I recently read an article in The Chief about apprentice jobs with the Finishing Trades Institute of New York. Although the Institute is not related to the City of New York, the training they provide IS directly relatable to jobs with the city.
As you may have noticed, many NYC jobs require or expect that you come in with a few years of experience. Auto Mechanic wants a minimum of 2 ½ years of experience as an Auto Mechanic if you have some vocational school, 5 years without it. Radio Repair Mechanic is similar with 3 years’ experience if you have training, 5 years without.
The same goes for the finishing trades, like painters and drywall taper jobs. But how does one get experience with bridges and structural steel?
This is where the Finishing Trades Institute of New York would come in. District Council 9 (DC 9) of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) supports the Finishing Trades Institute of New York. DC 9 is an organization of painters, decorators, wall coverers, drywall finishers, sign painters, metal polishers, bridge and structural steel painters, civil service painters, lead abatement workers, glaziers and architectural metal glassworkers, paint makers, and allied tradesmen. These jobs are excellent for those not wanting to sit behind a desk all day or are interested in working with their hands.
DC 9 provides apprenticeships to the Finishing Trades Institute that provide the training and experience to move into a NYC trades job. According to The Chief, they are presently accepting applications for Painter and Decorator (Structural Steel-Bridges) apprentices. The applications must be obtained IN PERSON ONLY from the Finishing Trades Institute of NY, 45-15 36th Street, Long Island City from 9 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday. The recruitment period ends June 3, 2021, for this effort. However, if you don’t make this one, or have different interests in the trades, then checking their website out or making some emails or phone calls to them will possibly lead you in the direction you want.
Sample Jobs
So, looking through the older NOE’s let’s sample some of the jobs and their pay ranges.
A Bridge Painter NOE from 2011 has the minimum salary at $44 per hour. A snippet from the NOE for experience says “Five years of full-time satisfactory experience performing structural steel painting, which is defined as painting bridges, towers, aerials, tanks, or other elevated steel structures using rigging and scaffolding. At least three (3) years of this experience must have been at the journeyman/journeywoman level (i.e., a fully trained, knowledgeable, experienced, proficient and competent elevated steel structures painter).”
How about a Painter at $41.79 per hour? One item under experience requires “At least three years of full-time satisfactory experience as a painter and sufficient full-time satisfactory apprentice painter experience to make up a total of five years of acceptable experience. Six months of acceptable experience will be credited for each year of apprentice painter experience.
There are other trades that you can train for too: recently there was a Qualified Incumbents Exam (QIE) for Glazier; not sure if a Plasterer is the same as a Drywall Taper but, if so, there it is at $44.82 per hour.
So, if you’re drive is to work in a good paying and satisfying trade, then checking out DC 9’s Finishing Trades Institute of New York may be your place to start.
Comments and Questions are welcomed here.
