Northhampton News

Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Dept. of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh announced the opening of the Yellow Corporation truck driving apprenticeship program, which will take place in Carlisle, in Cumberland County.

According to a release on March 29, the Yellow CDL Driving Academy is registered through her DOL’s Apprenticeship Program. It will provide apprentice drivers with four weeks of classes and hands-on training behind the wheel with the assistance of an experienced instructor. It is tuition free, and students will also be paid for earning their commercial driver's license.

“The success of Yellow’s CDL academy in producing some of the safest drivers on the road reflects the great power and promise of apprenticeship to be a proven workforce tool in the trucking industry,” Secretary Walsh said. “The trucking apprenticeship challenge has shown that joint labor management programs and public-private partnerships are critical, and that we succeed when we work together.”

Gov. Wolf said that the apprenticeship programs are designed to prepare workers for success through giving them skills to compete for good jobs. In 2016, the Wolf Administration established the Department of Labor and Industry Apprenticeship and Training Office. It supports 17,000 active apprenticeships, 5,000 new apprentices and more than 1,500 active apprenticeship programs across the state. It is also focused on expanding the model to non-traditional jobs and for under-represented communities in Pennsylvania.

“The investments we’re making in apprenticeships and other forms of hands-on and on-the-job training are already helping us get more Pennsylvanians into careers where they can succeed,” Gov. Walsh said. “This is more important than ever as Pennsylvania’s economy continues to rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Yellow Corporation has 32,000 transportation professionals employed in North America. It also transports 20 million shipments a year to 250,000 customers. Most recently it opened 17 new driving academies, has worked to improve safety and emissions, and also increase the number of female drivers through the Women’s Inclusion Network.