Caretakers Build Career Path

Earlier this year, 11 caretakers were hard at work demolishing old plaster walls and putting up new ones at Manhattanville Houses. But they weren’t working in residents’ apartments or  common spaces. They were in the basement at the Training Center, taking their final exam.

Through an agreement with Teamsters Local 237, the caretakers performed expanded job duties for the past year or more while assisting NYCHA’s plasterers. Now they had to pass the hands-on final to retain the specialized position.

Three plastering supervisors plus Human Resources training manager John Vellucci carefully watched and rated each student at five separate tasks. First they safety took down old walls and prepared for new ones with metal  studs and wire lath. Then they applied the “scratch coat” to stiffen the lath, a brown coat to make the surface fl at, and the finish coat of plaster to make the wall ready for painting.

“After being a caretaker for so many years, it’s good to learn something new,” said Yvette Velasco, who started working at NYCHA 13 years ago as a seasonal employee.

“Learning while working in the field at the same time really helped,” said Anthony Mooney, who was performing his scratch coat test. “We learned from each other as well as from our teachers. It was a really good experience.”

Many of the students mentioned that the plasterer they worked  with noticed as their skills increased during the one-year training course that met weekly.

“We need to train these people because there’s not enough qualified plasterers out there,” said  Plasterer Supervisor Nicholas Romano. “This benefits NYCHA greatly and what the students  learn you can’t find in a book.”

Supervisor Plasterer Ed Masterson, who delivered most of the training for the class, agreed. “These skills are not available in the employment pool. This training is essential to develop skilled plastering staff that can make lasting repairs to our buildings.”

At the graduation ceremony a few weeks later, Human Resources Director Kenya Salaudeen congratulated the students, who had all passed the exam with extremely high grades. “A year-long program is a tough road and you are here today to get your grades and certificate for going through this process. NYCHA will follow-up to see how we can continue to support caretakers P so they can further develop their trade and professional qualifications.”

The graduates are: Darren Bryant, Justin Conyers, John Delmis, Contessa Evans , Shaun Fulford, Christopher Marcus, Anthony Mooney, Miguel Ortiz, Rafael Ruiz, and Yvette Velasco.