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Andrew Demmitt: Representing the Next Generation

It's rare today to find a twenty year old with a steady, well-paying job who also happens to be a homeowner – but for Andrew Demmitt, this is the place he finds himself in.

Andrew is a first year apprentice with the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BACWI) – and the youngest member of his class. “My age doesn't make a big difference,” he noted. “Everyone is just really helpful on the job.”

Andrew always knew that he wanted to join the trades and had the encouragement of his mother, his father, a union water utility operator, and his grandparents – German Austrian immigrants who worked as farmers and blacksmiths. “My grandparents always told me to join the trades because it was steady, honest work,” Andrew recalled.

Still, getting into the trades was not an easy road for Andrew. His high school did not offer many options for training and Andrew had a hard time finding information on union apprenticeships. After graduation, Andrew took classes at a local technical college and started doing non-union masonry work.

“It was not what I had in mind. The people I worked with were often cranky and work was not always available – but the biggest issue was safety procedures. I felt uneasy on job sites more than once, and safety practices were always in question.”

Andrew knew that he could do better in the union trades, and eventually he was able to get the information he needed for an apprenticeship. He went through testing and was able to get into the program with BACWI.

“I'm learning more now through Mark Graf and on the job site than I ever learned in my college classes,” Andrew said. “The union offers better quality work and training, great benefits and safer job sites.”

Andrew is currently working for Ray Anderson, Inc. and recently took second place in the first year division of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers state apprenticeship competition in Sheboygan, putting to good use the skills he has learned from his union apprenticeship training.

And at only twenty years old, Andrew finds himself lucky to have learned quicker than most the benefits that union work can provide.

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