[Peace-discuss] Food for thought?

[LAURIE SOLOMON]

Marti,

 

I agree that suggestions such as this might help decrease the disparity and
inequalities that exist in the building trades and construction industry in
the long run; but since it takes time to build up enough of a cadre of
trained trainers to train the unskilled in sufficient numbers to be
meaningful as well as time to train the unskilled themselves, I am not sure
if the stimulus will be a short term solution for the unskilled or serve to
help them gain entry into the building trades  as professionals - let alone
as union workers getting union wages and benefits - in the short term.  I
think that Reich is correct that it will go to helping those who are already
in the construction trades, which are mostly white males, and to many
tradesmen who are non-union professionals who are working for contractors
that may get projects under the stimulus.

 

From: Marti Wilkinson [mailto:martiwilki at gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 3:07 PM
To: LAURIE SOLOMON
Cc: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Food for thought?

 

>From Reich's Blog:

I'd suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require
contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term
unemployed and to people with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal
poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated
to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades
apprenticeships - which must be fully available to women and minorities.

I think that this suggestion does begin to address some of the inequities
that do exist within the trade professions. I would also go so far as to
recommend that failing to recruit and train women and minorities be subject
to severe penalties. 

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 12:45 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON <LAURIE at advancenet.net>
wrote:

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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