Doña Ana Community College partners with union

LAS CRUCES — A new agreement between Doña Ana Community College and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 412 opens a two-way road connecting skilled labor with college education. The local represents workers such as plumbers, pipefitters and HVAC workers in New Mexico and the El Paso area.

Under a partnership formalized in a memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday, Local 412 apprentices will be able to earn an associate degree, while DACC students pursuing certification may receive credit under the apprenticeship program for their coursework.

DACC Chancellor Mónica Torres signed the agreement alongside Adam Valdez, the union chapter’s business agent, in a brief ceremony at UA’s training center in east Las Cruces. Among the witnesses were state Reps. Nathan Small and Sarah Silva, both Democrats from Las Cruces, and representatives from the Las Cruces Public Schools and Hatch Valley Schools.

Valdez said the agreement was a boost for the local’s members who, while growing into their trade, “get to have these amazing opportunities, to be able to one day own their own company or be project managers.”

According to Local 412’s website, apprenticeships, in which students train while working and acquire on-the-job experience, typically last five years. Some complete their training in a shorter period, such as students enrolled in the union’s Veterans in Piping program for active military personnel preparing to reenter civilian life.

Torres presented the agreement as an extension of DACC’s mission including “building a strong workforce in our region by aligning our programs with the industries and the apprenticeships in our area.” At the same time, Valdez and Silva both spoke of giving working families opportunities to climb upward.

The new state budget signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in February includes $35 million for career technical education. Combined with other workforce programs, Small said the investment tops $50 million. During the legislative session earlier this year in Santa Fe, he and Silva convened a working group to discuss funding strategies and partnerships aligning economic development and policies benefiting workers.

“Southern New Mexico has always provided ways for families to build off the success of the last generation,” Silva said, linking the opportunity for that mobility to a social compact among private sector investors, government and workers.

A formal partnership such as the one between DACC and Local 412, she said, “is what will move workers and New Mexico into the future.”

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.