It’s National Apprenticeship Week! Apprenticeships help to advance racial, gender, and economic equity. The theme of this year’s National Apprentice Week is “Registered Apprenticeship: Superhighway to Good Jobs.” This week, MnDOT Office of Civil Rights spotlights an apprentice who exemplifies this theme.

Oscar Daniel Vega Reyes graduated in May 2023 from one of the many MnDOT-sponsored training programs designed to promote equity in the highway construction industry. All training is free for accepted applicants who meet the eligibility requirements. Vega graduated with three job offers – one firm wooed him even before training was over. Reyes credits his success to this training, which MnDOT offered in partnership with Building Strong Communities.

“Nobody in my family or no one I know worked a union job. We worked in restaurants and small construction jobs. I didn’t have anyone to ask about unions, and nobody is like ‘Hey you should come work over here and make more money and have better benefits.’ So I searched the internet, and came across Building Strong Communities. I signed up for that because they show you other trades too, so that got me even more interested. There’s not only one union, so you can go where you think you’ll be good at.”

Hands-on training provided Vega with the skills needed to work as an operating engineer, as well as exposure to other trades such as cement masonry and ironwork. He and his classmates also received personal protective equipment and earned Occupational Safety and Health certification. Participants toured active construction sites and had many chances to network. Practicing interviewing with contractors was especially valuable. Vega said, “They say it’s a mock interview, but it’s still an interview, you know! Some of the employers, they’re checking you out right from the start.”

Participating in this intensive training meant that Vega had to quit his job for three months. It was a risk that weighed having no paychecks against a no-cost opportunity that might lead to a good paying job with excellent benefits. But there’s no guarantee that a training graduate will be hired as an on-the-job apprentice. “It’s scary, you don’t know if you’re going to get a job or not,” Vega said. “You’re just going through the program wondering if you may get a job at the end, even with BSC assistance it's still scary, you just don't know.”

Vega said, “But in the end, it's all worth it.”

Vega really enjoys working with heavy equipment, like excavators, dozers, and backhoes. Now he continues to learn on the job, working for Frattalone Companies as an apprentice in the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49. Every worked hour counts toward moving through four levels of apprenticeship on the way to journeyman.

“At my last job, I was working 75 hours per week, now I work less and make about the same amount of money plus better benefits. Now I spend more time with my family, and I get to see my daughter grow.

“All of this merely in my first year as an apprentice, I know it will get even better down the road.”