Earlier this year, it looked as if the Virginia Legislature was headed down the same anti-worker road several Republican-controlled legislatures have recently traveled when legislation was introduced in the state House and Senate that would reduce labor representation on the 29-member Virginia Workforce Council to just one person.
During the past few years, as Republicans have taken control of state legislatures and governors’ offices, the attacks on workers and their unions have gone from the extreme we saw in Wisconsin and Michigan to the more subtle, as we are seeing today in Virginia.
Legislation in the state House and Senate, that anti-worker lawmakers had hoped would fly under the radar, would reduce labor representation on the 29-member Virginia Workforce Council (VWC) to just one person.
If anyone thinks U.S. manufacturing isn’t relevant to our lives today, they should consider this report from the Alliance for American Manufacturers pointing to the battle against raging wildfires in the western states:
The Associated Press is reporting that the sole U.S. manufacturer of a device to spray airborne fire retardant is no longer in business. This means that while Air National Guard units currently possess Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS), new MAFFS systems are no longer being made. This has led to concerns that future efforts to fight wildfires in the western U.S. may be hampered.
Meanwhile, says House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.):
Our overseas competitors are doubling down on investments in their workforces, in innovation, and in providing the tools that nurture manufacturing growth. Not only are other countries surging ahead in the number of engineers and scientists they graduate, but they are pouring money into basic research and technology development.
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.
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