On Saturday 12/14/2024, Four apprentices from around DC16 competed to see who will be the solo representative from our council to be sent to the International’s Apprentice Contest in Las Vegas at the end of January. Martin Alonso Diaz from BT Mancini Local 567 (Reno), Angel Lazaro from Welker Bros Local 12, Edgar Lopez from Hoem & Associates Local 12 and Felipe Manning from DSB+ Local 12 put their skills to the test and all of them did an amazing job. The Journeymen that have trained these apprentices should be proud because the judges are going to have a hard time picking a winner. Each apprentice started at 8am and had until 2pm to do a mock up which consisted of coving sheetgoods as well as following a specific diagram on putting in an inset and wielding. Judges will be in this week to pick the winner. The winner will be sent to Las Vegas to compete against the best apprentice from DC5 (Portland/Seattle), DC36 (Southern California) and DC50 (Hawaii) to be crowned the best flooring apprentice in our International Union. My hat is off to the above mentioned apprentices for the great job that they did and they should feel accomplished by what they did! Our union’s success has a bright future with installers like these apprentices!        

All four apprentices are getting started to see who represents DC16.

Martin Alonso Diaz – BT Mancini Reno

Felipe Manning – DSB+ Livermore

Edgar Lopez – Hoem & Associates South San Francisco

Angel Lazaro – Welker Bros Milpitas