IBEW, Local #3 associate degree program at Chelsea Vocational High School

Like their counterparts in most building trades, apprentices in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local #3, learn their craft on the job. Like apprentices in some other trades, they attend technical classes after the workday is over. Unlike apprentices in any other trade, the acquisition of a college degree is also an explicit requirement of their apprenticeship training. IBEW apprentices pursue an associate of science degree in labor studies. These requirements -- work on the job, technical study in the trade and a college education -- distinguish IBEW, Local #3, as a union that values education and acts on its beliefs.

The associate degree curriculum contains two primary components. Students examine labor history, a union's role in an industry and in society as a whole, economics, the changing composition of the workforce, and topics in occupational safety and health. They also learn to express their ideas in writing and become computer literate through writing and computer skills courses. Classes meet once a week for 15 weeks and are taught by experts in the field.

Click here for the fall 2006 schedule.