§ Apprenticeship · Registered U.S. DOL
The Local 474 apprenticeship runs out of the Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Training Center in Hammonton, NJ. You earn while you learn — journeyman wages by year four, medical from day one, pension you can actually retire on.
§ 01 · Why apprentice with 474
Local 474 is not a training company. It's a brotherhood — a member-owned union with a hundred years of scale behind it. That means real jobs, real wages, and a real pension. It means the training is paid for by the signatory contractors who hire our graduates. And it means when a job gets tough, you have 800 other members watching your back.
§ 02 · What's covered
Every apprentice earns industry certifications while on the payroll — the same tickets that make our journeymen the most productive marine construction workers in the Mid-Atlantic.
Construction safety, marine hazards, confined space, hot work.
Personal fall arrest, positioning, retrieval systems.
Operator certification for marine and land platforms.
NCCCO Level I & II — critical picks and hand signals.
Entry, attendant and rescue for cofferdams and vessel interiors.
D1.1 structural, D1.5 bridge, path to D3.6 wet welding.
Global Wind Organisation basic safety — first aid, working at height, sea survival, manual handling, fire awareness.
Qualifying journeymen route through the commercial dive program.
American Heart Association — renewed on cycle.
§ 03 · The four-year path
The apprenticeship is broken into four levels. You spend the year on the job with a signatory contractor, and rotate through the Hammonton training center for classroom + hands-on skill blocks each level.
Year 01 · 60% rate
Year 02 · 70% rate
Year 03 · 85% rate
Year 04 · 100% rate
§ 04 · How to apply
Applications are accepted in cycles — typically March and April each year, with off-cycle intake when demand is high. Here's the path:
Every applicant must attend a session before applying. Register at ncatf.org/become-an-apprentice.
You'll learn the program details, meet the training coordinator, and get application instructions.
Send to wsnyder@eascarpenters.org after the session.
Call 215·569·1632 to make sure your file is complete.
Selected applicants sit for the aptitude test and an interview with the joint apprenticeship committee.
Accepted apprentices are indentured and dispatched to a signatory contractor — you're on the clock from day one.
“I came in at twenty-two with nothing but a driver's license. I'm forty now, a journeyman diver, a house paid off, and my kid's tuition covered by the Dooley scholarship. The union built that.”
§ 05 · Get in
Register for the information session today. If you're a good fit, we'll tell you straight. If you're not, we'll tell you what to work on and you can try again next cycle.