MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker once told then-candidate Donald Trump “we don’t need an apprentice in the White House.”
But on Tuesday the president and his daughter Ivanka Trump will join Walker to tour Waukesha County Technical College and talk about the importance of providing on-the-job training to workers in industries that sometimes struggle to find qualified people.
Wisconsin was the first state in the country to pass a law establishing apprenticeship programs in 1911, the same year what is now the technical college system was created. Now there are 11,000 adults and 3,500 high school students in apprenticeship programs overseen by the state.
Eric Haban, 35, started as a youth apprentice as a junior in high school and then completed a four-year program at Lakeshore Technical College, located in between Sheboygan and Manitowoc. He learned to be a machinist for LDI Industries, a Manitowoc-based company that makes hydraulic components and lubricating equipment.
“It really gave me a jump start to get into a field that I had no prior experience in,” said Haban, who now coordinates apprentice programs for the company.
LDI Industries always struggled with larger companies poaching its workers for slightly higher pay, but saw investing in apprenticeship programs as a way to attract and retain more workers, said John Lukas, the company’s vice president of manufacturing.
“We’re really using that as a marketing tool to say everyone isn’t cut out for a four-year college,” Lukas said.
