The NFL referee lockout is a complete disaster—something that’s obvious to everyone except (supposedly) the people keeping the referees locked out. Much ink has been spent on decrying the replacement referees and how they’re ruining football (never mind how they’re putting players’ safety at risk). What hasn’t gotten much attention in this lockout is symbolic of a much bigger issue: Training for a high-performing workforce matters.

The union movement is the largest workforce trainer of adults outside the U.S. military.

Ninety-two years ago yesterday, U.S. women won the right to vote.

The Indiana State AFL-CIO mentioned in an e-mail yesterday, Rose Schneiderman, who headed the Women’s Trade Union League, explained in 1918:

We want to tell our Senators that the working women of our State demand the vote as an economic necessity. We need it because we are workers and because the workers are the ones that have to carry civilization on their backs.

The anniversary is a good time to reflect on how women would fare under a Romney-Ryan administration.

A union construction and building trades career can put workers on the path to the middle class. The Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council Community Services Agency's Building Futures pre-apprenticeship construction program can be the first step on that path.

The next course begins in October and applications are due by Sept. 14. Click here for a brochure, or call 202-974-8223 for more information.

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the signing of the National Apprenticeship Act and at a ceremony marking the historic job training act, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis honored the Laborers’ (LIUNA)  apprenticeship programs with a 21st Century Trailblazer and Innovator award. Solis said the LIUNA program and other award winners were honored for their “long-standing success and innovative approaches” to training U.S. workers.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11 has a successful mentoring program designed to help underserved communities prepare for careers in the electrical trades. 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today said our national security depends on reviving the nation’s manufacturing and industrial base. He called for adding 4 million manufacturing jobs and eliminating the trade deficit within five years.  

In a wide-ranging speech at the Center for National Policy (CNP), Trumka said economic strength is crucial to America’s national security and economic standing, and manufacturing is central to economic strength. That’s a connection that most people understand, he said.

Several speakers criticized the Republican approach to the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) during a Tuesday hearing by the Education and the Workforce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.One provision of the the Republican bill would limit the input and participation from labor unions, community colleges and youth organizations on state and local Workforce Investment Boards.

In yet another move to put power in the hands of the 1 percent, House Republicans have introduced legislation to hand over the nation’s publicly administered job training and workforce development system to the corporate sector.

Cruise on over to our AFL-CIO home page for two new features that spotlight an innovative training program from Chicago Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 597 (UA) and a look at the creative campaign music video dancers are waging for a fair contract.

Plumbers and Steamfitters (UA) Local 184 and West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) earned national recognition for partnering to provide a unique "going green" training program for the union's apprentices and journeymen. The Paducah, Ky., union and school plan to follow up with a two-year college degree program for Local 184 members.