Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry takes a lot of credit or saving the apprenticeship program housed in her department.

Berry was in Kannapolis on Monday to meet with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College leaders and to give a labor forecast, the Salisbury Post reports.

Berry, a Republican, told leaders the trades are the best thing for many young people and that she fought hard to retain control of the apprenticeship program, in which businesses take on and certify apprentices.

When Gov. Beverly Perdue wanted to give the apprenticeship program to the N.C. Community College System, Berry "threw my body over it" to keep the program in the labor department, she said.

Perdue, a Democrat, had proposed shifting all the functions of the program, which was created in the 1930s to the community colleges, since it fit better with the colleges' mission. The legislature kept the program in Berry's department, although it required it to become more self-sufficient. 

Natural and economic resources includes the state's agricultural and environmental agencies as well as the departments of labor and commerce.

All agencies within this category will see vacant positions eliminated.

The budget proposal would also:

* Increase the annual fee to register pesticides administered by the Department of Agriculture from $100 to $150 to raise $500,000.

* Require the Labor Department to charge enough fees for an apprenticeship program to raise $450,000. The figure would offset a 25 percent reduction in funding for the program.

* Eliminate 70 vacant positions in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to save $3.4 million.

* Reduce by $50 million each year for two years the appropriation to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

* Require the Department of Commerce to sell the state's King Air plane and reduce all costs associated with operating it, including a pilot position, to save $148,000 this year and $296,000 next year.

The Senate budget would preserve an apprenticeship program that Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed ending.

The program is housed in the Department of Labor and costs about $1.6 million a year. It provides federally recognized certification  for employees in a variety of trades such as heating and air or plumbing. 

Perdue's budget proposed eliminated the program on the theory that the rest of the labor department's work is focused on employment safety.

The Senate budget proposes keeping the program, but cutting $450,000. The program would have to raise fees to make up for the lost money.