Fw: [Peace-discuss] Food for thought?

[unionyes]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: unionyes 
To: LAURIE SOLOMON 
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 1:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Food for thought?


The short answer is Green Collar Jobs.

Besides an increase in solar, wind, etc. use, encouraged by some type of government help ( R and D, tax credits, direct investment, training programs, etc. ), the re-tooling of the U.S. auto industry to make electric cars, high speed rail and inter-urban light rail ( which would BEGIN to creep us towards Western Europe and Japan, who are 40 years ahead of us ).

The long answer is a more systemic problem which ties in with why the above short answer hasn't happened and addressing your concern Laurie, about the corporate system being sustained. The system that created the problems we currently have.
That problem is the Capitalist system.

The other point that is mentioned about the construction industry being dominated by white males IS absolutely true.
The problem is that the construction Unions have allowed the contractors almost total control of hiring / firing.
The Unions take in apprentices every year, with a ratio of about 20 % minorities and women. The problem is that they don't get enough work via the contractors and 75 % drop out after one to three years.
In fact, in Champaign-Urbana where 95 % of the construction work is located, you will find that 90 % of the Workers on these jobs do NOT live in Champaign-Urbana.
State and Federal construction projects ( U of I )  are required to have a workforce on these projects that reflect the community in terms of race.
If you use the population diversity of the County as a benchmark, then 9 % of the Tradespeople should be African American, 2% Hispanic ( or more ), and about 1% Asian ( excluding visiting academics at the U of I ).
What is typical on the job-sites overall is 2% African American at best. No Hispanics unless they are specialty crews from Chicago ( terrazo floors, etc. ), and I have only seen ONE Asian Tradesperson in my 30 years in the Trades.

And the above are the COUNTY figures. You can guess how this would change if you used City of Champaign and Urbana figures for benchmarks.

David J.



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: LAURIE SOLOMON 
  To: sf-core at yahoogroups.com ; peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net 
  Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:45 PM
  Subject: [Peace-discuss] Food for thought?


  Food for thought?  The question here, I guess is:  if this is actually the case and if training people to have the right and most current needed skills will take time, what kinds of stimulus can there be which does not reward those who already have the skills and jobs while actually accomplishing the production of something productive and useful in terms of tangible infrastructure improvements and repairs as opposed to merely keeping the economy, financial centers, and corporations up and running as usual with little actual tangible benefits to the standard of living and needs of the ordinary population.?

   

  FOCUS | The Stimulus

  http://www.truthout.org/011109Y

  Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "The stimulus plan will create jobs repairing and upgrading the nation's roads, bridges, ports, levees, water and sewage system, public-transit systems, electricity grid, and schools... But if there aren't enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate many new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most - women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed - will be shut out."

   



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