, Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, training centers. Members will use the compressors to train for work in the petrochemical and related energy fields.

“I feel like I've been very fortunate with my life and what I've been able to do," Hines said. "I really think that we all need to try to help people to help themselves.” Read more about Mike Hines.

Matt Bartles first heard the term “millwright” from a guest speaker at the technical college he was attending in 2010. A decade later – after completing the millwright apprenticeship, working in the field, and becoming a millwright training instructor – Bartles is the one giving presentations about the millwright career path. Learn more about him.

The SSMRC will send you a free t-shirt after you complete the online course "101 Constitution: U.S. Government and Labor Law," which is hosted in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Department of Education and Training's Learning Management System.

At the beginning of each month, the council will mail t-shirts to members who completed the course during the prior month. If you have already taken the course, we will send your shirt in early December. Learn more about the course here.

After shrinking for decades, the labor movement has gained momentum in 2021. Google employees created their first union this year, and tens of thousands of workers have gone on strike at companies including Nabisco, Kellogg's, and John Deere. Members of the United Mine Workers of America have been on strike in Brookwood, Alabama, since April.

During the past month, the National Labor Relations Board ordered a new union election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, and, for the first time, workers at a Starbucks store voted to unionize. Read more about both these developments.

A new Department of Labor rule will raise the minimum wage for workers on federal contracts to $15 per hour beginning Jan. 30. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh announced the rule in Birmingham, Alabama, alongside workers, including union members, who talked about how the rule will help their communities. Learn more: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20211122-0

The Labor Department is seeking comment on a proposed rule that would eliminate the Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program started under the Trump administration so the department can direct its resources toward Registered Apprenticeships (union apprenticeship programs are "registered apprenticeships").

The proposal is part of the Biden administration’s larger apprenticeship effort, which includes expanding and strengthening the Registered Apprenticeship model and investing in pipelines to these programs. In the proposal to eliminate IRAPS, the department stated that IRAPs create a duplicative system that could lead to lower quality standards for training and poorer safety and welfare protections for apprentices compared to Registered Apprenticeship Programs. Learn more.

The video above announcing the Apprenticeship Ambassador Program features UBC member Jovan Johnson and Barbara Hampton, president and CEO of SSMRC partnering contractor Siemens USA.

The unemployment rate dropped from 4.6% to 4.2% in November, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report. Over the past three months, the U.S. has added an average of 378,000 jobs per month. 83% of the 22.4 million jobs lost in March and April 2020 have been recovered.

COVID-19 cases are rising again in most regions of the country, including the South. While the Delta variant of the virus is still the dominant strain in the United States, the Omicron variant is quickly gaining a foothold. According to scientists studying COVID-19, the Omicron variant spreads much faster than any other variant and prior infection does not provide as much protection against Omicron. Public-health experts warn that even though Omicron has caused fewer hospitalizations in South Africa compared to previous strains, that situation might not be the case in other countries.

The good news is that you can still take steps to gather safely with family and friends this month. This article offers tips for doing that.

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