Today’s military veterans face one of the toughest job markets in decades, and their unemployment rate is significantly higher than the population at large. But thanks to the Helmets to Hardhats program, which connects veterans with quality career training and employment opportunities within the building and construction industry, many veterans are now on ascending career paths.

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer feature focuses on two U.S. Marine Corps veterans who are putting to work the training and opportunities provided by Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 19 in South Philadelphia.

Ten years ago this week, the United States launched the invasion of Iraq. The nation remains divided on the wisdom, strategy and outcome of the war that claimed the lives of 4,488 U.S. service members and left more than 32,000 wounded.  

But there is one certainty—the men and women who honorably fought and served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade have come home to an economy that works even less for them than it does others. Job loss, stagnant wages and a widening gap between working families and the wealthy and Wall Street are some of these problems.  

The wrong way to greet our military veterans as they return to civilian life after defending the nation would be offering an $8.81 an hour part-time job with little to no benefits.

Walmart CEO Bill Simon said this morning at the National Retail Federation conference that starting Memorial Day, Walmart would offer honorably discharged veterans jobs. Simon pledges to hire 100,000 vets over the next five years. Right now, it's unclear if these Walmart jobs would be full-time or offer adequate benefits. 

Beware the "chained" CPI.

As Republicans in Congress take a hard line in the sand against higher tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, they are demanding a Social Security benefit cut through a lower Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs). The lower COLA would result from the adoption of a new formula for calculating COLAs called "Chained CPI." 

A proposed bill in Ohio would require a court to consider a person's military service when sentencing for misdemeanor or felony charges, the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council in Ohio reports. A judge would have to take into account whether the offender has an emotional, mental or physical condition that can be traced to military service that contributed to the commission of the crime. 

The bipartisan bill, S.B. 330, proposed by state Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D-Boardman), passed in the state Senate 33-0. S.B. 330 will go to the Ohio House to be voted on before the end of the lame-duck legislative session. 

More than 10,000 Angelenos, including members of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s “Team Homeless Heroes,” took part in the United Way’s 2012 HomeWalk 5K Run/Walk Nov. 17 to raise funds to combat homelessness in the Los Angeles area. The more than 500 members of Team Homeless Heroes are from Los Angeles unions and the team is organized by the L.A. Fed’s AFL-CIO Community Services/United Way partnership. It focuses on the men and women who served our country and who are now facing homelessness. 

The best Veterans Day honor anyone can provide a returning veteran is a good job. Here’s the story of Helmets to Hardhats doing just that.

James Gilbert is director of the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council.

Whether they served on the beaches of Normandy, the rivers of Southeast Asia or the deserts of the Middle East, Nov. 11 is the day we honor our country's veterans. Originally proclaimed a holiday by President Wilson in 1919, Nov. 11 was chosen because major hostilities of WWI were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with Germany signing the Armistice. 

U.S. military veterans severely criticized Mitt Romney today for supporting laws limiting the right of residents to vote in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Republican-controlled legislatures recently enacted new voting laws. In a press conference this morning, the veterans also took Romney to task for accusing President Obama of suppressing the vote of military veterans because the Obama campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to block an Ohio law that restricts a successful early voting program.

Union members in the Marietta, Ohio, area are joining with several charitable organizations to raise funds to build a “smart home” for Army Private First Class Kyle Hockenberry who lost both legs in an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan last year.

The Parkersburg-Marietta Building and Construction Trades Council has volunteered the labor to build the house. The group is also working with the Gary Sinise Foundation and the Tunnels to Towers Foundation’sBuilding for America’s Bravest initiative in promoting an Aug. 16 fundraising concert in Marietta featuring Sinise’s Lt. Dan Band. Sinise portrayed double amputee Lt. Dan in the movie “Forrest Gump.”