I WILL ADDRESS EDUCATION POLICY NEXT WEEK!
First I want to encourage everyone to take time to Google and listen to the video below. This professional financial analyst has a long record of being right and is right with this video...you will see he and I are shouting the same thing----then I want to talk elections and getting new leaders and politicians.
LISTEN TO THIS VIDEO ALL THE WAY THROUGH IF YOU HAVE THE TIME. IT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING AND YOUR POLS----WHETHER CLINTON NEO-LIBERAL OR BUSH NEO-CON HAS WORKED TO DO THESE FEW DECADES.
For those who have followed my blog for several years this video outlines everything I have been saying only Rickards only went public with this a few years ago. Think about Trans Pacific Trade Pact and its installation of global corporate tribunal and global court and then think how that global structure will fit with the IMF taking over from the US FED and the dollar of being the world's currency. It fits perfectly. Then think about Obama and Congress ignoring the $17 trillion national debt while playing austerity with a national budget-----states like Maryland loading with credit bond debt leverage while pretending to need austerity for a structural budget deficit. The FED leveraged itself with $4 trillion in debt after using QE to take debt from Wall Street banks.
The reference to Rand Paul will strike a nerve for most progressive Democrats but as this video states Rand Paul is the only politician outing the FED as the driver of this deliberate US collapse with the goal of sending the US and Europe to this global IMF structure. The American people surely don't want a Libertarian like Rand Paul when all this happens----we will be lucky to elect a Bernie Sanders that is not simply pretending to be progressive labor and justice. Please take a look at how this man suggests people prepare financially for this coming collapse. It will be a Great Depression. Remember when Bernanke was appointed by Obama and stations like National Public Radio described him as a 'scholar of the Great Depression'. Well, we didn't know then, but saw not long after that Bernanke was placed at the FED to create this Great Depression. That is what all this QE and zero interest rates had as a goal.
The Death of Money: Project Prophecy 2.0
To read the transcript for this video, please click here: http://jimrickardspredictions.com/transcript.php To watch this video in full-streaming HD, please c...YouTube
I take weekends to speak of elections and look at the politicians that create this breakdown in Rule of Law and labor and justice rights. I want to look at the one incident I outlined briefly last week to show how all the Maryland pols---from Maryland Assembly to Baltimore City Hall work in tandem to create massive fraud, corruption, and wealth inequity.
Progressive Maryland is a political non-profit based in Montgomery County with a branch in Baltimore. When I first came I thought----that's the group for me until I watched what issues and politicians they supported. I took only two election cycles to see that they supported the most Clinton Wall Street global corporate candidates in these Maryland races. They were not progressive----they were global corporatists pretending to be progressive by supporting a few progressive issues. The same with Maryland MoveOn-----a Clinton neo-liberal group pretending to be progressive. They are the political voice that keeps these incumbents for life in office as Democrats. That is why I created Citizens Oversight Maryland Progressives.
Progressive Maryland endorses Brown for governor
May 07, 2014|By Michael Dresser
WE NEED REAL PROGRESSIVE LABOR AND JUSTICE DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIGHT WALL STREET GLOBALISM.
Then there is the Maryland labor union leaders that also support the most Clinton Wall Street of candidates in all elections giving the dynamic of Maryland having some of the lowest wages, unemployment, and union members on the picket line. The private sector unions are busting public sector unions just for a several month job building a casino in Prince Georges' County. This happens because Maryland is a southern state and unions struggle to survive but there is a point where unions must take a stand, break from Clinton neo-liberals and run labor and justice candidates that are passionate for labor justice. Clinton neo-liberals say-----GOOD BYE UNION APPRENTICESHIPS---GOOD BYE STRIKING FOR LABOR RIGHTS-----GOOD BYE MEMBERSHIP VOICE IN NEGOTIATIONS OF CONTRACTS---GOOD BYE PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS AND YOUR BENEFITS!
Training and Apprenticeships - AFL-CIO
www.aflcio.org/.../Training-and-Apprenticeships... the labor movement trains more than 450,000 workers. Through union apprenticeship ... to work together to share the benefits as well as the costs, ...
WE NEED REAL LABOR UNION LEADERS WORKING FOR ALL LABOR IN MARYLAND.
Then we have the Maryland Democratic Party with Democratic Committees filled with Clinton neo-liberals and Hopkins neo-conservatives all running as Democrats. This is what has made Maryland so corporate, so systemically criminal with all regulations and Rule of Law dismantled. I know the citizens of Maryland, whether Republican or Democrat do not want this dismantling of our Constitutional rights as citizens and our national sovereignty.
DEMOCRATS DO NOT DO THIS.
As this article states apprenticeship comes right out of the Middle Ages and indeed it does.....that was all that was offered to the peasants and they toiled from childhood in apprenticeships of poverty with few advancing out of poverty. There was a Master Craftsman and then there was the rich merchants getting all that work for free. The article below wants to make it seem as this US Apprenticeship program is like Europe's but it is not. Europe has free higher education to universities and lots of grants and tuition help for all its citizens to get into and attend a university of their choice AND they have apprenticeship programs. What Clinton neo-liberals are doing is dismantling all of the Federal funding for higher education for all citizens and moving that funding to these corporate apprenticeship programs.
Remember as well, Obama and Congressional neo-liberals are working as hard as they can to install Trans Pacific Trade Pact TPP seeks to allow global corporations to operate in the US as they do in developing nations. Johns Hopkins has increased its student load from Asian nations all able to start businesses in the area preparing for this flood of global corporations to America to set up shop and treat US workers as US Corporations treated Asian workers. So, there is no plan for higher education for 90% of Americans----they will all be tracked into this vocational K-career apprenticeship track.
You can see why Clinton neo-liberals and Bush neo-cons work with Wall Street to leave the US economy stagnant and unemployment at 25%-----making people desperate moves a first world society that promoted everyone going to university for good career prospects to accepting a vocational tracking that will lead to sweat shop wages. There's Arne Duncan with Labor Secretary Perez----it's all about job training and not protecting labor rights and their middle-class benefits.
WE STOLE THE WEALTH OF THE LAST MIDDLE-CLASS GENERATIONS BUT THIS WILL BE DIFFERENT!
5 Reasons Expanding Apprenticeships Will Benefit Millennials
SOURCE: Flickr/Apprenticeships
An apprentice works at a British Rolls-Royce plant. Apprenticeships can create promising new pathways for young workers to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
By Sarah Ayres Steinberg | December 2, 2013
Apprenticeships might sound as if they come straight out of the Middle Ages, but there is nothing medieval about the wage premiums and career opportunities that young Americans can gain from them. Apprenticeships are a structured form of paid worker training that combine on-the-job learning and classroom instruction. They have been shown to boost workers’ earnings and raise sponsoring companies’ productivity levels, which is why many other countries rely on them as a central tool to develop a highly skilled, competitive workforce. But even though the U.S. Department of Labor administers a small system of registered apprentices, the training model is largely unfamiliar to Americans.
An apprenticeship is a job in which the worker is paid to learn a set of skills through on-the-job training. Unlike an internship—in which the intern works for little or no money and rarely receives formal training—an apprenticeship follows an earn-while-you-learn model and leads to a nationally recognized credential that recipients can take anywhere in the country. Today, there are 358,000 registered apprentices in the United States—just 7 percent of the number of apprentices in England after adjusting for population size. If the United States had as many apprentices per capita as Germany does, our system would support almost 7 million apprentices.
The bulk of America’s apprenticeships today are in skilled trades, but the model can be adapted to many industries and occupations. Apprenticeships are well established in the construction industry, and there are many high-quality programs for electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and pipe fitters. The concept of a formal, paid training program can be applied to almost any occupation. For example, nearly every medical doctor participates in an apprenticeship of sorts; during their internships and residencies, doctors receive on-the-job and classroom-based training along with their salaries. England has overhauled its apprenticeship program in recent years, expanding its occupational reach so that a majority of new British apprentices now choose programs in the service sectors, such as business administration and retail.
Expanding the U.S. apprenticeship system both in number of participants and available occupations would strengthen the American economy by helping businesses meet the demand for skilled workers while offering workers higher wages and better employment outcomes. Such an initiative would especially benefit Millennials, who are struggling with disproportionately high unemployment, low-wage jobs, rising college costs, and spiraling student debt. Apprenticeships can create promising new pathways for young workers to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
Below are five ways Millennials would benefit from the expansion of apprenticeships.
1. Apprenticeships are jobs Unlike most interns, apprentices are paid employees who earn a paycheck for their work. Apprentices’ wages typically start at about 50 percent to 60 percent of their eventual wages, and their pay goes up as they progress through their programs and master more skills. Moreover, because training is part of the job, apprentices do not have to forgo income from employment in order to pursue education and training. An apprenticeship provides a young worker with an immediate job, steadily rising wages, and a gateway into a successful and sustainable long-term career. This is especially important for Millennials, as the unemployment rate for Americans under age 25 is still nearly 15 percent—more than double the national rate of unemployment.
2. Apprentices earn higher wages Completing an apprenticeship dramatically raises workers’ wages. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workers who complete an apprenticeship earn an average starting salary of $50,000. Researchers have found that workers who complete an apprenticeship make an average of $240,037 more than comparable job seekers in their lifetimes; if nonwage benefits are included, that number jumps to $301,533. The wage premium for apprentices will especially benefit young workers, who are significantly more likely than older workers to have a job that lacks sufficient pay.
3. Apprentices gain an education with little or no debt In many apprenticeship programs, apprentices can earn college credit for their coursework and on-the-job training. This credit can lead to an associate’s degree and, depending on the industry, may also contribute to a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, for example, has developed an initiative in which workers who are enrolled in one of several apprenticeship trade programs can obtain an associate’s degree or technical certificate using credits earned for time spent on the job. Nationally, about one-quarter of apprentices report that they have participated in a community college or vocational program in the last year, and an additional 30 percent report that they have taken a nondegree course in the past year, such as one offered by an employer. The prospect of debt-free education is particularly appealing to Millennials, who are facing college costs that have increased 250 percent in the past three decades and an average student-loan balance of $25,000.
4. Apprenticeships create a pathway to middle-class jobs for those without a four-year degree Apprenticeships offer high school graduates a path to a well-paying, middle-class career that does not require them to obtain a four-year degree. Today’s high school graduates must consider record-high college costs and the possibility of taking on an overwhelming amount of student debt—often without sufficient information to confidently evaluate the quality of colleges. At the same time, few students and their parents are aware that apprentices can achieve a long-term career and a substantial wage premium without a college degree. Too many Americans mistakenly believe that earning a four-year degree is the only way to achieve economic mobility, with surveys now indicating that almost all high school graduates plan to earn a bachelor’s degree.
But fewer than half of these students actually complete a bachelor’s degree. One-third of 2012 high school graduates were not enrolled in college by October of that year. Of those who do seek a bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution, 40 percent do not complete a degree at that institution within six years. Too many of these students are left with the burden of student debt and without the economic benefits of a degree. Expanding awareness of apprenticeships can open the door to an alternative career pathway for high school graduates without precluding further postsecondary education.
Apprenticeships would benefit Millennials by providing those who do not go to or finish college with a viable path to the skills development that will allow them to earn higher wages.
5. Apprenticeships grow the economy by making American businesses more competitive Employers who sponsor apprentices gain skilled workers, reduce employee turnover, and improve productivity. Apprenticeships can also help businesses address any critical or expected shortages of skilled labor at a time when many businesses are reporting that they cannot find skilled workers to fill jobs.
For these reasons, nearly all U.S. employers who sponsor apprenticeship programs recommend them. A survey of registered apprenticeship sponsors in the United States found that 87 percent of sponsors would strongly recommend registered apprenticeships, and another 11 percent would recommend apprenticeships with some reservations—for a total of 98 percent of sponsors recommending them.[1]
Businesses in countries with more expansive apprenticeship programs show very high levels of satisfaction. A recent survey by the U.K. Department of Business found that apprentices scored 4 percent higher on an employability scale than university graduates, indicating that employers increasingly view apprenticeships as being on level footing with university education. U.K. apprenticeship sponsors also report improved labor supply, better efficiency in hiring and retaining employees and embedding organizational culture and values into their workforce, and overall productivity gains.
A Swiss study found that employers spend around $3.4 billion annually training apprentices but earn $3.7 billion each year from apprentices’ work during training. They also save on recruiting and employee-relocation costs.[2] Consequently, 80 percent of the more than 2,300 Swiss firms surveyed said that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the cost-to-benefit ratio of the apprenticeship program.[3]
An extensive 2009 study that surveyed almost 1,000 businesses across Canada found that employers receive a benefit of $1.47 for every $1 spent on apprenticeship training. What’s more, they see the cost benefits and revenues increase each year over the course of an apprenticeship. Importantly, these returns on investment existed in every geographic region of Canada and across companies of all sizes.
Expanding U.S. apprenticeships will benefit all of us by boosting American business and improving our competitiveness in the global economy. But Millennials, who have been hit especially hard by recent sluggish economic growth and high unemployment rates, have the most to gain from faster economic growth and increased hiring.
Conclusion Apprenticeships are proven workforce development tools that offer substantial benefits to both workers and businesses. Expanding apprenticeships in the United States can help address the economic challenges that Millennials face. In the new report “Training for Success,” we explore the hurdles that have thus far prevented the United States from developing a more robust apprenticeship system, including a lack of awareness among workers and businesses, the limited occupational reach of current apprenticeships, and the significant upfront costs to businesses that sponsor apprentices. We propose a set of policies that will expand apprenticeships by improving marketing to businesses, introducing financial incentives for employers, enhancing data collection to identify new occupations for apprenticeships, and launching a national campaign to enlist commitments from businesses to engage unemployed young Americans. Millennials face substantial economic challenges, and lawmakers should expand apprenticeship opportunities to better connect them to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
___________________________________________
What is happening is a system of pools of labor are moving through these apprenticeship/job training programs and left without jobs after all of the time spent. If you do not finish these programs the costs fall to the workers.
In lieu of paying taxes corporations are simply sending what they used to share with labor unions in costs of training to these Federally supported training centers. Still getting all the work they need on the cheap.
What you see is the apprenticeship program that existed throughout the 20th century----unions were strong and covered most manufacturing and trades -----
SO WE HAVE A SYSTEM OF APPRENTICESHIPS THAT WERE THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
What Clinton neo-liberals are doing is busting unions and taking over what they did on the taxpayer dime. None of this is better------unions will disappear and with that organized labor power. The Federal taxpayer revenue that used to be used to promote equal opportunity and access higher education to universities will be grossly defunded as is happening now and only the wealthy will attend university with selected scholarships to students trained to tow the global corporate line. No rabble-rousing civil rights, civil liberties, labor rights and environmental rights people need apply for these selective tickets to university----you will be tracked into vocational K-career college.
The packaged enthusiasm by Obama's Administrator in Education and Labor for this REVOLUTIONARY way to get Americans to work and into the middle-class IS ALL LIES.
IT WILL BECOME A MIDDLE-AGES STYLE POVERTY AND CHILD LABOR APPRENTICESHIP WITH GLOBAL CORPORATE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS.
AND NATIONAL UNION LEADERS ARE EMBRACING THIS AND SUPPORTING THE NEO-LIBERALS MOVING THIS FORWARD.
Registered Apprenticeships
Electrical Workers Local 26 offers an alternative energy course to apprentice and skilled workers. Apprenticeship programs integrate systematic on-the-job training, guided by an experienced master-level practitioner in an occupation, with classroom instruction. The federal government, in cooperation with the states, registers apprenticeship programs that meet federal and state standards. The best programs—which provide multiple industries with highly skilled workers who earn family-sustaining wages—are registered with government agencies, operated by sponsors representing labor and management organizations and funded through collectively bargained contributions to tax-exempt trust funds.
Construction
Effective training is the cornerstone of successful building and construction careers. By offering training and apprenticeship programs, building trades unions help shape the futures of America’s workers. The 100th Anniversary of Registered Apprenticeships, celebrated in 2011, marks a century of U.S. building and construction trades unions delivering high-quality training, recognized at the federal, state and local levels. By working with unions through training and apprenticeship programs, employers recognize the excellence achieved through the collective bargaining process, in which both sides negotiate contracts, which pay good wages, deliver health and retirement security and assist workers in building careers they take pride in.
Building and Construction Trades Apprenticeship Programs
For decades, manufacturing unions have provided workers with rigorous apprenticeship programs that equip them with the skills to maintain and operate the machinery that keeps America moving. Manufacturing unions have delivered training programs to workers that give them the skills to innovate and meet the demands of global competitiveness in a constantly changing environment.
Manufacturing Training and Apprenticeship Programs
Australia and New Zealand used to be the most progressive in the world but were taken by neo-liberalism as well. Below you see what the goal of these US Federal apprenticeships will be------it will expand to train the immigrants brought in large number to the US to work on the manufacturing sites of global corporations brought to the US as JOB CREATORS.
Friday, 15 June 2012
TPP Secret Trade Agreement Puts International Tribunal Above U.S. Law
Video: Training Chinese workers
Date19 December 2009
Good training schemes are often useful to bring some workers up to speed with manufacturing practices. Health and safety isn't yet deemed as important as in a New Zealand context, but the use of safety footwear, eye and ear protection and other good practices is increasingly encouraged.
Below you see the Maryland Assembly bill that uses this apprenticeship program requirement specifically aiming at Prevailing Wage contracts. If you just glance through you see that almost no small contractor will goes through these hoops for a prevailing wage contract. They will just avoid bidding and these national and global contractors will get these contracts and use all of the loopholes to avoid paying 'prevailing wages'. Already you can see this apprenticeship program policy being used to create winners and losers in what used to be open contract bidding. Unions with apprenticeships already meeting these requirements must know they are being killed with these Federal apprenticeship programs and yet----it was Maryland AFL-CIO that came to testify for this bill and brought a young union-trained apprentice to say he liked this idea as well as a young black worker from Progressive Maryland. All of this was done to make this seem like a good thing for labor and unions AND IT IS VERY BAD FOR BOTH.
I spoke of the Texas workers brought to a job at Johns Hopkins to work only the number of weeks that beat prevailing wage and other labor requirements. Those workers are migrant ----they go from place to place for just weeks and those are the kinds of corporations winning these government contracts. So, this is not good for the workers or the unions.
MARYLAND AFL-CIO, PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND AND DELEGATE MCCRAY FROM BALTIMORE TESTIFIED FOR THIS.
I will out Delegate McCray as being one of a very few black contractors winning any work on East Baltimore project and he was clear that his construction business met all these specifications and he was proud to do it. Well, one can imagine that his corporation may be the small business becoming larger by being a 'selected and approved business' winning much of the contracts available to small businesses. When I testified how this bill not only will put small business contractors out of business but hinder new construction start ups as well as kill prevailing wage in Baltimore he ran out of the meeting room.
THIS BILL IS WRITTEN JUST TO AVOID PREVAILING WAGE, INSTALL THIS UNNECESSARY APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM INTO STATE LAW, AND RAISES THE BAR ON BUSINESS-SIZE ----JUST WHAT IS A SMALL BUSINESS NEXT TO GLOBAL CORPORATION?
In Baltimore it obviously is able to secure $2 million dollars in bond leverage in bidding for a job. All the people involved in promoting these bad economic policies are simply trying to keep jobs and earn a living. When unemployment is kept high in Baltimore jobs are used as pay-to-play.
Please scan this---it is boring but we need to know why Baltimore is so impoverished and crony.
EXPLANATION:CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets]indicate matter deleted from existing law.*
hb0370*HOUSE BILL 370
By: Delegates McCray, Anderson, Barkley, B.Barnes, Branch, Brooks, Clippinger, Davis, Frick, Glenn, Jalisi, Lafferty, Lam, Moon, Morales, Platt, Sydnor, Tarlau, Waldstreicher, A.Washington, and ZuckerIntroduced and read first time: February 6, 2015
Assigned to: Economic Matters
A BILL ENTITLEDAN ACT concerning Prevailing Wage –Payment for Apprenticeship Programs
FOR the purpose of requiring contractors and subcontractors under public work contracts subject to the prevailing wage rate law to pay the full cost of certain apprenticeship programs except under certain circumstances; requiring certain contractors to keep a list of each apprentice and the apprenticeship program in which the apprentice takes part; requiring contractors and subcontractors subject to a certain investigation to allow the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to take certain action to determine whether the contractor or subcontractor has violated a certain provision 9of this Act; requiring, on certain notification, a public body to withhold from a certain payment an amount sufficient to pay the full cost of certain apprenticeship programs; requiring, under certain circumstances, a public body to reimburse an apprentice for any amount the apprentice paid to an apprenticeship program and pay the apprenticeship program any balance still owed to the apprenticeship program; defining a certain term; and generally relating to the payment for apprenticeship programs by contractors and subcontractors under the prevailing wage rate law.
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, Article –State Finance and Procurement18Section 17–205, 17–220, and 17–221 Annotated Code of Maryland20(2009 Replacement Volume and 2014 Supplement) SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: Article –State Finance and Procurement2417–205.
HOUSE BILL 370(A)IN THIS SECTION,“PARTICIPATING IN AN APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAM”MEANS THAT A CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR MAKES REGULAR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EACH CLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS LISTED IN THE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT TO APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS DURING THE TERM OF THE PUBLIC 5WORK CONTRACT THAT ARE AT LEAST EQUAL TO THE HOURLY FRINGE BENEFIT CONTRIBUTION RATES REQUIRED FOR APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING BY THE APPLICABLE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION FOR THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT, AS SPECIFIED BY THE SECRETARY OF LABOR,LICENSING,AND 9REGULATION. [(a)](B)A contractor or subcontractor under a public work contract subject to this subtitle: (1)shall employ only competent workers and apprentices who qualify under subsection (b) of this section; (2)may not employ any individual classified as a helper or trainee; [and] (3)may refuse to employ a worker who is a resident of another state if the Commissioner finds that the other state enforces a law that prohibits a resident of this State from employment as a worker under a public work contract in that state, unless: (i)the refusal is in conflict or otherwise inconsistent with a federal law applicable to the public work; (ii)the federal government is to pay wholly or partly for the public work; and (iii)the inconsistency with federal law jeopardizes the availability of federal funds for the public work;AND (4)SHALL PAY THE FULL COST OF THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN WHICH AN APPRENTICE UNDER A PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT TAKES PART,UNLESS THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR PARTICIPATES IN AN APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EACH CLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS LISTED IN THE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT. [(b)](C)An apprentice under a public work contract shall be part of and used in accordance with an apprenticeship program registered with the Council and approved by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the United States Department of Labor.17–220.
HOUSE BILL 3703(a)Each contractor required to pay the prevailing wage rate shall:(1)keep payroll records covering work performed directly at the work site in accordance with regulations adopted by the Commissioner; [and](2)KEEP A LIST OF EACH APPRENTICE AND THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN WHICH THE APPRENTICE TAKES PART;AND [(2)](3)allow the Commissioner or the public body to inspect the records at any reasonable time and as often as necessary.(b)(1)Each contractor shall submit a complete copy of the payroll records of the contractor and, for work performed at the work site, of the subcontractors in the form that the Commissioner specifies by regulation to: (i)the public body; and (ii)the Commissioner. (2)The Commissioner and the public body shall make payroll records available for public inspection during regular business hours.(c)Each copy of the payroll records shall be accompanied by a statement that is signed by the contractor or, for the subcontractor’s records, by the subcontractor and indicates that:(1)the payroll records are correct;(2)the wage rates paid are not less than those established by the Commissioner as set forth in the public work contract;(3)the classification set forth for each employee conforms with the work performed by that employee; and(4)the contractor or subcontractor has complied with each requirement of this subtitle.(d)If a contractor is late in submitting copies of the payroll records required under subsection (b) of this section:(1)the public body may postpone the processing of partial payment estimates under the public work contract pending receipt of the copies; and(2)the contractor shall be liable to the public body for liquidated damages of $10 for each calendar day the records are late.3017–221.
4HOUSE BILL 370(a)Each public body that awards a public work contract shall:(1)take cognizance of a complaint of a violation of this subtitle committed in the course of performance of the public work contract; and(2)when making payments to the contractor, withhold any amount that the contractor owes to its employees or the public body as a result of the violation.(b)(1)The Commissioner shall institute an investigation as necessary to determine compliance with this subtitle and regulations adopted under this subtitle.(2)The Commissioner promptly shall investigate a complaint of a violation of this subtitle.(3)Any written or oral complaint or statement made by an employee is confidential and may not be disclosed to the employer without the consent of the employee.(c)A contractor or subcontractor subject to an investigation under this section shall allow the Commissioner to observe work being performed at the site of a public work project, to interview employees, and to review books and records, to determine:(1)the correctness of each classification;(2)the ratio of apprentices to mechanics; [and](3)payment of straight and overtime prevailing wage rates as required under the public work contract;AND(4)WHETHER THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTORHAS VIOLATED §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE.(d)If, after investigation, the Commissioner determines that a provision of this subtitle may have been violated, the Commissioner immediately shall notify the public body.(e)(1)On notification, the public body shall withhold from payment due the contractor or subcontractor an amount sufficient to:(i)1.pay each employee of the contractor or subcontractor the full amount of wages due under this subtitle; and[(ii)]2.satisfy a liability of a contractor for liquidated damages as provided in § 17–222(a) of this subtitle, pending a final determination;ORHOUSE BILL 3705(II)IF THE COMMISSIONERDETERMINED THAT §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE MAYHAVE BEEN VIOLATED,PAY THE FULL COST OF EACH APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM THAT THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR DID NOT PAY AS REQUIRED UNDER §17–205(B)(4)OFTHIS SUBTITLE.(2)If a subcontractor is responsible for a violation of this subtitle, the contractor:(i)may withhold from payment to the subcontractor an amount equal to the amount withheld from the contractor under paragraph (1) of this subsection; or(ii)if payment has been made to the subcontractor, may sue to recover that amount.(f)The Commissioner shall:(1)issue an order for a hearing within 30 days after completing an investigation; and(2)expeditiously conduct the hearing.(g)(1)At least 10 days before the hearing, the Commissioner shall serve, personally or by mail, written notice of the hearing on all interested persons, including the public body.(2)The notice shall include:(i)a statement of the facts disclosed in the investigation; and(ii)the time and place of the hearing.(h)(1)In conducting an investigation or hearing under this section, the Commissioner is deemed to be acting in a quasi–judicial capacity and may:(i)issue subpoenas;(ii)administer oaths; or(iii)examine witnesses.(2)The Commissioner shall grant each interested person an opportunity to speak at the hearing on matters relevant to the complaint.(i)(1)After the conclusion of the hearing, the Commissioner shall:
HOUSE BILL 370(i)file in the Commissioner’s office an order that states the Commissioner’s determination; and(ii)serve, personally or by mail, the public body and parties to the hearing with a copy of the order and notice of its filing.(2)If the Commissioner finds a violation, the Commissioner shall determine the amount of liquidated damages and restitution to be assessed for the violation.(3)On the entry and service of a Commissioner’s order, the public body, from the money due the contractor or subcontractor, shall:(i)1.pay the affected employees the full amount of wages due them; and[(ii)]2.satisfy the obligation of the contractor or subcontractor to pay liquidated damages as required under § 17–222 of this subtitle;OR(II)IF THE COMMISSIONER DETERMINED THERE WAS A VIOLATION OF §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE:1.REIMBURSE THE APPRENTICE FOR ANY AMOUNT THE APPRENTICE PAID TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM;AND 2.PAY TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM ANY BALANCE STILL OWED TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED,That this Act shall take effect 20October 1, 2015
First I want to encourage everyone to take time to Google and listen to the video below. This professional financial analyst has a long record of being right and is right with this video...you will see he and I are shouting the same thing----then I want to talk elections and getting new leaders and politicians.
LISTEN TO THIS VIDEO ALL THE WAY THROUGH IF YOU HAVE THE TIME. IT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING AND YOUR POLS----WHETHER CLINTON NEO-LIBERAL OR BUSH NEO-CON HAS WORKED TO DO THESE FEW DECADES.
For those who have followed my blog for several years this video outlines everything I have been saying only Rickards only went public with this a few years ago. Think about Trans Pacific Trade Pact and its installation of global corporate tribunal and global court and then think how that global structure will fit with the IMF taking over from the US FED and the dollar of being the world's currency. It fits perfectly. Then think about Obama and Congress ignoring the $17 trillion national debt while playing austerity with a national budget-----states like Maryland loading with credit bond debt leverage while pretending to need austerity for a structural budget deficit. The FED leveraged itself with $4 trillion in debt after using QE to take debt from Wall Street banks.
The reference to Rand Paul will strike a nerve for most progressive Democrats but as this video states Rand Paul is the only politician outing the FED as the driver of this deliberate US collapse with the goal of sending the US and Europe to this global IMF structure. The American people surely don't want a Libertarian like Rand Paul when all this happens----we will be lucky to elect a Bernie Sanders that is not simply pretending to be progressive labor and justice. Please take a look at how this man suggests people prepare financially for this coming collapse. It will be a Great Depression. Remember when Bernanke was appointed by Obama and stations like National Public Radio described him as a 'scholar of the Great Depression'. Well, we didn't know then, but saw not long after that Bernanke was placed at the FED to create this Great Depression. That is what all this QE and zero interest rates had as a goal.
The Death of Money: Project Prophecy 2.0
To read the transcript for this video, please click here: http://jimrickardspredictions.com/transcript.php To watch this video in full-streaming HD, please c...YouTube
I take weekends to speak of elections and look at the politicians that create this breakdown in Rule of Law and labor and justice rights. I want to look at the one incident I outlined briefly last week to show how all the Maryland pols---from Maryland Assembly to Baltimore City Hall work in tandem to create massive fraud, corruption, and wealth inequity.
Progressive Maryland is a political non-profit based in Montgomery County with a branch in Baltimore. When I first came I thought----that's the group for me until I watched what issues and politicians they supported. I took only two election cycles to see that they supported the most Clinton Wall Street global corporate candidates in these Maryland races. They were not progressive----they were global corporatists pretending to be progressive by supporting a few progressive issues. The same with Maryland MoveOn-----a Clinton neo-liberal group pretending to be progressive. They are the political voice that keeps these incumbents for life in office as Democrats. That is why I created Citizens Oversight Maryland Progressives.
Progressive Maryland endorses Brown for governor
May 07, 2014|By Michael Dresser
WE NEED REAL PROGRESSIVE LABOR AND JUSTICE DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIGHT WALL STREET GLOBALISM.
Then there is the Maryland labor union leaders that also support the most Clinton Wall Street of candidates in all elections giving the dynamic of Maryland having some of the lowest wages, unemployment, and union members on the picket line. The private sector unions are busting public sector unions just for a several month job building a casino in Prince Georges' County. This happens because Maryland is a southern state and unions struggle to survive but there is a point where unions must take a stand, break from Clinton neo-liberals and run labor and justice candidates that are passionate for labor justice. Clinton neo-liberals say-----GOOD BYE UNION APPRENTICESHIPS---GOOD BYE STRIKING FOR LABOR RIGHTS-----GOOD BYE MEMBERSHIP VOICE IN NEGOTIATIONS OF CONTRACTS---GOOD BYE PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS AND YOUR BENEFITS!
Training and Apprenticeships - AFL-CIO
www.aflcio.org/.../Training-and-Apprenticeships... the labor movement trains more than 450,000 workers. Through union apprenticeship ... to work together to share the benefits as well as the costs, ...
WE NEED REAL LABOR UNION LEADERS WORKING FOR ALL LABOR IN MARYLAND.
Then we have the Maryland Democratic Party with Democratic Committees filled with Clinton neo-liberals and Hopkins neo-conservatives all running as Democrats. This is what has made Maryland so corporate, so systemically criminal with all regulations and Rule of Law dismantled. I know the citizens of Maryland, whether Republican or Democrat do not want this dismantling of our Constitutional rights as citizens and our national sovereignty.
DEMOCRATS DO NOT DO THIS.
As this article states apprenticeship comes right out of the Middle Ages and indeed it does.....that was all that was offered to the peasants and they toiled from childhood in apprenticeships of poverty with few advancing out of poverty. There was a Master Craftsman and then there was the rich merchants getting all that work for free. The article below wants to make it seem as this US Apprenticeship program is like Europe's but it is not. Europe has free higher education to universities and lots of grants and tuition help for all its citizens to get into and attend a university of their choice AND they have apprenticeship programs. What Clinton neo-liberals are doing is dismantling all of the Federal funding for higher education for all citizens and moving that funding to these corporate apprenticeship programs.
Remember as well, Obama and Congressional neo-liberals are working as hard as they can to install Trans Pacific Trade Pact TPP seeks to allow global corporations to operate in the US as they do in developing nations. Johns Hopkins has increased its student load from Asian nations all able to start businesses in the area preparing for this flood of global corporations to America to set up shop and treat US workers as US Corporations treated Asian workers. So, there is no plan for higher education for 90% of Americans----they will all be tracked into this vocational K-career apprenticeship track.
You can see why Clinton neo-liberals and Bush neo-cons work with Wall Street to leave the US economy stagnant and unemployment at 25%-----making people desperate moves a first world society that promoted everyone going to university for good career prospects to accepting a vocational tracking that will lead to sweat shop wages. There's Arne Duncan with Labor Secretary Perez----it's all about job training and not protecting labor rights and their middle-class benefits.
WE STOLE THE WEALTH OF THE LAST MIDDLE-CLASS GENERATIONS BUT THIS WILL BE DIFFERENT!
5 Reasons Expanding Apprenticeships Will Benefit Millennials
SOURCE: Flickr/Apprenticeships
An apprentice works at a British Rolls-Royce plant. Apprenticeships can create promising new pathways for young workers to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
By Sarah Ayres Steinberg | December 2, 2013
Apprenticeships might sound as if they come straight out of the Middle Ages, but there is nothing medieval about the wage premiums and career opportunities that young Americans can gain from them. Apprenticeships are a structured form of paid worker training that combine on-the-job learning and classroom instruction. They have been shown to boost workers’ earnings and raise sponsoring companies’ productivity levels, which is why many other countries rely on them as a central tool to develop a highly skilled, competitive workforce. But even though the U.S. Department of Labor administers a small system of registered apprentices, the training model is largely unfamiliar to Americans.
An apprenticeship is a job in which the worker is paid to learn a set of skills through on-the-job training. Unlike an internship—in which the intern works for little or no money and rarely receives formal training—an apprenticeship follows an earn-while-you-learn model and leads to a nationally recognized credential that recipients can take anywhere in the country. Today, there are 358,000 registered apprentices in the United States—just 7 percent of the number of apprentices in England after adjusting for population size. If the United States had as many apprentices per capita as Germany does, our system would support almost 7 million apprentices.
The bulk of America’s apprenticeships today are in skilled trades, but the model can be adapted to many industries and occupations. Apprenticeships are well established in the construction industry, and there are many high-quality programs for electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and pipe fitters. The concept of a formal, paid training program can be applied to almost any occupation. For example, nearly every medical doctor participates in an apprenticeship of sorts; during their internships and residencies, doctors receive on-the-job and classroom-based training along with their salaries. England has overhauled its apprenticeship program in recent years, expanding its occupational reach so that a majority of new British apprentices now choose programs in the service sectors, such as business administration and retail.
Expanding the U.S. apprenticeship system both in number of participants and available occupations would strengthen the American economy by helping businesses meet the demand for skilled workers while offering workers higher wages and better employment outcomes. Such an initiative would especially benefit Millennials, who are struggling with disproportionately high unemployment, low-wage jobs, rising college costs, and spiraling student debt. Apprenticeships can create promising new pathways for young workers to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
Below are five ways Millennials would benefit from the expansion of apprenticeships.
1. Apprenticeships are jobs Unlike most interns, apprentices are paid employees who earn a paycheck for their work. Apprentices’ wages typically start at about 50 percent to 60 percent of their eventual wages, and their pay goes up as they progress through their programs and master more skills. Moreover, because training is part of the job, apprentices do not have to forgo income from employment in order to pursue education and training. An apprenticeship provides a young worker with an immediate job, steadily rising wages, and a gateway into a successful and sustainable long-term career. This is especially important for Millennials, as the unemployment rate for Americans under age 25 is still nearly 15 percent—more than double the national rate of unemployment.
2. Apprentices earn higher wages Completing an apprenticeship dramatically raises workers’ wages. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workers who complete an apprenticeship earn an average starting salary of $50,000. Researchers have found that workers who complete an apprenticeship make an average of $240,037 more than comparable job seekers in their lifetimes; if nonwage benefits are included, that number jumps to $301,533. The wage premium for apprentices will especially benefit young workers, who are significantly more likely than older workers to have a job that lacks sufficient pay.
3. Apprentices gain an education with little or no debt In many apprenticeship programs, apprentices can earn college credit for their coursework and on-the-job training. This credit can lead to an associate’s degree and, depending on the industry, may also contribute to a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, for example, has developed an initiative in which workers who are enrolled in one of several apprenticeship trade programs can obtain an associate’s degree or technical certificate using credits earned for time spent on the job. Nationally, about one-quarter of apprentices report that they have participated in a community college or vocational program in the last year, and an additional 30 percent report that they have taken a nondegree course in the past year, such as one offered by an employer. The prospect of debt-free education is particularly appealing to Millennials, who are facing college costs that have increased 250 percent in the past three decades and an average student-loan balance of $25,000.
4. Apprenticeships create a pathway to middle-class jobs for those without a four-year degree Apprenticeships offer high school graduates a path to a well-paying, middle-class career that does not require them to obtain a four-year degree. Today’s high school graduates must consider record-high college costs and the possibility of taking on an overwhelming amount of student debt—often without sufficient information to confidently evaluate the quality of colleges. At the same time, few students and their parents are aware that apprentices can achieve a long-term career and a substantial wage premium without a college degree. Too many Americans mistakenly believe that earning a four-year degree is the only way to achieve economic mobility, with surveys now indicating that almost all high school graduates plan to earn a bachelor’s degree.
But fewer than half of these students actually complete a bachelor’s degree. One-third of 2012 high school graduates were not enrolled in college by October of that year. Of those who do seek a bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution, 40 percent do not complete a degree at that institution within six years. Too many of these students are left with the burden of student debt and without the economic benefits of a degree. Expanding awareness of apprenticeships can open the door to an alternative career pathway for high school graduates without precluding further postsecondary education.
Apprenticeships would benefit Millennials by providing those who do not go to or finish college with a viable path to the skills development that will allow them to earn higher wages.
5. Apprenticeships grow the economy by making American businesses more competitive Employers who sponsor apprentices gain skilled workers, reduce employee turnover, and improve productivity. Apprenticeships can also help businesses address any critical or expected shortages of skilled labor at a time when many businesses are reporting that they cannot find skilled workers to fill jobs.
For these reasons, nearly all U.S. employers who sponsor apprenticeship programs recommend them. A survey of registered apprenticeship sponsors in the United States found that 87 percent of sponsors would strongly recommend registered apprenticeships, and another 11 percent would recommend apprenticeships with some reservations—for a total of 98 percent of sponsors recommending them.[1]
Businesses in countries with more expansive apprenticeship programs show very high levels of satisfaction. A recent survey by the U.K. Department of Business found that apprentices scored 4 percent higher on an employability scale than university graduates, indicating that employers increasingly view apprenticeships as being on level footing with university education. U.K. apprenticeship sponsors also report improved labor supply, better efficiency in hiring and retaining employees and embedding organizational culture and values into their workforce, and overall productivity gains.
A Swiss study found that employers spend around $3.4 billion annually training apprentices but earn $3.7 billion each year from apprentices’ work during training. They also save on recruiting and employee-relocation costs.[2] Consequently, 80 percent of the more than 2,300 Swiss firms surveyed said that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the cost-to-benefit ratio of the apprenticeship program.[3]
An extensive 2009 study that surveyed almost 1,000 businesses across Canada found that employers receive a benefit of $1.47 for every $1 spent on apprenticeship training. What’s more, they see the cost benefits and revenues increase each year over the course of an apprenticeship. Importantly, these returns on investment existed in every geographic region of Canada and across companies of all sizes.
Expanding U.S. apprenticeships will benefit all of us by boosting American business and improving our competitiveness in the global economy. But Millennials, who have been hit especially hard by recent sluggish economic growth and high unemployment rates, have the most to gain from faster economic growth and increased hiring.
Conclusion Apprenticeships are proven workforce development tools that offer substantial benefits to both workers and businesses. Expanding apprenticeships in the United States can help address the economic challenges that Millennials face. In the new report “Training for Success,” we explore the hurdles that have thus far prevented the United States from developing a more robust apprenticeship system, including a lack of awareness among workers and businesses, the limited occupational reach of current apprenticeships, and the significant upfront costs to businesses that sponsor apprentices. We propose a set of policies that will expand apprenticeships by improving marketing to businesses, introducing financial incentives for employers, enhancing data collection to identify new occupations for apprenticeships, and launching a national campaign to enlist commitments from businesses to engage unemployed young Americans. Millennials face substantial economic challenges, and lawmakers should expand apprenticeship opportunities to better connect them to well-paying, middle-class jobs.
___________________________________________
What is happening is a system of pools of labor are moving through these apprenticeship/job training programs and left without jobs after all of the time spent. If you do not finish these programs the costs fall to the workers.
In lieu of paying taxes corporations are simply sending what they used to share with labor unions in costs of training to these Federally supported training centers. Still getting all the work they need on the cheap.
What you see is the apprenticeship program that existed throughout the 20th century----unions were strong and covered most manufacturing and trades -----
SO WE HAVE A SYSTEM OF APPRENTICESHIPS THAT WERE THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
What Clinton neo-liberals are doing is busting unions and taking over what they did on the taxpayer dime. None of this is better------unions will disappear and with that organized labor power. The Federal taxpayer revenue that used to be used to promote equal opportunity and access higher education to universities will be grossly defunded as is happening now and only the wealthy will attend university with selected scholarships to students trained to tow the global corporate line. No rabble-rousing civil rights, civil liberties, labor rights and environmental rights people need apply for these selective tickets to university----you will be tracked into vocational K-career college.
The packaged enthusiasm by Obama's Administrator in Education and Labor for this REVOLUTIONARY way to get Americans to work and into the middle-class IS ALL LIES.
IT WILL BECOME A MIDDLE-AGES STYLE POVERTY AND CHILD LABOR APPRENTICESHIP WITH GLOBAL CORPORATE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS.
AND NATIONAL UNION LEADERS ARE EMBRACING THIS AND SUPPORTING THE NEO-LIBERALS MOVING THIS FORWARD.
Registered Apprenticeships
Electrical Workers Local 26 offers an alternative energy course to apprentice and skilled workers. Apprenticeship programs integrate systematic on-the-job training, guided by an experienced master-level practitioner in an occupation, with classroom instruction. The federal government, in cooperation with the states, registers apprenticeship programs that meet federal and state standards. The best programs—which provide multiple industries with highly skilled workers who earn family-sustaining wages—are registered with government agencies, operated by sponsors representing labor and management organizations and funded through collectively bargained contributions to tax-exempt trust funds.
Construction
Effective training is the cornerstone of successful building and construction careers. By offering training and apprenticeship programs, building trades unions help shape the futures of America’s workers. The 100th Anniversary of Registered Apprenticeships, celebrated in 2011, marks a century of U.S. building and construction trades unions delivering high-quality training, recognized at the federal, state and local levels. By working with unions through training and apprenticeship programs, employers recognize the excellence achieved through the collective bargaining process, in which both sides negotiate contracts, which pay good wages, deliver health and retirement security and assist workers in building careers they take pride in.
Building and Construction Trades Apprenticeship Programs
- Painters and Allied Trades Finishing Trades Institute
- Ironworkers
- Heat and Frost Insulators
- Boilermakers National Joint Apprenticeship Program
- Electrical Workers/National Electrical Contractors Association National Joint Apprenticeship Council
- Bricklayers Masonry Institute
- Elevator Constructors National Elevator Industry Educational Program
- Plasterers and Cement Masons
- The Sheet Metal Workers International Training Institute
- Plumbers and Pipe Fitters
- United Union of Roofers and Waterproofers
- Operating Engineers
For decades, manufacturing unions have provided workers with rigorous apprenticeship programs that equip them with the skills to maintain and operate the machinery that keeps America moving. Manufacturing unions have delivered training programs to workers that give them the skills to innovate and meet the demands of global competitiveness in a constantly changing environment.
Manufacturing Training and Apprenticeship Programs
- Machinists (IAM) Apprenticeship
- UAW Apprenticeships
- USW Apprenticeship
________________________________________
As we see below Canada is well on its way to doing what is coming to the US-----global corporations setting up shop in the US and bringing their own labor force from the developing world. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IS WHERE CLINTON NEO-LIBERALS AND BUSH NEO-CONS ARE GOING. China already has the vocational K-career college structure that Obama and Clinton neo-liberals are trying to install with Race to the Top and now China is developing the same 'apprenticeship programs' that Arne Duncan and Labor Department Perez are here in the US. So we already know this platform will be extended to the flood of immigrants brought through Trans Pacific Trade Pact to work with global corporations in manufacturing and trades.
All of this kills the first world status of Americans by ending access to public education for all citizens-----by creating a permanent cast system of laborers. No broad democratic education----just vocational K-12 with government apprenticeship programs.
LABOUR
Why training workers in Canada beats importing them from abroad- BARRIE McKENNA
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Dec. 16 2012, 7:30 PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 19 2012, 11:24 AM EST
Fast-tracking the entry of foreign workers to toil in Canada’s mines, oil fields and construction sites is certainly expedient.
The work is there. So bring them in and get it done, for the sake of the economy.
But a rented foreign work force is hardly an enduring solution to a skills shortage that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called “the biggest challenge our country faces.” At best, it’s a stop-gap.
More Related to this Story- Court refuses to block arrival of more Chinese workers for B.C. mine
- IMMIGRATION Human-rights complaint throws Chinese-miner labour into question
- No Canadian hires for four years at Chinese-owned B.C. mine
Labour shortages are now a permanent feature of Canada’s labour landscape.
The country is staring at a decade or more of critical labour scarcities as the massive baby boom generation retires and the economy grows. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will go begging for electricians, welders, pipe fitters, heavy equipment mechanics and many other trades.
The federal government’s recent announcement that it intends to bring in an extra 3,000 skilled tradespeople next year may be welcome news for employers.
It’s one thing to bring in foreigners to do jobs Canadians can’t or won’t do. Farmers have been doing it for years to harvest crops. But the program betrays the national interest if it is being used as a cover to import workers whose only asset is a willingness to work for a lot less than Canadians.
A continuing Federal Court case in British Columbia highlights some of the troubling consequences of Ottawa’s temporary foreign worker program. Labour unions allege in court filings that HD Mining International, a Chinese-owned coal mine in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., won federal and provincial approval to bring in as many as 200 Chinese workers over the next few years, even though it is paying them substantially less than the going rate, with no benefits.
Under the program, an employer must first demonstrate the jobs can’t be filled in Canada. The unions say the company cleared that hurdle by demanding workers speak Mandarin – a claim the company denies.
Canada’s labour market is highly fragmented, with shortages in some industries and provinces, and surpluses elsewhere. The jobless rate remains high at 7.4 per cent, worse than it was before the recession. And Canadians who find themselves out of work are unemployed longer – five weeks more than prerecession levels and well above the historic average.
There’s also a mismatch between the skills demanded in sectors that are hiring and the skills of workers in shrinking parts of the economy.
One solution is to work harder at recruiting skilled immigrants – rather than temporary workers – who will settle in Canada and contribute to the economy and society.
But the core of the problem lies with Corporate Canada. Many of the same companies who complain of labour shortages invest too little training their own workers.
Apprenticeship – the time-honoured tradition of experienced journeymen training the next generation – remains a foreign concept for the vast majority of employers. In spite of generous government incentives, more than 80 per cent of employers who use skilled workers don’t offer any, according to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum. Spokeswoman Marie Bilodeau said the reasons are numerous, and complex. Among other things, companies – particularly smaller ones – say they lack the human, financial and logistical resources to train their own people.
Even larger employers who take training seriously rarely do enough.
Consider Irving Shipbuilding, which has a $25-billion deal to build 21 combat ships for the federal government. The company recently announced that it will spend $250,000 a year to train and recruit local students. It’s also offering apprenticeships. That’s all great, but likely not enough to attract the 1,500 workers it will need over the next decade in the face of stiff competition for those skills from Alberta’s oil fields.
Canadians also bear some responsibility. Too many students spurn trades training in favour of college degrees that often lead to low-paying service industry jobs. Others may simply be oblivious to the opportunities available.
Training workers is a long-term investment. It requires patience. Research by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, which lost its federal financing this year, shows that companies get back $1.47 for every $1 they spend on apprentices. Over the life of a four-year apprenticeship, the gain can reach as high as $250,000 for a single heavy equipment mechanic as the apprentice becomes more productive and generates revenue.
Importing temporary foreign workers, on the other hand, is more like day-trading: Quick profits over long-term wealth. - Court refuses to block arrival of more Chinese workers for B.C. mine
Australia and New Zealand used to be the most progressive in the world but were taken by neo-liberalism as well. Below you see what the goal of these US Federal apprenticeships will be------it will expand to train the immigrants brought in large number to the US to work on the manufacturing sites of global corporations brought to the US as JOB CREATORS.
Friday, 15 June 2012
TPP Secret Trade Agreement Puts International Tribunal Above U.S. Law
Video: Training Chinese workers
Date19 December 2009
Good training schemes are often useful to bring some workers up to speed with manufacturing practices. Health and safety isn't yet deemed as important as in a New Zealand context, but the use of safety footwear, eye and ear protection and other good practices is increasingly encouraged.
Below you see the Maryland Assembly bill that uses this apprenticeship program requirement specifically aiming at Prevailing Wage contracts. If you just glance through you see that almost no small contractor will goes through these hoops for a prevailing wage contract. They will just avoid bidding and these national and global contractors will get these contracts and use all of the loopholes to avoid paying 'prevailing wages'. Already you can see this apprenticeship program policy being used to create winners and losers in what used to be open contract bidding. Unions with apprenticeships already meeting these requirements must know they are being killed with these Federal apprenticeship programs and yet----it was Maryland AFL-CIO that came to testify for this bill and brought a young union-trained apprentice to say he liked this idea as well as a young black worker from Progressive Maryland. All of this was done to make this seem like a good thing for labor and unions AND IT IS VERY BAD FOR BOTH.
I spoke of the Texas workers brought to a job at Johns Hopkins to work only the number of weeks that beat prevailing wage and other labor requirements. Those workers are migrant ----they go from place to place for just weeks and those are the kinds of corporations winning these government contracts. So, this is not good for the workers or the unions.
MARYLAND AFL-CIO, PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND AND DELEGATE MCCRAY FROM BALTIMORE TESTIFIED FOR THIS.
I will out Delegate McCray as being one of a very few black contractors winning any work on East Baltimore project and he was clear that his construction business met all these specifications and he was proud to do it. Well, one can imagine that his corporation may be the small business becoming larger by being a 'selected and approved business' winning much of the contracts available to small businesses. When I testified how this bill not only will put small business contractors out of business but hinder new construction start ups as well as kill prevailing wage in Baltimore he ran out of the meeting room.
THIS BILL IS WRITTEN JUST TO AVOID PREVAILING WAGE, INSTALL THIS UNNECESSARY APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM INTO STATE LAW, AND RAISES THE BAR ON BUSINESS-SIZE ----JUST WHAT IS A SMALL BUSINESS NEXT TO GLOBAL CORPORATION?
In Baltimore it obviously is able to secure $2 million dollars in bond leverage in bidding for a job. All the people involved in promoting these bad economic policies are simply trying to keep jobs and earn a living. When unemployment is kept high in Baltimore jobs are used as pay-to-play.
Please scan this---it is boring but we need to know why Baltimore is so impoverished and crony.
EXPLANATION:CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets]indicate matter deleted from existing law.*
hb0370*HOUSE BILL 370
By: Delegates McCray, Anderson, Barkley, B.Barnes, Branch, Brooks, Clippinger, Davis, Frick, Glenn, Jalisi, Lafferty, Lam, Moon, Morales, Platt, Sydnor, Tarlau, Waldstreicher, A.Washington, and ZuckerIntroduced and read first time: February 6, 2015
Assigned to: Economic Matters
A BILL ENTITLEDAN ACT concerning Prevailing Wage –Payment for Apprenticeship Programs
FOR the purpose of requiring contractors and subcontractors under public work contracts subject to the prevailing wage rate law to pay the full cost of certain apprenticeship programs except under certain circumstances; requiring certain contractors to keep a list of each apprentice and the apprenticeship program in which the apprentice takes part; requiring contractors and subcontractors subject to a certain investigation to allow the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to take certain action to determine whether the contractor or subcontractor has violated a certain provision 9of this Act; requiring, on certain notification, a public body to withhold from a certain payment an amount sufficient to pay the full cost of certain apprenticeship programs; requiring, under certain circumstances, a public body to reimburse an apprentice for any amount the apprentice paid to an apprenticeship program and pay the apprenticeship program any balance still owed to the apprenticeship program; defining a certain term; and generally relating to the payment for apprenticeship programs by contractors and subcontractors under the prevailing wage rate law.
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, Article –State Finance and Procurement18Section 17–205, 17–220, and 17–221 Annotated Code of Maryland20(2009 Replacement Volume and 2014 Supplement) SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: Article –State Finance and Procurement2417–205.
HOUSE BILL 370(A)IN THIS SECTION,“PARTICIPATING IN AN APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAM”MEANS THAT A CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR MAKES REGULAR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EACH CLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS LISTED IN THE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT TO APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS DURING THE TERM OF THE PUBLIC 5WORK CONTRACT THAT ARE AT LEAST EQUAL TO THE HOURLY FRINGE BENEFIT CONTRIBUTION RATES REQUIRED FOR APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING BY THE APPLICABLE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION FOR THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT, AS SPECIFIED BY THE SECRETARY OF LABOR,LICENSING,AND 9REGULATION. [(a)](B)A contractor or subcontractor under a public work contract subject to this subtitle: (1)shall employ only competent workers and apprentices who qualify under subsection (b) of this section; (2)may not employ any individual classified as a helper or trainee; [and] (3)may refuse to employ a worker who is a resident of another state if the Commissioner finds that the other state enforces a law that prohibits a resident of this State from employment as a worker under a public work contract in that state, unless: (i)the refusal is in conflict or otherwise inconsistent with a federal law applicable to the public work; (ii)the federal government is to pay wholly or partly for the public work; and (iii)the inconsistency with federal law jeopardizes the availability of federal funds for the public work;AND (4)SHALL PAY THE FULL COST OF THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN WHICH AN APPRENTICE UNDER A PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT TAKES PART,UNLESS THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR PARTICIPATES IN AN APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EACH CLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS LISTED IN THE PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATION APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLIC WORK CONTRACT. [(b)](C)An apprentice under a public work contract shall be part of and used in accordance with an apprenticeship program registered with the Council and approved by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the United States Department of Labor.17–220.
HOUSE BILL 3703(a)Each contractor required to pay the prevailing wage rate shall:(1)keep payroll records covering work performed directly at the work site in accordance with regulations adopted by the Commissioner; [and](2)KEEP A LIST OF EACH APPRENTICE AND THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM IN WHICH THE APPRENTICE TAKES PART;AND [(2)](3)allow the Commissioner or the public body to inspect the records at any reasonable time and as often as necessary.(b)(1)Each contractor shall submit a complete copy of the payroll records of the contractor and, for work performed at the work site, of the subcontractors in the form that the Commissioner specifies by regulation to: (i)the public body; and (ii)the Commissioner. (2)The Commissioner and the public body shall make payroll records available for public inspection during regular business hours.(c)Each copy of the payroll records shall be accompanied by a statement that is signed by the contractor or, for the subcontractor’s records, by the subcontractor and indicates that:(1)the payroll records are correct;(2)the wage rates paid are not less than those established by the Commissioner as set forth in the public work contract;(3)the classification set forth for each employee conforms with the work performed by that employee; and(4)the contractor or subcontractor has complied with each requirement of this subtitle.(d)If a contractor is late in submitting copies of the payroll records required under subsection (b) of this section:(1)the public body may postpone the processing of partial payment estimates under the public work contract pending receipt of the copies; and(2)the contractor shall be liable to the public body for liquidated damages of $10 for each calendar day the records are late.3017–221.
4HOUSE BILL 370(a)Each public body that awards a public work contract shall:(1)take cognizance of a complaint of a violation of this subtitle committed in the course of performance of the public work contract; and(2)when making payments to the contractor, withhold any amount that the contractor owes to its employees or the public body as a result of the violation.(b)(1)The Commissioner shall institute an investigation as necessary to determine compliance with this subtitle and regulations adopted under this subtitle.(2)The Commissioner promptly shall investigate a complaint of a violation of this subtitle.(3)Any written or oral complaint or statement made by an employee is confidential and may not be disclosed to the employer without the consent of the employee.(c)A contractor or subcontractor subject to an investigation under this section shall allow the Commissioner to observe work being performed at the site of a public work project, to interview employees, and to review books and records, to determine:(1)the correctness of each classification;(2)the ratio of apprentices to mechanics; [and](3)payment of straight and overtime prevailing wage rates as required under the public work contract;AND(4)WHETHER THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTORHAS VIOLATED §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE.(d)If, after investigation, the Commissioner determines that a provision of this subtitle may have been violated, the Commissioner immediately shall notify the public body.(e)(1)On notification, the public body shall withhold from payment due the contractor or subcontractor an amount sufficient to:(i)1.pay each employee of the contractor or subcontractor the full amount of wages due under this subtitle; and[(ii)]2.satisfy a liability of a contractor for liquidated damages as provided in § 17–222(a) of this subtitle, pending a final determination;ORHOUSE BILL 3705(II)IF THE COMMISSIONERDETERMINED THAT §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE MAYHAVE BEEN VIOLATED,PAY THE FULL COST OF EACH APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM THAT THE CONTRACTOR OR SUBCONTRACTOR DID NOT PAY AS REQUIRED UNDER §17–205(B)(4)OFTHIS SUBTITLE.(2)If a subcontractor is responsible for a violation of this subtitle, the contractor:(i)may withhold from payment to the subcontractor an amount equal to the amount withheld from the contractor under paragraph (1) of this subsection; or(ii)if payment has been made to the subcontractor, may sue to recover that amount.(f)The Commissioner shall:(1)issue an order for a hearing within 30 days after completing an investigation; and(2)expeditiously conduct the hearing.(g)(1)At least 10 days before the hearing, the Commissioner shall serve, personally or by mail, written notice of the hearing on all interested persons, including the public body.(2)The notice shall include:(i)a statement of the facts disclosed in the investigation; and(ii)the time and place of the hearing.(h)(1)In conducting an investigation or hearing under this section, the Commissioner is deemed to be acting in a quasi–judicial capacity and may:(i)issue subpoenas;(ii)administer oaths; or(iii)examine witnesses.(2)The Commissioner shall grant each interested person an opportunity to speak at the hearing on matters relevant to the complaint.(i)(1)After the conclusion of the hearing, the Commissioner shall:
HOUSE BILL 370(i)file in the Commissioner’s office an order that states the Commissioner’s determination; and(ii)serve, personally or by mail, the public body and parties to the hearing with a copy of the order and notice of its filing.(2)If the Commissioner finds a violation, the Commissioner shall determine the amount of liquidated damages and restitution to be assessed for the violation.(3)On the entry and service of a Commissioner’s order, the public body, from the money due the contractor or subcontractor, shall:(i)1.pay the affected employees the full amount of wages due them; and[(ii)]2.satisfy the obligation of the contractor or subcontractor to pay liquidated damages as required under § 17–222 of this subtitle;OR(II)IF THE COMMISSIONER DETERMINED THERE WAS A VIOLATION OF §17–205(B)(4)OF THIS SUBTITLE:1.REIMBURSE THE APPRENTICE FOR ANY AMOUNT THE APPRENTICE PAID TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM;AND 2.PAY TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM ANY BALANCE STILL OWED TO THE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED,That this Act shall take effect 20October 1, 2015
RSS Feed
