--- title: Sprinkler fitter apprenticeships pave the way to good paying careers description: Tim Coleman, UA Local 669 JATC Recruitment and Outreach Specialist, joined AWF Union Podcast to discuss union apprenticeship programs and more. image: https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/UA%20Mic%20image%20red.jpg --- 1 min read Season 2, Episode 191 # Sprinkler fitter apprenticeships pave the way to good paying careers [ awfblog ](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog) October 4, 2021 [United Association](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/united-association) [America's Work Force Union Podcast](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/americas-work-force-union-podcast) [Union Responsibilities](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/union-responsibilities) ![AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_sprinklerfitters669](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_sprinklerfitters669.png?width=400&height=400&name=AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_sprinklerfitters669.png)   Guest Name: --- Tim Coleman Guest Website: --- [sprinklerfitters669.org](https://www.sprinklerfitters669.org/) Guest Social Media: --- [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077026230165) [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/UAPipeTrades?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) [ YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvChrFerwSURSFLXD6WM_w) [ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/local-union-669) Supportive Documents: --- In the last year, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) affiliates combined to invest roughly $2 billion in training and education. The United Association (UA) invests about $300 million every year to train their apprentices and journeymen. Tim Coleman, UA Local 669 JATC Recruitment and Outreach Specialist, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss outreach efforts of the JATC, particularly when it comes to sprinkler fitter apprenticeship programs. Registered Apprenticeship Programs — America’s best kept secret The UA Local 669 JATC provides sprinkler fitting apprenticeship training across their 48 state jurisdiction, excluding Hawaii and Florida. Their main focus is to educate the next generation of sprinkler fitters and dates back to the Apprenticeship Act of 1937, which established the curriculum based on federal guidelines. As a Recruitment and Outreach Specialist, Coleman said he actively recruits at high schools, military installations and among the formerly incarcerated. He referred to registered apprenticeship programs as America’s best kept secret. For close to 100 years, the JATC program has been the number one pathway to the middle class. While the pandemic forced the JATC to change the way it trains apprentices, it did not stop training. Instead, training continues to accelerate because more sprinkler fitters are needed throughout the nation, he added. Coleman said this training makes UA members the nation’s fire protection specialists. Properly installed sprinkler systems save lives The job of a sprinkler fitter is to protect lives, property and assets through the installation, inspection and repair of fire suppression systems. The need for the program became obvious after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, in which 147 garment workers became trapped in a building that caught fire without a sprinkler system, Coleman said. The tragedy in Manhattan brought widespread attention to the dangerous conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers, among which mandated the installation of fire suppression systems. Today, fire suppression systems include water sprinklers as well as the dispensing of nitrogen and foam, he added. --- 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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