Advancing Plaster Craft Skills and Options

Plaster instructor John Totten, Local 5 NY, shown here at IMI’s National Training Center, enjoys helping to give BAC a training edge in the growing plaster market.

Growth in the plaster market creates new opportunities, and IMI is there to provide quality training to ensure that the work continues to go to BAC members. IMI training “helps BAC’s reputation,” says BAC Wisconsin District Council Field Representative Owen Jones, by expanding the number of skilled craftworkers available to BAC employers.

In each of the past two years, Jones has turned to IMI to deliver quality training to BAC members that wanted to upgrade their plaster skills, in this case, to Green Bay, Wisconsin members. The courses cover traditional plaster, EIFS, and cornice and ornamental plaster. Plaster restoration will be added soon.

“Our members deserve the opportunity to learn the trade the right way, so that the work will stay with BAC,” says Jones. He keeps in close touch with contractors, who welcome what IMI training and BAC could deliver—results that allowed BAC to reach new areas in the state.

For Local 5 New York, IMI training provided a solid foundation for pre-job apprentices, while meeting plaster contractors’ needs. In 1999 and 2000, two 12-week pre-apprentice classes were conducted, “because we had to give the plastering industry a boost,” says Local 5 Vice Chair and Field Representative Manny Valente. The program included outreach efforts to recruit minorities, “It’s the right move for the Union and IMI, and we’re opening doors,” says Valente. Plaster training is also provided throughout the IMI regional training system, and at the National Training Center at Ft. Ritchie.

Upcoming programs include a pre-job course in New Jersey and EIFS training in New England. For more information, contact Clarence Nichols at 1-301-241-5507 or cnichols@imiweb.org.