TROY, Mich. — Becoming a journeyman in the Sheet Metal Workers union requires completing a four-year program that teaches all facets of the trade. It doesn’t usually include wringing out soggy papers or moving fire-damaged sheet metal forming machinery.
But that was the experience for many apprentices studying at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 292 training center in Troy, Mich. They were called on to help renovate the union’s training center after an electrical fire destroyed the entire building in August 2013.