U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez backs apprentice programs in Nassau visit

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez met with apprentice workers at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway Monday as he pressed for President Barack Obama's goal of doubling the number of apprenticeships nationwide by 2019.

Perez was joined by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), Republican Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, Assemb. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) and Legis. Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) as he toured the East Rockaway plant before a closed-door roundtable discussion with some of the facility's 23 apprentices.

"Apprenticeship is the other college, except without the debt," Perez said of programs that allow participants to learn a skilled trade while earning wages. The programs are generally geared toward preparing participants for permanent, higher paid positions.

Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address called on employers to double the number of apprenticeships to 750,000 by 2019, and last year awarded $175 million in grants to 46 apprenticeship programs across the country. Over the past year, 55,000 apprenticeship positions have been created in the United States, according to federal Department of Labor Statistics.

Rice backed continued investment in apprentice programs, calling them "the great entry into the middle class."

Perez spoke briefly with a handful of apprentice workers Monday at Bay Park, which was damaged in superstorm Sandy in 2012 and is under undergoing a $37.2 million upgrade.

Dick O'Kane, president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Nassau & Suffolk Counties, AFL-CIO, which represents 36 local unions and about 65,000 workers on Long Island and in New York City, noted that unions pay apprentice wages until they complete their training. "People are realizing the value of apprenticeships," O'Kane said.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.