Obama Announces Community College Plan
July 14, 2009 - President Obama is calling for 5 million new college graduates by 2020 – the highest graduation rate in the world. And, he’s proposing a $12 billion community college program to help make it happen.
The president says the new American Graduation Initiative is part of his plan to put the country on the road to economic recovery.
“Time and again, when we placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result,” said the president during a speech at Macomb Community College in Warren, MI, focusing on education and jobs. Michigan’s unemployment rate of 14.1 percent is currently the highest in the country, thanks to the state’s struggling auto and auto parts industry.
“Some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back. They’re the casualties of a changing economy,” the president said. “That only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and new industries to replace the ones that we’ve lost, and preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create.”
The president’s speech comes on the heels of a Council of Economic Advisers’ report which found that jobs requiring at least an associate degree will grow twice as fast as those only needing a high school diploma.
Obama says the program includes grants aimed at encouraging community colleges to design new innovative programs and curriculum, funds to develop new online courses and $2.5 billion for new construction and renovation. Spending is expected to begin early next year.
“It’s encouraging to see our president emphasizing the importance of education and skills,” says IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “For years, the IAM has been shouting from the rooftops that America’s edge is our skills and our children. And this initiative recognizes that fact.
“Our hope is that in an effort to move our country forward, that same thinking can be crafted into a larger, more holistic, program aimed at creating jobs now rather than later, while at the same time prepare our workforce for the future,” concluded Buffenbarger. “The Machinists will continue our call for a stimulus package targeting the areas in which many of the men and women taking part in the president’s new community college initiative will be looking for work after graduation – the manufacturing and transportation sectors. What good is a highly-skilled pipe fitter or maintenance mechanic if there aren’t any jobs for that person to fill once they’ve received that quality education?”
Building the Foundation
July 12, 2009 - In the six months that the Obama administration has been in office the administration has begun the effort to restore America’s financial system and economy.
In an op-ed, in the July 12, 2009 Washington Post, President Obama states, “Now is the time to build a firmer, stronger foundation for growth that not only will withstand future economic storms but that helps us thrive and compete in a global economy.”
In his article, he lays out his plan to build the foundation: “To build that foundation, we must lower the health-care costs that are driving us into debt, create the jobs of the future within our borders, give our workers the skills and training they need to compete for those jobs, and make the tough choices necessary to bring down our deficit in the long run.”
Obama also emphasis the importance of providing skills necessary for jobs of the future and discusses the necessity of reforming the community college system.
Click here to read the complete article.
Gotcha Politics, Media Hurt Planemaking Jobs
By R. Thomas Buffenbarger
May 17, 2009 - Nearly two months after being nominated, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services. As layoffs mount in the business-jet manufacturing center of Wichita, her leadership will be missed by Machinists union members in Kansas.
What bothers me most about the thousands of layoffs is that public relations gimmicks -- the gotcha approach by politicians and journalists -- are hurting the light-aircraft manufacturing base of this country. Those jets that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler executives flew to Washington, D.C., to beg for their very survival were not play toys. They were the tools used to link global manufacturing processes.
Those executive jets -- manufactured in the heart of America -- were also one of the few big-ticket items that held down our ballooning trade deficits. Unlike the trillions of debt instruments marked "Made in the USA" and now considered toxic by bank regulators across the globe, those jets offered real value to the purchaser. So getting those production lines up and running again offers us a chance to claw our way back into this very competitive international market.
Sebelius knows the light-aircraft industry, and she cares about the Machinists.
Frankly, I would have preferred to see her stay in Kansas . But in my heart, I always knew that the nation needed her leadership at Health and Human Services even more.
That department is a sprawling $750 billion enterprise. Its reach -- health care, Social Security, drugs, disease control and welfare -- touches every American family. And as this mega-recession deepens, the department will need tough, tenacious and tested leadership. Sebelius offers that and more.
Having seen up close the pain of those Wichita layoffs, she has what Washington now lacks: a sense of urgency.
This is no ordinary time, no time for complacency. This is a time for aggressive action.
More than 25 million Americans are unemployed, involuntarily working part time, or have given up looking for work. That's almost one-fifth of our nonfarm work force. The longer they remain unemployed, the more help they will need from the Department of Health and Human Services.
All of Sebelius' leadership and management drive will be tested in the years ahead. As she battles for health care reform, aligns this behemoth department with the promises of President Obama, and delivers much-needed services to the unemployed and working poor, America will learn what we have known for years: Never underestimate her ability to solve the most vexing problems.
May 12, 2009 - The IAM welcomed the education and re-training proposals outlined this week by President Barack Obama in the wake of news that the U.S. economy lost another 539,000 jobs in April.
“Not only does the president’s proposal bring hope to more than 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, it also re-establishes career education and skills training as the national resources they deserve to be,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “The value and importance of supporting a new generation of skilled workers in this country cannot be understated.”
President Obama set a goal of re-establishing America as the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. The focus extends to training provided by community colleges and apprenticeship programs in addition to traditional four-year colleges.
“In the weeks to come, I will lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs,” said Obama. “It’s time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems – we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.”
The president also named community college professor Dr. Jill Biden to oversee a national effort to raises awareness about the value of the nation’s community college system.
Washington, D.C., May 8, 2009 – The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) today welcomed the education and re-training proposals outlined by President Barack Obama following the news that the U.S. economy lost another 539,000 jobs in April.
“Not only does the president’s proposal bring hope to more than 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, it also re-establishes career education and skills training as the national resources they deserve to be,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “The value and importance of supporting a new generation of skilled workers in this country cannot be understated.”
In remarks delivered today, President Obama set a goal of re-establishing America as the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. The focus extends to training provided by community colleges and apprenticeship programs in addition to traditional four-year colleges.
“In the weeks to come, I will lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs,” said Obama. “It’s time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems – we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.”
The president also named community college professor Dr. Jill Biden to oversee a national effort to raises awareness about the value of the nation’s community college system.
The IAM is among the nation’s largest industrial trade unions, representing nearly 700,000 active and retired members under more than 5,000 contracts in aerospace, transportation, shipbuilding and defense-related industries. For more information, visit www.goiam.org.
Obama Urges Skills Training in Georgetown Speech
President Obama this week calls for skills training in a speech at Georgetown University.
April 4, 2009 - President Barack Obama echoed the IAM’s call for 21st century skills training and a much needed rebirth of the U.S. manufacturing sector during a speech at Georgetown University.
“We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,” he told the crowd. “We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity.”
The president outlined five “pillars” to help grow our economy, one of which included new investments in education and skills training. As he did at a joint session of Congress back in February, Obama once again asked every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or technical career training.
“In the 20th century, The G.I. Bill helped send a generation to college,” he said. “For decades, we led the world in educational attainment, and as a consequence we led the world in economic growth. But in this new economy, we’ve come to trail the world’s leaders in graduation rates, in educational achievement, in the production of scientists and engineers. That’s why we have to set a goal that will greatly enhance our ability to compete for high-wage, high-tech jobs of the 21st century.”
Obama said he’d like to once again see “our best and our brightest commit themselves to making things.”
“For so long, we have placed at the top of our pinnacle folks who can manipulate numbers and engage in complex financial calculations. And that’s not good. We need some of that, but what we can really use is some more scientists and some more engineers who are building and making things that we can export to other countries.”
Obama says he’ll be talking more about technical career training in the coming weeks.
His remaining four pillars include setting new rules for Wall Street, making new investments in renewable energy and technology, new investments in health care, and creating new savings in our federal budget to bring down the deficit.
Machinists Union Applauds Obama Career Training Proposal
Washington, D.C., February 25, 2009 – The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) today applauded President Barack Obama’s remarks about the need for lawmakers and educators to work together to give Americans the vocational training they will need to survive and thrive in the new economy.
In a frank and detailed speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama outlined programs and goals he said are essential to rebuilding the U.S. economy, including providing the option for a year or more of technical career training for every American.
“It is our responsibility as lawmakers and as educators to make this system work,” declared President Obama. “But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. So tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship.”
The president’s proposal echoes goals set by the IAM more than 16 months ago, when they launched ‘America’s Edge; Our Skills, Our Kids,’ a campaign to draw attention to the absence of skills training opportunities for young people seeking an alternative to a traditional four-year college education.
“The need for sophisticated skills training programs is even greater now than it was a year and a half ago,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “An entire generation of highly skilled workers is preparing to retire. Without a means to train the next generation, we will face a high-skills deficit that will put our nation and our economy at a serious disadvantage. The president is absolutely correct to give this issue the high priority it deserves.”
Survey Finds Canada Facing Skills Shortage
September 3, 2008 - A recent survey of local lodges in Canada revealed that only a handful of companies are actively preparing for the wave of retirements in the next five years that will add significantly to the deficit of trained, skilled workers.
Just as alarming is the trend toward outsourcing skilled trades work rather than training new workers in the skills needed for these jobs. Only nine units were found to have an apprenticeship committee that reviews the training requirements and training standards.
“This confirms what I have seen and heard in the field: that employers can’t get the skilled people they want and that there isn’t a coherent plan to deal with the short-term or longer term problem,” said Canada Education Representative Gord Falconer, who conducted the survey. “We need IAM members to initiate discussions with their employers to develop a plan to meet future requirements of trades.”
AFT and IAM Applaud AFL-CIO Skills Resolution
August 6, 2008 - The AFL-CIO Executive Council unanimously approved a statement spearheaded by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) calling for a national education policy that includes training, funding and support for high skill careers.
“This resolution lays out a public policy blueprint for training the next generation of skilled workers in the United States,” said IAM president Tom Buffenbarger, whose union co-sponsored the resolution with the American Federation of Teachers. “Across the nation, blue and white collar families are searching for alternative pathways to the middle class for their children. We have taken the first step. Now we must convince America's political leaders to join us in this endeavor.”
“This resolution lays out a public policy blueprint for training the next generation of skilled workers in the United States,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, whose union co-sponsored the statement with the American Federation of Teachers. “Across the nation, blue- and white-collar families are searching for alternative pathways to the middle class for their children. We have taken the first step. Now we must convince America's political leaders to join us in this endeavor.” To view the statement, go to www.afl-cio.org/aboutus/thisistheaflcio/ecouncil.
Highlights of the AFL-CIO Executive Council resolution include: Encouraging skill development and education in high-need sectors such as infrastructure, defense, green technologies, aerospace, renewable energy, education and healthcare through state and federal financial aid programs; supporting new high-tech education and training institutes in each state to help set the standard of 21st century excellence and innovation in workforce development; launching a national campaign to inform parents, young people and new job seekers about the availability of vocational, technical and apprenticeship training and education opportunities; renewing our commitment to career and technical education by training students using the newest techniques, on 21st century materials and high-tech tools that enable high schools to prepare students for all kinds of work-related, post-secondary and higher education and assisting employers and unions in developing subsidized on-site learning representatives who can help employees with career counseling and access to training needs.
Brazil to Invest Heavily in Skills Training
July 7, 2008 - The architects of Brazil’s booming aircraft industry are learning it’s not enough to lure U.S. and Canadian aerospace companies with promises of cheap labor and minimal government oversight. The shortage of skilled labor in Brazil is fast becoming a major drag on the largely imported industry, with aircraft machinists, electricians and assemblers in short supply.
The response has been a multi-billion dollar campaign to train Brazilian workers in the mechanical, electrical and machining skills needed in the aerospace industry. A typical program is underway at plane-maker Embraer, which has doubled in size over the past ten years and plans to spend $45,000 per student in a program designed to turn out aerospace workers who can then hand their skills down to successive generations.
If that type of legacy skills development sounds familiar, it should. For nearly a century, workers in the U.S. and Canada trained generations of workers in the precision skills needed to sustain an industry like aircraft assembly. Only when North American companies began to move production overseas did the domestic supply of trained, experienced workers begin to evaporate.
The ironic result of this development is that the U.S. and Canada must now invest heavily in high-tech skills training if they expect to compete for jobs that will no longer go automatically to the country with the lowest wages, but to the country with the best trained workforce.
“The decision to protect a critical domestic industry like aerospace must be a public policy decision,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger about the looming skills race. “The first step is to realize how much we stand to lose if we fail to act quickly. Reviving apprentice programs, investing in high-tech institutes and promoting skilled trades as a career choice at the high school level are all steps we can and should take right now.”
The lack of vocational and technical training opportunities prompted the IAM to launch “America’s Edge; Our Skills, Our Kids,” an issues initiative designed to draw attention to the growing skills crisis. More information about America’s Edge is available on the IAM website at www.goiam.org.
Video: An Agenda For Education
June 19, 2008 - According to recent polls, Americans want to see more training for middle class jobs but the government doesn't seem to be getting the message. The IAM is hoping to help change that.
Watch the video here.
IAM Survey Highlights Latino Voter Priorities
June 17, 2008 - The IAM last week released results of a poll in four key western states that found Latino voters would reward any presidential candidate who promoted vocational and technical training programs as part of their campaign.
The survey, conducted for the Machinists by the The Mellman Group, surveyed 1,200 likely Latino voters in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, and found overwhelming support for a proposal to “guarantee every American of any age two years of free training or vocational education after high school.” The IAM represents more than 50,000 members in California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Eighty-two percent of those polled favor such a publicly-funded program and seventy percent are willing to support a presidential candidate who shares their view.
Seventy-one percent of Latino voters polled also identified improved training as “one of the most important” or “very important” things that could be done to improve the economy, ahead of proposals to expand international trade, cut taxes or cancel unfair trade agreements.
“There is an enormous hunger among blue collar voters everywhere for a new approach to education that is not based on the pursuit of a four-year college degree,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “The employment opportunities are well established, with ninety percent of American manufacturers reporting moderate to severe shortages of skilled production workers. What we need now are programs, funding and an awareness that this nation relies on a highly skilled workforce.”
The lack of vocational and technical training opportunities prompted the IAM to launch “America’s Edge; Our Skills, Our Kids,” an issues initiative designed to draw attention to the growing skills crisis. More information about America’s Edge is available on the IAM website at www.goiam.org.
Local 701 Member Recognized at Skills Conference
April 25, 2008 - The IAM America’s Edge campaign brought the message of the nationwide shortage of skilled workers to the 44th Annual Leadership & Skills Conference at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois last week. The IAM provided sixty high school and post-secondary students with America’s Edge shirts to wear as they participated in the “Skills USA Action Skills Contests”IAM Local 701 member Louie Loughi, a Lincoln Technical College Instructor, was also honored at the event, receiving the “Red Blazer Award” for outstanding service and commitment to Skills USA for the past ten years. Mechanics Local 701, located in Countryside, IL, was presented a merit plaque for all of the help they have provided setting up and judging over the years.
“It’s about time America wakes up and focuses on the skills needed to rebuild the middle class” was overheard as one of the students parents picked up an America’s Edge poster. “I hope our new president gets onboard with this” another parent responded pointing to the upcoming November elections.
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives, working together to ensure America has a skilled work force.
Good Jobs Vanishing
March 25, 2008 - With a recession looming and gas prices at record highs, an utter lack of “good jobs” has left a staggering number of working families without the resources to attain a middle class standard of living. The lack of good jobs is especially prevalent among workers without a high school diploma or without specialized job training.
A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Movin’ On Up: Reforming America’s Social Contract to Provide a Bridge to the Middle Class, found that only one in four people in working families have a “good job”, which is described as a job that contains decent wages, offers employer-sponsored health insurance and offers an employer-sponsored retirement plan. As a result, one in five Americans in working families are lacking the resources and budget to attain a middle class standard of living.
Only four percent of workers without a high school diploma and 14 percent of workers with just a high school diploma have a “good job”, according to CEPR. The lack of good jobs for workers without specialized training reinforces the need for alternate forms of post-secondary education such as apprenticeships, high-tech institutes and community college courses.
In order to increase “good jobs” and accessibility to the middle class, the study stresses the importance strengthening the collective bargaining rights of workers, further increasing the minimum wage and offering greater access to benefits such as paid sick days, paid family and medical leave and paid vacation time.
Video: The Skills Needed
March 10, 2008 - The IAM's America's Edge Campaign doesn't start and stop with the Machinists. The word is out and people are listening.
Watch the video here.
Video: Our Skills, Our Kids...Chicago
February 8, 2007 - The last and final stop for the IAM's America's Edge Tour was The Windy City, Chicago. It's a place that's putting educating the next generation to work!
Watch the video here.
Video: Our Skills, Our Kids...Seattle
February 8, 2008 - As the America's Edge Tour wound its way across the USA, support for its message swelled and a stop in Seattle gave the tour even more of a push.
Watch the video here.
Video: Our Skills, Our Kids...Wichita
February 7, 2008 - From St. Louis to Wichita, that's where the IAM's America's Edge Tour headed next. To see the faces and hear the voices of those people who have made Wichita the Air Capital City of the world.
Watch the video here.
Video: Our Skills, Our Kids...St. Louis
February 6, 2008 - After the Space Coast and a visit to the South, it was time for the IAM's America's Edge Tour to visit the heartland.
Watch the video here.
Video: Our Skills, Our Kids...
February 4, 2008 - The IAM lead a seven day, eight state tour across the country to talk to thousands about the importance of educating the next generation and making sure our kids have a future.
Watch the video here.
‘America’s Edge’ Campaign Reaps Big Dividends
January 31, 2008 - The IAM campaign to draw attention to the nationwide shortage of skilled workers hit pay dirt this week when Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire announced a $3 million addition to the state’s budget for aerospace and technology apprentice programs.
“It’s great to see Gov. Gregoire make investments like this in aerospace workers,” said District 751 President Tom Wroblewski following the governor’s announcement at an ‘America’s Edge’ rally in Seattle. “This will pay long-term dividends for our competitive place in the world as we vie for these jobs in the global market.”
The bid to fund additional apprentice programs also drew strong support from Washington House leader Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, vastly increasing the likelihood the state budget proposal will win final approval.
Following the announcement in Seattle, WA, the week-long ‘America’s Edge’ campaign moved to Chicago, IL, where IAM leaders and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend were welcomed by students and staff at Austin Polytechnical Academy. In addition to a traditional curriculum, the inner-city high school provides precision skills training and the entrepreneurial know-how for students to become the next generation of local business owners.
“We must partner with schools like this the same way we have with Aviation High School to improve our children's futures,” said Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr., who spoke at all of the America’s Edge events during the four-day whirlwind tour. “We cannot afford to wake up one day and find we have ignored our most valuable resources; our skills and our kids."
IAM members can show their support for the ‘America’s Edge, Our Skills, Our Kids’ campaign by adding their names to the Blackboard on the America’s Edge website. There is also a special section for members to post video clips of themselves and their coworkers on the job. To sign the Blackboard and to learn more about posting your own video on the America’s Edge website, go to www.americasedge.tv
‘America’s Edge’ Campaign Tours America
January 30, 2008 - The IAM’s “America’s Edge, Our Skills, Our Kids,” campaign got into high gear with a nationwide seven-state tour with stops in Cocoa, FL; Marietta GA; St. Louis, MO; Wichita, KS; Long Beach, CA, Seattle, WA and ending today in Chicago, IL, all key areas of America’s manufacturing sector including the space program, traditional manufacturing, and the aerospace and defense industries.
The cross-country event focused national attention on the growing skills shortage and the need for an infusion of state and federal funding for apprentice programs, vocational training, community colleges and high-tech institutes to promote American manufacturing and ensure good jobs for tomorrow's workers.
“A national skills initiative should be part of a broader effort to revitalize America’s critical manufacturing sector,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “I hear from employers every day that are looking for qualified machinists, engineers and technicians with the skills to handle today’s high-end manufacturing technologies. There simply are not enough schools preparing people for the opportunities that are out there.”
At each stop, the IAM effort drew large crowds of Machinists union members, representatives from local vocational and technical schools, students, community leaders and local legislators, including an appearance in Wichita, KS by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and IAM Transportation General Vice President Robert Roach, Jr., addressed enthusiastic crowds at every city. Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack joined IAM Transportation General Vice President Robert Roach, Jr., IAM General Vice Presidents Lee Pearson of the Western Territory, Bob Martinez of the Southern Territory and Phil Gruber of the Midwest Territory at several locations.
“The response to this campaign was amazing,” said GVP Roach. “All Americans want a good future for their kids and they want to keep good jobs in North America. This tour brought together IAM members, students, teachers and politicians from communities across America. We all want a national initiative for more training and to keep the United States a leader in precision manufacturing.”
Machinists ‘America’s Edge’ Campaign Grows
January 22, 2008 - Support is growing for the IAM’s ‘America’s Edge: Our Skills, Our Kids’ campaign to draw public attention to skills training, apprenticeship programs and greater funding for technical and vocational education. The Machinists campaign kicked off with a pair of TV ads in key states, membership mailings and a feature article in the IAM Journal.
IAM members can show their support by adding their names to the Blackboard on the America’s Edge website. There is also a special section on the America’s Edge website where members can post video clips of themselves and their coworkers on the job. To sign the Blackboard and to learn more about posting your own video on the America’s Edge website, go to www.americasedge.tv.
America's Edge on goiam.org
IAM Journal featuring America's Edge
Visit the blackboard and add your name to America's Edge
IAM Journal Addresses Critical Skills Shortage
January 11, 2008 - The need to provide young workers with apprenticeship programs, technical and vocational education and affordable alternatives to a four-year college education is the focus of the latest issue of the IAM Journal, the award-winning publication of the Machinists Union.
While labor economists are predicting a shortage of 21 million skilled workers in the U.S. by 2020, many working families are still pursuing a traditional four-year college education for their kids. Despite the opportunities for good careers in the skilled trades, less than two percent of the half-trillion in annual education spending in the U.S. goes towards skills training and other viable alternatives to college.
The latest issue of the Journal also coincides with ‘America’s Edge: Our Skills, Our Kids’ an IAM issue campaign that aims to make skills training a key issue in the ongoing presidential election. IAM members can show their support for the next generation of workers by signing a virtual Blackboard on the America’s Edge website.
“In order to retain America’s Edge, there must be a comprehensive national effort to re-emphasize technical and vocational classes in America’s high schools, expand the availability of industrial-technology and information-technology courses in our community colleges and create high-tech institutes in each state that focus on 21st century manufacturing technologies and materials,” says International President Tom Buffenbarger. “We must demand no less from the next president and the next Congress.”
Also included in the Journal is a look at an historic organizing victory at Vought Aircraft in South Carolina, an interview with Congressman George Miller of California and a look ahead to the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Iowa Summit Addresses Skilled Worker Shortage
January 4, 2008 – Iowa Gov. Chet Culver recently called a workforce summit to address a growing shortage of skilled workers in Iowa. Local officials say Iowa could be 150,000 workers short over the five years as baby boomers retire, companies add new jobs.
Culver is looking to create a $5 million institute to strengthen student education in science, technology and math.
Read more here.
Skills2Compete Update
Candidates' Proposals for Growing the Economy by Investing in People
Today, Skills2Compete released its nonpartisan report on presidential candidates' public positions on workforce education issues.
Manufacturing Classes Being Offered in Chicago Area
December 18, 2007 – Looking to address a growing shortage of skilled workers, the Skilled Workforce Initiative is moving forward in Kane County, Illinois. The College of DuPage in Wheaton will provide a 12-week course, teaching skills such as applied math, manufacturing practices, blueprint reading and hand tool use.
Read the article from the Kane County Chronicle.
A Demand for Skilled Machinists in Roanoke
December 12, 2007 – A recent article in The Roanoke Times examined the rather high demand for skilled machinists.
“There’s a severe shortage of machinists and tool and die makers nationwide,” Steve Oliver, a precision machining instructor, told the paper.
You can read the entire article here.
Technical Skill Classes Valuable for Students
December 3, 2007 – Many students throughout the country are missing out on the benefits of technical skill classes. A recent article in the Tuscaloosa News looks specifically at technical classes that are being offered in Alabama’s Tuscaloosa County.
The article starts out by talking to three students at the Tuscaloosa Center for Technology who are learning how to cut shapes out of metal sheets and weld joints in order to learn how to become a welder, a profession whose skilled workers have declined by 15 percent. The Tuscaloosa Center for Technology also has technical classes for automotive repair and carpentry.
“I feel that we are doing our students a disservice who have the aptitude toward the technical,” Gwen Harper, a guidance counselor at Northside High in Alabama, told the Tuscaloosa News. “The technical arena is such a fast growing area. We could be giving them a foot in the door by giving them a marketable skill.”
Read the entire article here.
IP Buffenbarger Speaks at Skills2Compete Launch
November 30, 2007 – IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger recently spoke at the launch of the Workforce Alliance’s Skills2Compete campaign, a national effort to give every U.S. worker access to at least two years of technical education or training that would lead to a vocational credential or an industry-specific certification.
“It’s hard enough when workers are looking for jobs that don’t exist,” said Buffenbarger. “It’s far worse when good jobs go unfilled because workers don’t have access to the training or education they need to qualify for those jobs.”
You can the entire statement here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G88r8w1qmGQ&feature=user
Other speakers at the launch:
Andy Van Kleunen, The Workforce Alliance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM1nVf-777U)
Harry Holzer, Georgetown University & The Urban Institute (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOqKPuDpkEM&feature=user)
You can hear even more speakers by visiting the Skills2Compete YouTube channel. ( http://www.youtube.com/user/Skills2Compete)
West Virginia Counties Struggle to Find Skilled Workers
November 27, 2007 - Like many states throughout the country, West Virginia is struggling to deal with a shortage of “skilled” workers.
According to an article in the Register-Herald of West Virginia, Jim Skidmore, chancellor of the Community and Technical College System, told the West Virginia Legislative Oversight Commission on Workforce Investment for Economic Development that after surveying 588 manufacturers he found many of them were having trouble filling skilled positions.
“We read in the newspapers that the number of manufacturing jobs is decreasing, and they are,” he said in the article. “But the demand for higher skilled jobs continues to increase.”
Read the entire article here.
Machinists Back Massive Investment in Skills Training
November 13, 2007 - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is joining with the Workforce Alliance, a coalition of business, civic and labor leaders who are calling for the largest investment in workforce training since the G.I. Bill.
Members of the coalition today announced the Skills2Compete campaign, a national effort to give every U.S. worker access to at least two years of technical education or training that would lead to a vocational credential or an industry-specific certification.
“It’s hard enough when workers are looking for jobs that don’t exist,” said Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger. “It’s far worse when good jobs go unfilled because workers don’t have access to the training or education they need to qualify for those jobs.”
The Skills2Compete campaign is aimed at providing the kind of skill-specific education that will match America’s workers with the jobs that U.S. employers are trying so hard to fill. Thousands of production jobs in the U.S. go unfilled each year because workers lack the basic training to operate precision machinery. According to the Workforce Alliance, the demand for skilled workers will remain robust in the future.
“We need to give apprenticeships and vocational education much more than the lip service they have received in the past, and we fully intend to make this an issue in the presidential campaign,” said Buffenbarger.
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The Workforce Alliance Skills2Compete (TWA) Working For America Institute |
Finding the Forgotten Middle
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Nebraska Launching Campaigns to Address Shortage of Skilled Manufacturing Workers
November 12, 2007 – Like many states throughout the country, Nebraska is facing a critical shortage of skilled manufacturing workers. A new report from the state labor department shows Nebraska companies are looking to fill more than 3,000 manufacturing positions.
In response, local companies are teaming up with Central Community College for a new training program in which the companies pay for the tuition and graduates are guaranteed a job with one of the companies.
“It’s an opportunity for a student who has a desire to get these skills, to get an education, a trade, that is gonna get them a good income and a good lifestyle without any cost to them,” Stan Zimbelman of Nebraska Workforce Development told KHAS-TV.
Read more about the program at khastv.com
