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.

Rust never sleeps and apparently neither does Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) when it comes to attacking middle-class jobs. This week, he made another sneak attack.

Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this profile of a union member who gives back to his community in a big way.

Eric Howard, a painter from Hialea, Fla., knows what it’s like to dream of a better life. Growing up in inner city Miami in a working-class family, Howard worked odd jobs after school and learned from his family how to make do. He painted his first house as a teenager—but it wasn’t until his first painting class at Miami’s local Job Corps program that he decided to make his living as a union painter.