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[article provided by Lona. Thanks!]

 http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/link/biz/4bout02-21-00.htm

Monday, February 21, 2000
Builder Will Train Navajo Apprentices
Commercial Enterprises will need carpenters for jobs on
reservation and elsewhere

By Diane Velasco
Journal Staff Writer

 A commercial builder has entered into an agreement with the Navajo Nation
to include Navajo young people in the company's carpentry apprenticeship
program.
 Commercial Enterprises Inc. agreed to sign on as many as 25 apprentices
because the company expects to do several projects on the reservation, said
Chuck Cambron, apprenticeship coordinator.
 But the 5-year-old company also is investing the time in its apprenticeship
program as a recruitment effort, he said.
 "We just know that having a training program will help us in the future,"
Cambron said. "Any company in today's market needs to be preparing young
people, to continue to have a strong work force."
 One of the objectives of the apprenticeship program is to fully integrate
Navajo builders into the company's permanent work force, he said.
 The high unemployment rate on the Navajo reservation was an important
factor in the company's decision to enter into the agreement with the tribe,
Cambron said.
 Navajo Nation press officer Mellor Willie said unemployment has reached
58.4 percent.
 Currently Commercial is training 13 apprentices, seven of them Navajos, who
are helping to build the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Santa Ana Pueblo. More
apprentices will be needed to do two health centers on the Arizona portion
of the reservation, and Commercial anticipates several larger projects,
Cambron said.
 The apprentices will receive up to $15 an hour during their training.
 Navajo Nation deputy director of human resources Harold M. Bahe said
programs such as Commercial's fit into the tribe's long-term goal of
self-sufficiency for the Navajo work force.
 "We don't have any real significant private-sector development taking place
right now," Bahe said. "We have to resort to off-reservation job
opportunities whenever possible."
 Navajo President Kelsey Begaye wants to establish relationships
specifically with off-reservation companies that provide training, Bahe
said.
 While most contractors bring in their own workers on jobs, Cambron said,
Commercial would be willing to use a 100 percent Navajo work force for the
reservation projects.
 Apprentices must be at least 18 years old. They learn to do metal framing,
drywall hanging and finishing, and welding. By the end of the 27-month
training period, which includes 144 hours of classroom study, apprentices
will be certified as journeymen by the U.S. Department of Labor, Cambron
said. The certification card is recognized throughout the United States but
is issued by the state government.
 Some funding of apprenticeship programs are a provision of the Job Training
Partnership Act that is ending this year, as well as its replacement, the
Workforce Investment Act, said Elicia Castellano with the state Department
of Labor.
 Under the Job Training Partnership Act, the Navajo Nation must report to
the state Department of Labor, which in turn reports to the state Workforce
Development Board, a financial oversight board.
 With the Workforce Investment Act, the Navajo Nation requested to report
directly to the U.S. Department of Labor, Castellano said. The Navajos will
administer the programs under the act on the reservation.
 

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