At a time when union and nonunion shops are battling over whose apprenticeship programs are better, an administrative law judge on April 22, 2005, upheld the decertification of the California Apprenticeship Council, effectively stripping its right to certify apprentices. The approval process will now be handled at the federal level.
In May 2002, the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employment and Labor Services (OATELS) initiated derecognition proceedings against the California Department of Industrial Relations (CDIR); in April 2003, similar proceedings were started with the California Apprenticeship Council (CAC) (Case Nos. 2002-CCP-00001, 2003-CCP-00001).