Chap. 421.—An ACT to provide for a system of voluntary apprenticeship and
the regulation and supervision of apprenticeship agreements; to create an
apprenticeship council and the office of secretary of the said council; to define
the powers and duties of the said council; and to repeal all acts and parts
of acts in conflict with this act. | | [H B 347]

Approved April 1, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as follows:

Section 1. The Governor shall appoint an apprenticeship council,
composed of three representatives each from employer and employee
organizations respectively. . The Commissioner of Labor and the State
supervisor of trade and industrial education shall be members, ex
officio, of the council. At the beginning of each year the Governor shall
designate one member to serve as chairman. The terms of office of the
members of the apprenticeship council first appointed by the Governor
shall expire as designated by the Governor at the time of making the
appointment; one representative each of employers, and employees,
being appointed for one year, one representative each of employers,
and employees, being appointed for two years, and one representative
each of employers and employees for three, years. Thereafter, each
member shall be appointed for a term of three years. Any member
appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the
term of his predecessor shall be appointed for the remainder of said
term.

The apprenticeship council shall meet at the call of the chairman
of the council and shall formulate policies for the effective administra-
tion of this act.

The apprenticeship council shall establish standards for apprentice
agreements which shall not be lower than those prescribed by this
act, and shall perform such other functions as may be necessary to
carry out the intent and purposes of this act. Not less than once a
year the apprenticeship council shall make a report of its activities
and findings to the Legislature and to the public. |
Section 2. The Commissioner of Labor, with the advice and guid-
ance of the council, shall be responsible tr administering he provisions
of this act.

Section 3. The council, in cooperation: with the local and Binie
joint apprenticeship committees, is authorized to determine standards
for apprentice agreements, which standards shall not be lower than
those prescribed by this act; to appoint the secretary of the appren-
ticeship council to act as secretary of each State joint apprenticeship
committee ; to approve, if in their opinion approval is for the best in-
terest of the apprentice, any apprentice agreement which meets the stand-
ards established under this act; to terminate or cancel any apprentice
agreement in accordance with ‘the provisions of such agreement ; to
keep a record of apprentice agreements and their disposition; to issue
certificates of journeymanship upon the completion of the apprentice-
ship; and to perform such other duties as are necessary to carry out
the intent of this act; provided, that the administration and super-
vision of related and supplemental instruction for apprentices, co-
ordination of instruction with job experiences, and the selection and
training of teachers and coordinators for such instruction shall be the
responsibility of State and local boards responsible for vocational edu-
cation.

Section 4. A_ local joint apprenticeship committee shall be ap-
pointed, in any trade or group of trades in a city or trade area, by the
apprenticeship council, whenever the apprentice training needs of such
trade or group of trades justifies such establishment. |

When two or more local joint apprenticeship committees have been
established in the State for a trade or group of trades, or at the re-
quest of any trade or group of trades, the apprenticeship council may
appoint a State apprenticeship committee for such trade or group of
trades. Such local and State joint apprenticeship committees shall be
composed of an equal number of employer and employee representa-
tives chosen from names submitted by the respective employer and
employee organizations in such trade or group of trades. In a trade
or group of trades in which there is no bona fide employer or employee
organization, the committee shall be appointed from persons known to
represent the interests of employers and of employees respectively.

The function of a local joint apprenticeship committee shall be: To
cooperate with school authorities in regard to the education of ap-
prentices; in accordance with standards established by the apprentice-
ship council to establish local standards of apprenticeship regarding
schedule of operations, application of wage rates, working conditions
for apprentices, the number of apprentices which shall be employed
locally in the trade, and to adjust apprenticeship disputes.

The functions of a State trade apprenticeship committee shall be
to assist in the establishment of Statewide standards of apprenticeship
and in the development of local standards and local: committees.

Section 5. The term “apprentice” shall mean a person at least
sixteen years of age who is covered by a written agreement with an
employer and approved by the State apprenticeship council, which
apprentice agreement provides for not less than four thousand hours
of reasonably .continuous employment for such person, for his partici-
pation in an approved schedule of work experience through employ-
ment and for at least one hundred and forty-four hours per year of
related supplemental instruction.

Section 6. Every apprentice agreechent entered into under this
act shall contain:

(1) The names of the contracting parties.
(2) The date of birth of the apprentice.

(3) A statement of the trade, craft, or business which the appren-
tice is to be taught, and the time at which the apprenticeship will begin
and end.

(4) A statement showing the number of hours to be spent by
the apprentice in work and the number of hours to be spent in related
and supplemental instruction, which instruction shall be not less than
one hundred and forty-four hours per year.

(5) <A statement setting forth a schedule of the processes in the
trade or industry division in which the apprentice is to be taught and
the approximate time to be spent at each process.

(6) <A statement of the graduated scale of wages to be paid the
apprentice and whether the required school time shall be compensated.

(7) A statement providing for a period of probation of not less
than five hundred hours of employment and instruction extending over
not less than four months, during which time the apprentice agreement
shall be terminated by the council at the request in writing of either
party, and providing that after such probationary period the apprentice
agreement may be terminated by the council by mutual agreement of
all parties thereto, or cancelled by the council for good and sufficient
reason.

(8) <A provision that all controversies or differences concerning the
apprentice agreement which cannot be adjusted locally in accordance
with section four shall be submitted to the council for determination
as provided for in section nine.

(9) <A provision that an employer who is unable to fulfill his
obligation under the apprentice agreement may with the approval of
the council transfer such contract to any other employer, provided, that
the apprentice consents and that such other employer agrees to assume
the obligations of said apprentice agreement.

(10) Such additional terms and conditions as may be prescribed
or approved by the council not inconsistent with the provisions of this
act.

Section 7. No apprentice agreement under this act shall be effec-
tive until approved by the council. Every apprentice agreement shall
be signed by the employer, or by an association of employers or an
organization of employees as provided in section eight, and by the ap-
prentice, and if the apprentice is a minor, by the minor’s father; pro-
vided that if the father he dead ar legally incanahle af o1vine cancent
or has abandoned his family then by the minor’s mother ; if both father
and mother be dead or legally incapable of giving consent, then by
the guardian of the minor. Where a minor enters into an apprentice
agreement under this act for a period of training extending into his
majority, the apprentice agreement shall likewise be binding for such
a period as may be covered during the apprentice’s majority.

Section 8. For the purpose of providing greater diversity of train-
ing or continuity of employment, any apprentice agreement made under
this act may in the discretion of the council be signed by an association
of employers or an organization of employees instead of by an. indi-
vidual employer. In such a case, the apprentice agreement shall ex-
pressly provide that the association of employers or organization of
employees does not assume the obligation of an employer but agrees
to use its best endeavors to procure employment and training for such
apprentice with one or more employers who will accept full responsibility,
as herein provided, for all the terms and conditions of employment and
training set forth in said agreement between the apprentice and em-
ployer association or employee organization during the period of each
such employment. The apprentice agreement in such a case shall also
expressly provide for the transfer of the apprentice, subject to the
approval of the council, to such employer or employers who shall sign
a written agreement with the apprentice, and if the apprentice is a
minor with his parent or guardian, as specified in section seven, con-
tracting to employ said apprentice for the whole or a definite part of the
total period of apprenticeship under the terms and conditions of em-
ployment and training set forth in the said agreement entered into
between the apprentice and employer association or employee organiza-
tion. :

Section 9. Upon the complaint of any interested person or upon
its own initiative, the secretary of the apprenticeship council may in-
vestigate to determine if there has been a violation of the terms of an
apprentice agreement, made under this act, and he may hold hearings,
inquiries, and other proceedings necessary to such investigations and
determination. The parties to such agreement shall be given a fair and
impartial hearing, after reasonable notice thereof in writing.

The determination of the council shall be made known in writing to
parties interested and shall be filed with the apprenticeship council.
If no appeal therefrom is filed with the chairman of the council within
ten days after the date thereof, as herein provided, such determination
shall become the order of the council. Any person aggrieved by any
determination or action of the council may appeal to the courts. The
decision of the council shall be conclusive if such appeal therefrom shall
not be filed within thirty days after the date of such order or decision.

.No person shall institute any action for the enforcement of any
apprentice agreement, or damages for the breach of any apprentice
agreement, made under this act, unless he shall first have exhausted
all administrative remedies provided by this section.

Section 10. Nothing in this act or in any apprentice agreement
approved under this act shall operate to invalidate any apprenticeship
provision in any collective agreement between employers and employees,
setting up higher apprenticeship standards. Provided, however, that
none of the terms or provisions of this act shall apply to any person,
firm, corporation or crafts unless and until such person, firm, cor-
poration or crafts voluntarily elects that the terms and provisions of this
act shall apply.

Section 11. If any provision of this act, or the application there-
of to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the
act, and the application of such provision to other person and circum-
stances, shall not be affected thereby.

2. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.