Labor Department recognizes industry-organized metalworking apprenticeship

Manufacturing companies seeking to establish apprenticeship programs now have the option of working with industry associations, instead of the state and federal authorities typically in charge of such programs. Getty Images

A metalworking apprenticeship program at Raytheon is the first out of the gate in what was the Trump administration’s race to create industry-recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs). These programs are viewed as being higher-quality and better-targeted than those established by state and local employment agencies.

The first nationally-recognized metalworking apprentice credential offered by Raytheon will be supervised by the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS). Rebekah Hutton, deputy executive director of NIMS, said the organization has offered individual certifications for CNC and milling and turning for many years, but for the first time has combined them into one, overarching, comprehensive IRAP metalworking credential. With past Department of Labor (DOL) apprenticeship programs, employers had to report to state and federal officials. Here, with the IRAP, NIMS serves as an intermediary.

“We take care of some of the red tape,” stated Hutton.

Raytheon had two classes finish the program, which started before the DOL recognized the IRAP.

“We were scheduled to start cohort three with five people, but due to COVID-19, the start date was pushed to sometime in 2021,” said Allen Couture, vice president of operations at Raytheon Missiles & Defense.

Of the 11 apprentices in the first two cohorts, 10 currently work as full-time Raytheon machinists at Raytheon Technologies Precision Manufacturing, located in Dallas.

“In the past, due to production demands, new hire entry-level machinists would stay in their original assignment at the factory until there was a need to rotate them elsewhere,” Couture added. “Our tailored, competency-based program, which mixes time in the classroom at Dallas College with time at the factory, gives apprentices exposure to multiple areas and the hands-on training needed to perform different skills and processes.”

Good News and Bad News on Aluminum Imports

There was one bit of good news and another bit of bad news for U.S. manufacturers that depend on aluminum imports.

On the positive side, the Trump administration reversed itself in October on the 10% tariff it imposed on unwrought, or P1020, aluminum from Canada. (The White House reimposed the tariff this past summer, arguing those imports had surged in the first half of 2020.) The about-face decision was made after the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative hammered out an agreement with Canada to significantly decrease those aluminum imports in the remaining months of 2020 from, approximately 154,000 metric tons, the monthly average from the first seven months of the year, to a monthly average of about 77,000 tons for the rest of the year.

However, the Trump administration remains committed to protecting domestic suppliers of aluminum. Just as it unveiled its new deal with Canada, the Department of Commerce (DOC) announced affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet (CAAS) from Bahrain, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey. This follows recent preliminary affirmative countervailing duty determinations for imports of CAAS from Bahrain, Brazil, India, and Turkey.

“The Department’s aluminum sheet investigations constitute the broadest U.S. trade enforcement action in two decades,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The DOC is scheduled to announce its final determinations in these cases on or about Feb. 22.

If the DOC’s final determinations are affirmative, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determination on or about April 5. If the DOC makes affirmative final determinations of dumping and the ITC makes an affirmative final injury determination, the DOC will issue antidumping duty orders. If the DOC makes a negative final determination or the ITC makes a negative final determination of injury in an investigation, the investigation will be terminated and no order will be issued.