Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building Trades, Dorsey Hager joined America’s Work Force on Nov. 1 to talk about community outreach programs to spread information about the trades.
Hager first spoke about National Apprenticeship Week and how it is a great way to provide exposure to the trades and the benefits of working in the trades. He explained how working in the trades puts a person on a direct path to the middle class, has great health and retirement benefits, free training and more. Hager also talked about Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs) and why they are harmful. IRAPs make it so that employers oversee their own apprenticeship programs and they could cut corners on training and other areas involving safety because they are not regulated. Hagar mentioned that union construction will always be the highest standard when it comes to quality and safety because they have regulations on quality of resources and training requirements.
Terri Gerstein, director of the State and Local Enforcement Project spoke to AWF about the Hard Rock Casino collapse in New Orleans. She discussed how IRAPs allowed the contractor to hire cheaper labor and cut corners when it came to safety regulations and quality of labor. Gerstein said that by hiring cheaper labor, the building was a threat to public safety and well being because of the lack of quality in materials and labor.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about Ford reaching a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers on a new contract for United States workers.
Duritsky spoke about the healthcare industry, manufacturing, productivity and wage growth. While talking about a quarterly economic review on the healthcare industry in northeast Ohio, he said that it had grown by nearly 20 percent, which would equate to about 3.8 million workers. Duritsky discussed how since the recession back in 2007, the manufacturing industry had been steadily recovering and jobs are being added across the industry. Lastly, he spoke about net wage growth since the 2007 recession. According to Team NEO’s report, the average net wage growth in northeast Ohio since 2007 has been 25 percent, which is still behind the national average.
Cleveland Scene writer, Sam Allard also spoke with AWF on Sept. 6. Allard talked about his newly published article “I See a Cleveland Rising. I See Trouble on the Way.” In his article, Allard spoke about Cleveland and how people are talking about seeing the city move in a positive direction with all of this talk about creating economic prosperity for all, but it is all just talk. He said people cannot simply say these nice things, they need to act on it.
Russ Choma, writer for Mother Jones Magazine also spoke to America’s Work Force on Friday, August 2. Choma spoke about President Trump and his recent attack on French wine and why it represents a conflict of interest. He said that the President threatened to retaliate against a new French law, which taxes American technology companies, by implying imposing taxes on French wine and saying that American wine is better. This presents a conflict of interest because the Trump family owns wineries themselves and is clear they would benefit if this tax is imposed.
Matt Rothschild, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign spoke with AWF on Friday, July 5 about the current environment of the Wisconsin legislation. He discussed the big problem of gerrymandering and how over 60 percent of Wisconsin legislators are working hard to ban it.
Sam Allard, writer for Cleveland Scene magazine, spoke with AWF about the recent layoffs at the Plain Dealer. In a classic union-busting move, 14 Plain Dealer writers, who were part of the News Guild, were laid off because the newspaper wanted to downsize and outsource a part of their operations. Allard said a few members who had been working for the Plain Dealer volunteered to be laid off in order to preserve the jobs of their coworkers, but there were not enough volunteers to save all those individuals who were laid off.
On Feb. 1, Hager discussed an upcoming Columbus area construction trades fair, where affiliated members of the C/CO BCTC will provide students and other career fair attendees with hands-on demonstrations of certain trade-specific tasks and also explain why they should consider becoming an apprentice. He said many people do not fully understand the the benefits of joining an apprenticeship, such as a debt-free education, the earn while you learn training model, good wages and good jobs. Hager also talked about the 