--- title: Local grows apprenticeship program ahead of Ford battery project description: The America’s Work Force Union Podcast is the nation’s premier daily labor program. Mark Adams of SMART Local 110 joined us on today’s show. image: https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/SMART%20Local%20110%20red%20mic.jpg --- 1 min read Season 3, Episode 185 # Local grows apprenticeship program ahead of Ford battery project [ awfblog ](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog) September 20, 2022 [Local Union](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/local-union) [America's Work Force Union Podcast](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/americas-work-force-union-podcast) [Jobs](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/jobs) [Labor-Management](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/labor-management) [SMART](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/smart) ![SMART Local 110](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/SMART%20Local%20110.jpg?width=407&name=SMART%20Local%20110.jpg)   Guest Name: --- Mark Adams Guest Website: --- [smart110.org](http://smart110.org/wp/) Guest Social Media: --- [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/SMARTLOCAL110/) [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/smartunionworks?lang=en) [ YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/c/SMARTUnion) [ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/iasmart) Supportive Documents: --- [Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation (SMART) Local 110](http://smart110.org/wp/) Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer Benjamin “Mark” Adams joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the Local’s efforts to grow its apprenticeship programs to help meet the demand for workers to build Ford’s $5.8 billion electric battery campus in Kentucky. Local 110 represents about 1,300 members in western Kentucky.  The Ford project will be constructed on a 1,551-acre site in Glendale and will supply the automaker’s North American assembly plants with batteries to power the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. State officials believe the campus will make Kentucky the nation’s largest producer of electric automotive batteries. Adams talked about how the campus will impact the workload for his membership and efforts to grow the Local’s apprenticeship programs to meet the demand for workers. Currently, enrollment stands at 95 apprentices, which is up from 65. He hopes to soon grow the program to 125 apprentices. He also discussed the impact of last July’s devastating floods in Kentucky.  Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics. --- America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues. America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers. - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ##### SUBSCRIBE ON: --- [![Group 342](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png?width=171&name=Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/id1511224946) [![Group 341](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Spotify%20Button-Dark.png?width=100&name=Spotify%20Button-Dark.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/0GzkHxFSBxiXvuX0lZpQBn) [![Group 343](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20343.png?width=135&name=Group%20343.png)](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast-62567752/) [![Group 339](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20339.png?width=110&name=Group%20339.png)](https://www.pandora.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/PC:47979) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20397.png?width=125&name=Group%20397.png)](https://americasworkforceradiopodcast.podbean.com/) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/YouTube_button.png?width=125&name=YouTube_button.png)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuQo1PAtRAel1_tS7-PQOkA)   #### [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/brotherhood-of-railroad-signalmen-on-the-union-pacific-merger-threat) : July 6, 2026 # Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat Brandon Elvey, Secretary-Treasurer of the [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen](https://www.brs.org/),... 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