The IAM Journal reaches the home of every IAM member. This
advocacy magazine addresses the trends and forces that affect us
all. Its cover stories provide an in-depth analysis of today's
union.
08/05/2009 06:47 PM
Thank You
Letter From credit union board members
08/05/2009 06:47 PM
CANDIDATE POSITIONS
08/05/2009 06:47 PM
Election ’08:
Candidates’ Proposals for Growing the Economy
by Investing in People
Americas Edge
08/05/2009 06:47 PM
Each decade, 30 million American children enter high school
but only 6 million of them ever receive a college degree. The
remaining 24 million either drop out; complete high school and
enter the workforce; or attend a community college or university
for a couple of years.
Each year, over half a trillion dollars of
local, state and federal monies is focused on students bound for
college. Technical and vocational education, by contrast,
receives less than two percent of that amount.
Increasingly, blue collar kids find the path to college blocked
by exorbitant tuition costs, intense academic competition,
static enrollment levels in colleges and universities, and the
financial realities facing their families. Entering the
workforce immediately after high school seems their only
realistic option.
And yet, America faces a growing skills shortage. Labor
economists predict that “a serious lack of skilled workers will
begin in 2005 and grow to 5.3 million in 2010 and 21 million in
2020.”
A recent white paper on California’s growing labor/skill
shortage reports that “the percentage of employers who indicate
that they have difficulty filling vacancies for highly skilled
blue-collar workers is very high – 68 percent.” The paper
asserts that California is “suffering from ‘chronic
underinvestment in training.’” And California is not alone.
Senator Tom Harkin put the issue in perspective. “Today’s skill
deficiencies and tomorrow’s skill demands will require
significant investment in education and training. Employers
estimate that 39 percent of their current workforce and 26
percent of new hires will have basic skill deficiencies …
Seventy-five percent of the American workforce will need to be
retrained merely to retain their jobs.”The IAM’s SKILLS
initiative is called America’s Edge. It has three components:
- Re-emphasizing technical and vocational classes in
America’s high schools;
- Expanding the availability of industrial technology and
information technology courses in America’s community
colleges; and
- Creating High Tech Institutes in each state that focus on
21st Century manufacturing technologies and materials.
The IAM’s SKILLS initiative – with its inherent appeal to the
values of family security, fairness, work and personal
fulfillment – has great potential. It connects with blue collar
workers at many levels:
- taking pride in their work and workmanship
- achieving more job security and a higher standard for
living for their family
- getting a fairer start for their kids to face the global
competition
Simply put, AMERICA’S EDGE relies on OUR SKILLS and OUR KIDS
abilities to learn and adapt to the ever-changing demands of
tomorrow’s workplaces. And it is time public investment flowed
in their direction.
Health Care
08/05/2009 06:47 PM
National Healthcare - Does the debate outweigh the
crisis?
Health care costs in America are astronomical, the question
is how to fix a broken system and ensure all Americans have
access to quality, affordable health care. In 2006 health care
costs skyrocketed to $2 trillion dollars, roughly amounting to
$6,700 per person. In all, total health care cost in this
country was an astounding 16 percent of the gross domestic
product.
Experts across the board agree that inefficiencies coupled
with poor management, administrative cost, inappropriate care,
waste and at times fraud contribute to the highest increases in
health care cost for both employers and employees.
Workers across the country paying roughly $3,000 or 10
percent more for health care coverage while their employer
dished out more than $11,500 for a family of four. To put this
into perspective, the gross annual earnings for a minimum wage
earner in this country was a whopping $10, 712.
According to statistics by the non-partisan National
Coalition on Health Care, if the US doesn’t have a handle on the
health care crisis by 2008, cost for health care will swallow
profits.
Americans are demanding a solution to the escalating health
care cost. With the presidential bid coming in 2008, many
workers across the country are trying to decide where candidates
stand on the health care crisis. Many working Americans fear
that by this time next year any chance at resurrecting our
broken health care system may be too late.
Join with the IAM in the fight to ensure all working
Americans have the health care they deserve.
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