Training For The Future

No other organization serves the training needs of the piping industry like the United Association. For over a century, the UA has been training the most highly-qualified workers in the United States and Canada.

Over the past several decades, the United Association's training programs have produced a stable, skilled workforce responsible for building and maintaining piping systems in the various industrial and residential facilities that make up the North American landscape.

No one can match our commitment or investment. The UA spends over $130 million annually on training program efforts involving approximately 100,000 journeymen and apprentices in over 400 local training facilities at any given time.

In addition to five-year apprenticeship programs, the United Association offers continuing education opportunities that include journeyman training and certifications in valve repair, welding, backflow prevention, medical gas installation, safe removal of refrigerants, and many more.

Apprenticeship Training

The United Association has the first nationally registered joint apprenticeship program in the United States, dating back to 1936, and is now proudly entering its seventh decade.

Individuals who enter a United Association five-year apprenticeship program are part of a select group of men and women motivated to learn a complex and challenging trade while upholding the ideals of trade unionism.

Applicants are evaluated on the same fair basis, without regard to race, sex, national origin or religious affiliation.

UA apprentices learn through both classroom and on-the-job training in what is considered by many to be the best construction industry apprentice program in the world. The five-year apprenticeship period is divided into one-year segments, each of which includes 1,700 to 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and a minimum of 246 hours of related classroom instruction.

All UA apprentices receive a strong general education background in the trade, with core courses in basics such as mathematics, mechanical drafting, and related science. At an appropriate juncture apprentices can choose a specific curriculum to pursue with the goal of becoming a journeyman plumber, pipefitter, sprinklerfitter, or a service technician in the air-conditioning/refrigeration field, or any of the other many service opportunities in the industry.

All training programs are run through United Association local joint training committees in specific cities or regions, and are directed by the International Training Fund. One of the things that makes the UA training program so successful is that we view it as a joint partnership between labor and management.

Apprenticeship is a serious and vigorous undertaking: UA apprentices must work the same hours as journeymen plus attend day or night classes. Yet, this can be a highly rewarding career path for an individual who is motivated to learn the piping trade and become an active member of a proud and noble trade union.

Journeyman Training

Once UA members complete their five-year apprenticeships, they become full-fledged journeymen. However, their education in the trade is by no means over at this point. In fact, United Association members are very serious about pursuing lifelong training and most of them take advantage of the many opportunities they have to update and expand their skills.

Certification Programs

Certification is the wave of the future in the piping industry. With the increasingly complex and challenging work that must be done by the modern pipe mechanic, it is almost required that craftsmen seek some form of official validation of their skills. In addition to the considerable prestige and knowledge that comes with being a UA journeyman, UA members can also pursue these certifications in a variety of specialized areas.

UA Certification Programs include valve repair, medical gas installation, welding, refrigerant handling, industrial rigging, UA/MCA foreman, geo thermal, green awareness, and instrumentation. Each of these programs rely on third party validation for an objective evaluation and testing of our members' skills and abilities.

Welder's Certification Program

The UA Welder Certification Program has no parallel in the building and construction industry. Developed and designed to help meet the growing need for experienced, quality welders.

The program provides pre-tested, certified and immediately available journeymen welders throughout the United States and Canada at no cost to the construction user. The United Association underwrites the cost of testing and qualifying its welders by independent testers, auditors and other third parties involved in the program's success.

Who Needs UA Certified Welders?

America's power companies are leading the way in signing on to the United Association Welder Certification Program. With the energy industry's increasing necessity for improved quality and safety standards to protect the public, the UA trained welders are prepared to meet and exceed these requirements.

Breweries and other food and beverage producers; pharmaceutical, educational, medical, and correctional facilities; malls and other large commercial developments all depend this quality of workmanship.

UA's Welder Certification Process

UA welders are tested at local training sites across the United States and Canada under a consistent set of guidelines and rules.

Applicants are tested on the welding processes most commonly used on the majority of construction projects. Welders can choose to seek certification in any or all processes.

The flexible program can accommodate special requirements of users and contractors. A user can request that welders be tested and certified for a specialized procedure that may be needed on a new or unique process.

Instructor Training

Educating the instructors who will teach in local union training programs is just as important to the UA's training efforts as is the apprentice and journeyman training that they will provide to others. UA instructors must be kept abreast of any technological changes, such as the newest methods and latest equipment, as well as any codes and regulations that affect what they teach UA members in their home locals.

The United Association has developed a well-respected and highly-effective college accredited program of instructor education consisting of five one-week sessions over a period of five years which dates back to 1954.

Mobile Training

The United Association owns a number of mobile facilities equipped to train our members in various locations across the United States and Canada. Even if a local union does not have the necessary equipment for a particular program, we can get those members the training they need to succeed in the field. In the United Association, we have found ways to get all of our members trained to the very highest levels of their profession whether in the biggest local union in the biggest city or the smallest local covering a more remote, rural area.