By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE newly established GCA Trades Academy will not just benefit individual workers, it will also benefit the business community, education director Bert Johnston said.
Indeed, Johnston said the academy has been getting a lot of support from the business community because business leaders realize the value of having a skilled workforce.
The academy offers a variety of craft training classes designed specifically for construction and related industries.
Given start-up funding by the Guam Contractors Association, the academy was established to provide a nationally recognized industry skills training center that would support U.S. Department of Labor-recognized apprenticeship training programs.
With classes starting last October, Johnston said the academy is now training many students in heavy equipment operation, electrical skills, and carpentry — skills that will come in handy when the military expansion on Guam begins in earnest.
The academy has some 40 highly proficient instructors to train the students. “Our instructors are practitioners themselves of the specific skills that they teach. So our students stand to benefit a lot from this practical training,” Johnston said.
The impetus for creating the academy came after many construction companies expressed frustration about the lack of qualified workers on island. With the military’s announcement that it would be relocating 8,000 Marines to Guam, the sense of urgency grew and GCA members decided to pony up about $50,000 to provide the seed money for the academy.
Johnston stressed, however, that the academy is not the sole solution to the island’s labor problems.
However, Johnston has high hopes for the academy, saying that it can be a regional center that can train students from the neighboring islands. This not only gives poor islanders a new set of skills to improve their life, it also provides Guam with a wider pool of workers to tap.
In fact, because of the shortage of local and H-2 workers, the construction industry has already been tapping the neighboring Micronesian islands for workers.
The tuition that students have to pay is very affordable and varies depending on the course. Johnston said this was deliberately done to attract as many students as possible. Students can also choose the date and time for their classes, making the courses very attractive to people who already hold jobs and want to learn about a new career.
“All in all, this is for the benefit of the whole economy. The more skilled workers we have, the better for the businesses, which can expand further. And the skilled workers’ income will rise significantly, improving their station in life, and boosting the money circulating in the economy. Everybody wins,” Johnston said.
He added that the academy is not competing with other vocational institutions like Guam Community College. Rather, the academy seeks to supplement and complement the courses being offered in other institutions.
“We are also working closely with the federal government, the Guam Department of Labor and the Agency for Human Resources Development. We are applying for federal grants so we can increase our funding,” Johnston said.