Bill seeks to increase the trades’ workforce in Massachusetts
BOSTON – State Representative Richard Haggerty (D-Woburn) and the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed legislation recently aimed to bolster 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, the bill would require projects to hire apprentices to work five 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 bill passed the House of Representatives 154-1 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.
“Honored to join my colleagues in the House of Representatives and pass this legislation that will invest in our trades’ workforce, create sustainable, well-paying union jobs for the Commonwealth’s public projects and foster new career paths for our workforce,” Representative Haggerty said. “I want to thank House Speaker Ronald Mariano for his leadership, as well as Representative Paul McMurtry, House Chair of the Labor & Workforce Development Committee, and Representative Marjorie Decker, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health and main sponsor of the bill, for their hard work on this legislation that will support our workforce for years to come.”
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. DAS currently services more than 900 Registered Apprenticeship programs supporting over 10,000 apprentices annually.
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 requires prevailing wage payments by employers to include apprenticeship programs approved by DAS within Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and operated in compliance with DAS.
The bill also 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.
