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.

This is an excerpt from "Community-Labor Partnerships 'TRADE-UP' to Create a Pipeline to Good Jobs in Atlanta," by Deborah Scott, executive director, STAND-UP; founder, TRADE-UP. 

The Atlanta/North Georgia Building Trades Council and STAND-UP, a nonprofit "Think and Act Tank for working communities" have partnered to create Trade-Up, a pre-apprenticeship program. Trade-Up addresses a critical gap in the regional labor force. Despite the fact that unemployment in Atlanta building trades remains mired in double digits, the aging construction workforce is leading to shortages of workers in specific trades. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that through the remainder of this decade, employment openings will come mainly from the replacement of retiring workers on existing jobs, not from new jobs created by economic growth. Skills linked to apprenticeships and other forms of on-the-job training are expected to be among the fastest-growing categories of employment. Apprenticeships are an efficient way to address the paradoxical imbalance between increasing market demand for specialized trade skills in an environment otherwise plagued by high unemployment and declining labor force participation.

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.

William Plotner waited for his daughter’s second birthday to enroll in the military on Sept. 11, 2004—three years after the World Trade Center twin towers fell. He wanted his daughter to remember the significance of her birth date. But most of all, he wanted her to think of him as a hero. Now Plotner, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the Laborers (LIUNA) Local 79, is rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Says Plotner:

On 9-11-04 I swore in. And now I get to work here. It brings, like, another sense of pride.

The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute (WAI) has been awarded a three-year, $3.4 million grant from the Department of Labor (DOL) to develop apprenticeship programs in five communities to train people for skilled manufacturing jobs and careers.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker knew better than to run his gubernatorial campaign on a platform based on decimiating jobs in Wisconsin. But just one year into his term, he’s already become Job Killer in Chief, according to a new report by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

Cory McCray, an IBEW Local 24 member and founder of the Metro Baltimore Council AFL-CIO Young Trade Unionists, describes how his IBEW apprenticeship helped ensure he entered adulthood with a firm footing in the middle class. In the video here (on the left), McCray elaborates on his experience. 

As I anticipate my 29th birthday, I realize how one decade can drastically change a person’s life. I find it impossible not to give thanks to God for providing me with a family, community and, most of all, the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 24, for placing direction in my path.

This is a cross-post from the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Council, AFL-CIO. The Metro Council’s Community Services Agency (CSA) Building Futures pre-apprenticeship training program has won a $900,000 grant as part of the Jobs for the Future consortium. Says CSA Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy: This is a big deal. We will get nearly $1 million over three years in partnership with the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region and Wider Opportunities for Women to keep our pre-apprenticeship training program going.

South Seattle Community College’s Georgetown campus is creating new training programs to meet the growing needs for job training with a focus on environmental sustainability. The Georgetown campus also houses the largest regional apprenticeship training program in the Pacific Northwest, representing more than 25 programs with strong labor and management commitment.