APRIL 30, 2020: Governor Dunleavy signs HB 301.
March 20, 2020: Alaska House passes Legislation protecting certificate of fitness for plumbing and electrical trades and public safety. HB 301 is now on its way to the Senate.
February 7, 2020: Department of Labor pulls back regulation changes
UPDATE: Alaska Department of Labor misrepresents HALF of public comment. See their updated document here. Has your comment been marked as “unclear”?
THANK YOU TO THE OVER 375 individuals and legislators who weighed in to OPPOSE these regulations!
The Dunleavy Administration is pushing dangerous, job-killing regulations. It’s up to us to stop them.
These new regulations would —
Remove apprenticeship from electrical and plumbing trainee licenses. In fact, no training program would be required for someone working on residential, commercial, or industrial construction in these hazardous fields.
Create fully licensed electricians, linemen and plumbers with no skill or knowledge in their field. By removing the training requirement, a worker could spend their time as a trainee performing any task at all, and after 12,000 hours receive a full journeyman license. Whether it was sweeping up after the electrical workers, taking out the trash, or performing a single simple task over and over, the worker would qualify for a full license.
Create a new “student trainee” license that would allow 10 trainees to every journey worker in these highly hazardous professions. The current apprenticeship standard of 1 to 1 ensures proper training and supervision, as well as public safety through ensuring skilled installations.
Remove any training OR testing requirements for an individual to become a journeyman lineman.
Alaska skilled tradesmen work in hazardous conditions. An arc flash accident is just one danger they face and allowing poorly supervised trainees to perform this work is disastrous.
PUBLIC SAFETY IS AT STAKE
WORKERS, THEIR RIGOROUS TRAINING, AND THEIR FUTURE IS ON THE LINE
OUR VETERANS AND THEIR PATHWAYS TO SKILLED TRADES ARE JEOPARDIZED
WHAT CAN YOU DO? WRITE BACK TO FIGHT BACK!
Take Action
The Department of Labor public comment period is now over, but you can still send your comments to Commissioner of Labor Dr. Tamika Ledbetter urging her not to sign these regulations!
We need YOU to write back to fight back!
Click the box below to start your email to the Commissioner of theDepartment of Labor today.
Tell her to stop these dangerous, job killing regulations in their tracks.
Here’s what Alaskans Have to Say . . .
“
As a citizen voicing my opinion during public comment, I oppose changes to proposed regulations to increase the ratio of journeyman to apprentices from 1:1 to 10:1. Licensed trades have time tested these ratios and they work. Jobs with apprentices who are properly trained give the workforce skills needed to avoid injuries and accidents. Plumbers and electricians built the pipeline and continue to build the infrastructure we use to drive our economy. If we jeopardize the quality of training we jeopardize Alaska.”
“I am extremely concerned about the safety ramifications of removing apprenticeship requirements from these trades. Electrical and plumbing systems can be hazardous, if not fatal, to both the installer and/or end user if not installed properly. Apprenticeships help ensure that employees that are new to these trades are well educated and supervised during the beginning years of their careers. All the systems and regulations linked to these trades are directly related to public health/safety, and as such, I do not feel that it would ever be wise to reduce the training required to become a journeyman.”
“I am writing today to express my staunch opposition to the proposed regulation changes affecting the plumbing and electrical skilled trades. Both the proposed changes in apprenticeships and licensing are ridiculous and will only hurt the state in the long run. This will negatively impact workers as well as Alaskan contractors. In a downturn economy like we have now, the last thing the state should be doing is knee-capping the employers and workers who contribute to this economy.”
“The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development recently announced proposed regulation changes for plumbers, electricians, power linemen and apprenticeship training for these trades. . . the proposed language dilutes the licensing requirements for journeymen and apprentices. One section proposes an employer’s statement that the applicant has 12,000 hours of work experience but with no training/apprenticeship requirements attached is documentation enough for the state to issue a license. There is no requirement that the applicant has worked any of these hours under the supervision and direction of a licensed journeyman. These occupations can be very dangerous. Apprenticeship programs established by Alaskan contractors and craftsmen have successfully provided a well-trained workforce in these occupations for decades. If these proposed regulations are adopted, there will be more worker injuries and deaths. Mediocre training and licensing requirements can also result in catastrophic equipment failure in buildings and electrical infrastructure systems putting the public’s safety at risk. Current licensing regulations for journeymen and apprentices must be maintained.
”
IN THE NEWS:
Reporting from Alaska, February 3, 2020 - State uses deception to claim public support for attack on apprenticeships
By: Dermot Cole
The Dunleavy administration has distorted the summary of public comments received about proposed regulation changes dealing with construction apprenticeships, claiming that about 175 comments submitted in opposition are “unclear.”
No one reading this sentence, “Why would you want to turn this state into another Alabama?” and the rest of the message in which it was included, could possibly classify that as “unclear,” unless the goal is to mislead Alaskans.
Alaska Landmine, February 2, 2020 - Alaska Department of Labor changes public comment summary on proposed changes to labor regulations
By: Jeff Landfield
On January 24th I published a story, “Lawmakers and industry push back on proposed changes to labor regulations” about the Alaska Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed changes to labor regulations. The story included a document that included public comments, which summarized them as for or against. The document, produced by DOL, showed 377 public comments. All but a few were against the proposed changes. DOL did not give any of the stakeholders, union and non-union, a heads up about the proposed changes.
This is what was included in the first story:
Public comment was totally against the proposed changes. According to the Department, 377 comments came in. 375 were against the changes to the apprenticeship program. Two dealt with other proposed changes. The amount of public comments submitted was much higher than previous public comments the Department of Labor has received in the past.
DOL sent out an updated version of the public comment document to those who had requested it. This is where it gets loose. The new document now shows 176 “Against” and 172 “Unclear.” Now it’s balanced!
Anchorage Daily News, December 28, 2019 - Proposed Dunleavy regulations threaten jobs and workers.
By: Kyle Kaiser and Brandon McGuire
“Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Department of Labor commissioner has released draft regulations that would wreak havoc on Alaska’s construction apprenticeships. These regulations would eliminate career pathways for veterans, while destabilizing our business environment and killing jobs. As veterans who have built careers in the skilled trades, we hope that Labor Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter cancels these job-killing regulations.”
Anchorage Daily News, August 31, 2017 - An Anchorage mom thought she and her children had a flu bug. It was something much more dangerous.
By: Suzanna Caldwell
Sarah Klebs and her husband, Matt, are speaking out about what happened Aug. 20. They said they did not yet have a carbon monoxide detector in the 25-by-30-foot cabin they use frequently. They planned to install a detector, she said, but not until winter, when they'd be spending more time indoors.
Investigators found it was a propane-powered refrigerator that malfunctioned and leaked odorless, colorless carbon monoxide into the home as the three slept.
Anchorage Daily News, April 18, 2009 - Insurance shortfall stalls rebuilding of condo complex.
By: Elizabeth Bluemink
Besides entwining the financial lives of the residents, the aftermath of the June 2007 Park Place blaze has meant nearly two years of refugee living for the burned-out owners, most of them retirees, and a quagmire of frustration and litigation as everyone tries to limit the amount they will have to pay to rebuild the condos.
The association also netted a small legal settlement with the local plumbing company whose employee, an unsupervised apprentice, accidentally set the fire.
BACKGROUND
The Alaska Department of Labor is proposing new regulations that will harm the safety of the public and of working Alaskans. Today, comprehensive training requirements ensure that the people building our homes and key infrastructure are skilled and safe. These regulations would throw that out the window, allowing unscrupulous contractors to hire untrained workers to perform dangerous tasks. When performed incorrectly, this work can result in home fires, electrocution hazards, explosions, contamination between drinking water and sewage, carbon monoxide leaks, and more. In addition, these new regulations will drive down wages in the electrical and plumbing careers, discouraging the next generation of workers from joining these critical professions.
Thank you for standing up for Alaska’s workers and the public.
