Plumbing Apprenticeship
Program, Local 38
Organized Labor
May 2009
Brian Keating, Conor Comyns, Clint Delbonta and Training Apprentices Director Steve Mazzola
Another difference: there was no OSHA in the 1940s. Plumbers didn’t wear hard hats, and injuries from falls were common. Plumbers often lost fingers or got asbestosis from removing boiler insulation. Now, safe working procedures that follow OSHA standards are a big part of the training classes. Keeping up with the technology and code changes, and then incorporating them into the curriculum, is one of Training Director Stephen Mazzola’s biggest challenges. Mazzola attended the program in 1990. “In high school I had no idea what I wanted to be,” he says. Even though he came from a family of plumbers, he wasn’t sure about going into the trade. But after high school, he was lured by the promise of being able to say, “I built that.” “I figured college wasn't for me, but what I didn’t realize was how much school work it would take right here.” The change to green technology offers both excitement and challenges. “We need to preserve the environment for our kids and stay in the forefront of the trade,” Mazzola explains. “Our members have been effectively doing green building in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning for years. We’ve only recently been recognized for it.” As an example, he cites the recent change to high-efficiency furnace pumps with refrigerant recovery systems that use a new refrigerant that is less harmful to the environment. However, the systems use higher pressure and require a different type of pipe, and that means teaching plumbers the new specifications and code requirements. The apprenticeship program requires no previous training. Although most of the apprentices are in their 20s, just out of high school, it is open to people of all ages. “In our last group, we saw a lot of college graduates,” says Mazzola. “We had one apprentice who was close to 60 years old. When I attended the program, we had someone at retirement age who was trying to get a second pension.”