Groundbreaking Apprentice Programs Offer Pathways to Increase Skills, Wages
Career Development for State Employees is a Union Value
Creating sustainable careers for the 96,000 state workers we represent is a top priority and union value. Using the power of our contract, we work with the state to create opportunities for career development and to provide professional training so that California is an employer of choice and its employees can flourish in their jobs.
Local 1000 is an innovator in career development, having launched two groundbreaking apprentice programs in health care and information technology (IT). Traditionally, “apprentice” applies to trade jobs like carpenter or sheet metal worker, but in partnership with the state and community colleges, we’ve created new pathways to increase workers’ skills, allowing them to be more competitive in the job market and to earn higher wages.
Both programs offer time off without loss of pay and 20 to 30 units of college credit.
Information Technology
Our third wave of IT apprentices, selected from more than 300 applicants and 60 interviews, attended an orientation at the California Department of Technology on August 29. Since the program’s inception in 2017, more than 25 of our members have been accepted into the program.
These new apprentices enter a training and development assignment as an Information Technology Associate for a period of up to two years, where they receive on-the-job training and related IT instruction. At the conclusion, apprentices will meet the minimum qualifications to promote into the Information Technology Associate position, though some may meet the qualifications for the Information Technology Specialist classification.
LVN to RN apprenticeships
In 2017, Local 1000 pioneered the very first LVN to RN civil service apprenticeship offering upward mobility to Unit 20 health care workers. Already, 35 apprentices are registered and a number of the early graduates are now working as registered nurses.
Like the IT apprenticeship, the LVN to RN program offers a combination of classroom theory, practical experience and on-the-job training.
More opportunities ahead
In addition to our current apprenticeships in IT and health care, Local 1000 is working to develop future programs covering cybersecurity, financial services and new pathways for the DGS custodians we represent.