Upgrading Standards for Registered Apprenticeship Programs

On behalf of our thousands of union members and signatory contractors, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) would like to reiterate our appreciation for the opportunity to share our recommendations with the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The recommendations below address upgrading the standards for registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) in 29 C.F.R. part 29 and supplement the recommendations in our December 6, 2022 letter to the Task Force, which focused primarily on requiring proof by an applicant for sponsorship of a RAP that the proposed program has “future sustainability,” i.e., it has the present and future financial and training capacity to provide broad-based, quality training to apprentices.