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Become an Ironworker
Apprenticeship Are you ironworker material?
The road to becoming a journeyman ironworker is through apprenticeship training. The Iron Workers apprenticeship program is a well-organized and supervised method of training people, with little or no knowledge of the craft, to become journeymen ironworkers qualified in all segments of the trade.
Apprentices earn while they learn, working on the job alongside the journeymen. In addition, they attend classes of related and supplemental instruction, approximately 160 hours per year for four years.
Starting wages for ironworker apprentices vary, but are usually 50% of a journeyman’s wage. As an apprentice accumulates an established number of on-the-job hours plus related and supplemental instruction hours, wages are increased at regular intervals.
Graduating apprentices attain journeyman status and receive full pay for the skills they have earned.
Ironworking has many sectors. Each sector involves challenging and difficult work, often on tall structures at high elevations. Ironworkers must be willing to work as a team. They must be able to meet rigid standards and deadlines. They must have a good sense of balance and be alert to potential danger to themselves and others. The apprenticeship program includes comprehensive safety training.
Purpose
By the late 1800s, growing cities, industrial production of goods and the need to move them created a demand for new construction methods, and the Ironworker was born. With structural steel came the ability to economically build skyscrapers, factories and bridges that would last for generations. This revolutionary technology didn’t just transform our city skylines. It transformed the way we live and do business, too.
But it was also difficult and dangerous work. Besides having to invent and perfect a new craft, the first Ironworkers coped with inconsistent safety practices and poor job site conditions, and many lives were lost. In 1896, the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers was formed to improve those conditions.
For more than 120 years, our union has ensured that only the best people do this vital work by making certain that they’re well trained, safe and fairly paid. Besides the physical strength and courage you would expect, Ironwork is a trade that demands specialized technical skills. There are three basic categories of Ironworker.