The Quality Through Training Program (QTTP) of the Machinists Union and The Boeing Company is part of the more comprehensive International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)/Boeing Joint Programs. It represents a promising approach to solving a serious challenge facing both manufacturing businesses and unions: assuring a pipeline of specialty-skilled workers to fill the manufacturing jobs of today and tomorrow.

While the joint IAM/Boeing manufacturing skilled trades’ apprenticeship program has been in place since 1935, two recent innovations are likely to make it more vital and relevant to the needs of the 21st century manufacturing workforce. First, the union and the employer made changes to match the training content of these apprenticeship programs more closely to the operational needs of the company. An important step in achieving that objective was the 2005 collective bargaining agreement between the Machinists and Boeing that moved responsibility for all apprenticeship programs to QTTP. Secondly, the Joint Apprenticeship Committee, the labor-management governing body for IAM-Boeing’s program, has developed an apprenticeship program for a new job classification – a classification that is likely to be in demand as Boeing’s operations evolve and new technologies are introduced.

Workforce Challenge

Understanding the Demand and Meeting It

The apprenticeship programs of the Machinists and Boeing, offered in over 10 different classifications, have long been recognized as among the best in the manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, many practitioners and participants felt that the programs had failed to adapt to Boeing’s new production model where it becomes “an integrator of complex systems.” In particular, the demand for the skilled trades and classifications offered through the apprenticeship program has declined as The Boeing Company has downsized and evolved, focusing its domestic operations on assembly only, rather than fabrication and assembly.

With previous collective bargaining agreements, Boeing invested substantial time, energy, and money in apprentices’ training, only to see some of those same apprentices laid off at the completion of their training program. The classifications more closely associated with fabrication of an aircraft were no longer in demand in the commercial division of Boeing. Throughout Boeing’s Washington State operations, where thousands of workers are employed, only eight workers are currently indentured as apprentices. Out of over 200 applications that the apprenticeship committee received from the Machinists’ current workforce at Boeing in June 2005, only fifteen will be accepted into the apprenticeship program this year. A decisive majority of those apprentices will be for industrial electronic maintenance technicians and machine tool maintenance mechanics. The remaining five apprenticeship opportunities will include only three different skilled trades. No longer in demand are the traditional fabrication-oriented classifications of the Machinists Union, such as tool and die maker and fixture tool maker.

The apprenticeship regimen lasts four or five years, depending on the classification and grade level of the apprentice; it requires significant classroom instruction and major administrative capacity, all furnished by Boeing. The failure to revitalize and update the apprenticeship program realized one of the worst fears of many employers: after a major training investment in an individual worker, that worker becomes employed elsewhere, with no benefit to the company that funded the training. In this case, the lost investment was a result of Boeing’s downsizing and transformation of the production process, in addition to a downturn in the demand for commercial aircraft, which dramatically reduced employment in Washington State and throughout the company. The situation demanded a solution.

Boeing, after several years of downsizing and weak economic performance in its commercial division, is booming. The company took more orders for planes in 2005 than in any year since 1988. The new 787, to be assembled in Everett, Washington, has jump-started employment, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Boeing is recalling laid-off workers, including some of the apprentices that had been laid off, and hiring new employees. The assembly chain for the 787 will be at capacity for three years. One of the key features of the new 787 is its “composite” construction, making the plane lighter and 20% more fuel-efficient than a similar- sized aircraft.¹ Boeing’s timing – with its innovative, fuel-efficient design – has positioned the company well in relation to its primary competitor, Airbus, and other rivals. Assembly of the new plane will begin in 2006, with the first 787s rolling off the assembly line in 2008.

The new apprenticeship classification relates directly to the new material that will be used to build the 787. Fifty percent of the material in the plane will be composites². The newly developed apprenticeship opportunity as a composite technician is specifically designed to meet the company’s demand for workers skilled in the use of this cutting-edge material. Matching the training program with the new technology at Boeing will ensure a steady stream of in-demand apprentices qualified to build the new aircraft.

"The changes to the apprenticeship program made in our most recent contract are critical to the success of our members and the Boeing Company. We are exploring new directions that reflect changes in our workplace. It's a win-win for both management and labor," said District Lodge President Mark Blondin.

Program Partners

The Boeing Company and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 (Puget Sound), District 70 (Wichita), and District 24 (Portland) together created “Joint Programs” in 1989. Joint Programs includes two separate entities: the Health and Safety Institute and the Quality Through Training Program (QTTP). The apprenticeship is only one small piece of the large, successful training entity, QTTP. Because this particular apprenticeship program exists in Washington State alone, the Washington State-based local union of the Machinists, IAM 751, is a partner on the apprenticeship program. The partnership also involves the Washington Apprenticeship and Training Council and South Seattle Community College.

Governance – “Senior Leaders Guide the Partnership”

The National Governing Board sets policy for “Joint Programs.” QTTP is but one side of the broader labor-management partnership; The Health and Safety Institute is the other. The Governing Board is comprised of five members of senior leadership from both management and labor. The union side includes the “Boeing Coordinator” from the International Union, the three principal officers of the Machinists’ districts at Boeing, and the Executive Director of Joint Programs from the union, who is a non-voting member. The management side of the Governing Board includes four Senior Executives and the Company’s Executive Director of Joint Programs, who, again, is a non-voting member

Program Activities and Methods

The Apprenticeship Model

Through this apprenticeship program, existing employees, who are searching for a career path to higher earnings within Boeing, receive wages while training on the job (OJT), usually under the tutelage of master craftworkers. Apprenticeship combines this OJT with traditional classroom instruction, much of it delivered through South Seattle Community College, part of the state’s extensive network of vocational and community education institutions. Over the course of either a four- or five-year program, depending on the trade, apprentices take advancement tests and proceed through various levels of training, receiving an increase in pay after each 1,000-hour increment of OJT. The pay scale in the new 2005 collective bargaining agreement (Article 17) for all apprentices is as follows:

The joint apprenticeship committee (JAC) pays the costs from an employer-provided funding stream. This “earn while you learn” feature of apprenticeship makes it affordable for trainees. The committee is comprised of equal numbers of labor representatives and employer representatives. Mark Blondin, President of District Lodge 751, appoints six trustees to the joint apprenticeship committee.

Apprenticeship programs operate under standards registered and certified by the Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services (OATELS) of the U.S. Department of Labor or by a state apprenticeship agency. In this case, OATELS delegates its authority to the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council (SAC). Apprenticeship programs sponsored by Boeing and the Machinists exceed the minimum requirements for selection procedures, training content, wage progressions and completion requirements. Their program encourages women and minorities to apply. The number of apprentices accepted for training can vary according to the trade or craft and market conditions, but typically this program maintains about 60 apprentices at all levels of training.

Industry-recognized Credentials

Once an apprentice receives the designation as a journey-level worker, the industry has conferred on the individual a significant credential: That journey-level worker is recognized as a master of the craft within the manufacturing industry. This designation documents skills in the industry and is also transferable. As the table above indicates, the worker’s wages are in the range of $30 an hour, excluding benefits. Even if a worker is laid off after becoming a journeyman, the many years of on-the-job training and classroom instruction will have prepared the worker for employment elsewhere in the skilled trades. Moreover, many apprentices will voluntarily pursue other credentials as they progress in their training. Many apprentices pursue Associate’s degrees, or certifications issued by the Federal Aviation Administration of Federal Communications Commission during their course of work.

Connections to the Public Workforce System

The apprenticeship program’s primary connection to the public workforce system is through the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council. The SAC governs apprenticeship programs, approving curriculum, establishing wage progressions, monitoring program performance, and evaluating the apprentices’ progress. The actual training delivered through the apprenticeship program receives no public funding.

The program also connects to the public system through its educational dimension, coordinated by the South Seattle Community College (SSCC), where most of the classroom instruction is delivered. Instructors are approved by the community college, though the instruction itself is typically delivered by master craftworkers from Boeing.

Program Funding Sources

QTTP is funded through the collective bargaining agreement (Article 20) between the two parties. The employer makes a 14-cent per hour contribution for every member of the bargaining unit to a fund that covers the cost of training for the apprentices, including everything from books to tools. More importantly, embedded in the collective bargaining agreement is a minimum funding level for joint programs that must be maintained regardless of staffing levels at the company. Because of the substantial workforce reductions at Boeing over the last decade, the minimum contribution of $21 million for all joint programs is consistently triggered.³ The floor for investment in QTTP is $10 million, and the annual cost of the apprenticeship program is approximately $285,000.

QTTP

The Quality Through Training Program (QTTP) offers a diverse range of programs for training, re-training, and personal growth, to support the continuous improvement process in both the company and individual employees. Since it began in 1989, QTTP has helped many thousands of IAM-represented employees in Washington, Oregon, and Kansas cope with workplace change and achieve their individual goals.

Through QTTP, the union and company are working together to assist employees affected by technology change, job combination or redeployment.
Professional Career Advisors at each of the seven Quality Through Training Program sites offer skills assessments and educational and career guidance.
Learning labs at each site host an array of computer, skills, and individual development classes, and QTTP instructors go into the factory areas with customized training to meet specific needs of an area.
The QTTP has in-plant skill centers located near the workplace in Auburn, Everett, Plant II, Renton, and Wichita, offering advising, computer learning, and classes to employees.
QTTP Career Guides and a new hourly Employee Requested Transfer (ERT) process provide an effective way for employees to select, apply for, and document that they have met the entry level requirements for a new job.
QTTP has partnered with Learning, Training and Development (LTD) and BCA Manufacturing & Quality to develop the Production Systems Improvement (PSI) training system.
In partnership with local colleges and the American College Advisory Service, a national clearinghouse for prior learning assessment, QTTP helps IAM-represented employees document prior learning and work experience to gain college credit for knowledge gained over their career. This service can substantially reduce the time required for Machinists to earn their college degrees

QTTP provides services to both active and laid-off IAM-represented employees of The Boeing Company, and helps workers who have been given notice that they will be laid off under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and laid-off employees of all pay codes to obtain employment in equivalent jobs, through their leadership role in the Joint Boeing Labor Management Committee.

Barriers Overcome

In order to develop new apprenticeable trades at Boeing, participants and practitioners had to overcome both administrative and attitudinal obstacles. These two types of barriers were, in many ways, connected. First, a “constituency” had developed around the existing apprenticeship program, and graduates of the “old” classifications rightfully took pride in their achievements. Many journey-level workers – and Boeing executives, for that matter - who had come through the apprenticeship program, naturally wanted to see the program continued. Long-time journey-level workers often served as program instructors or as trustees on the joint apprenticeship committee that administered the program. At the same time, they observed the unemployment problems of recently graduated apprentices.

Secondly, leaders of the Machinists District 751 and the Boeing Company identified the need for an administrative change and therefore, in this most recent contract, brought the apprenticeship program into the QTTP program. New trustees of the joint apprenticeship committee, in some cases, had not participated in the apprenticeship program, so they were more willing to consider the changes necessary to adapt it to the new, lean workplace at Boeing, including changes in the classifications offered.

The State Apprenticeship and Training Council, which must approve program standards before any new apprentices are accepted into a new classification, could represent a third barrier to implementation. The committee hopes, however, that the administrative changes incorporating the program into the multi-million dollar QTTP will facilitate shepherding any new apprenticeship standards through the SAC.

Program Results and Returns to Stakeholders/Partners

The apprenticeship program has historically maintained about 60 apprentices at any given time, while approximately 13 “graduate” to the journey level every year. The program, however, has become smaller over time, as Boeing moves away from fabricating commercial aircraft. Currently, only eight apprentices are indentured. Retention of those graduates, as mentioned above, created the need to develop a new classification and a new apprenticeable trade. The benefits of the program, however, are clear:

Benefits to the Company:

Benefits to the Apprentices:

Benefits to the Union:

Benefits to the Community:

Next Steps for the Program and/or for the Partnership

The employer and the union are currently working to identify the specific number of apprentices that will be indentured as new Composite Technician apprentices at The Boeing Company. During the first six months of 2006, labor and management jointly developed standards for the new apprenticeship classification. In late July, the program’s standards were approved by the state agency with regulatory oversight of the program – the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council. These recent innovations, led by the Machinists Union, ensure that the apprenticeship model will be relevant to Boeing’s needs, now and into the future. The recent administrative change – incorporating apprenticeship into QTTP – helped facilitate the process of securing SAC approval. The change will also guarantee adequate resources and leadership from top leaders at both the company and the union.

1 High energy costs have put a premium on fuel efficiency in the airline industry.

2 In contrast, 50% of the material in the Boeing 777 is aluminum.

3 Membership of the Machinists union at Boeing has dropped by about one third from a peak in 1995.

4 Washington is highly dependent on sales tax (there is no state income tax), and is therefore dramatically affected by the ebbs and flows of the business cycle.

IAM-Boeing Joint Apprenticeship: Quality Through Training Program (QTTP)

Program Synopsis

Workforce Challenge

Understanding the Demand and Meeting It

Program Partners

Governance – “Senior Leaders Guide the Partnership”

Program Activities and Methods

The Apprenticeship Model

Industry-recognized Credentials

Connections to the Public Workforce System

Program Funding Sources

QTTP

Barriers Overcome

Program Results and Returns to Stakeholders/Partners

Benefits to the Company:

Benefits to the Apprentices:

Benefits to the Union:

Benefits to the Community:

Next Steps for the Program and/or for the Partnership