Amid rancor, PHA construction training program is back

PHILADELPHIA Tempers flared this time last year between the Philadelphia Housing Authority and unions in the building trades.

A look at what happened to 24-year-old Abdul Mujahid helps explain why.

Mujahid signed up for the PHA training program to prepare himself for a job in construction. He spent weeks learning the basics of electrical work, plumbing, and carpentry.

After graduating in 2010, he passed union tests to become an apprentice and put his name on waiting lists.

"I knew it wasn't going to be overnight, that I had to be persistent," he said.

Years passed. Nothing happened. Mujahid gave up and went to work for a Peco subcontractor, shutting off meters of delinquent customers.

Last January, PHA decided to scrap the training program for residents and start anew, angering powerful unions in the building trades.

The housing authority was spending more than $2 million a year on the pre-apprenticeship program, employing union instructors at a state-of-the-art facility in South Philadelphia.

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Amid rancor, PHA construction training program is back