The shaky future of apprenticeships: could our infrastructure be next?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/kalw/detail?entry_id=78521


During the middle ages a master tradesman would feed, house and clothe an apprentice in exchange for seven years of labor in their shop. The system evolved during the industrial revolution and today most formal apprenticeship programs are facilitated through labor unions.

But the problem with apprentices is that they need to work to learn, and since 2008, they've been struggling to get the work hours they need to stay on track with their training. This means most Californian construction trade unions have closed their doors to new apprentices. To U.C. Berkeley Labor Center professor Harley Shaiken that means:

HARLEY SHAIKEN: This isn't a construction worker - or an apprentice story. It is a story about a healthy economy it is a story about the future for all Americans.

KALW's Callie Shanafelt went to one local union to find out how the drop in apprenticeships could affect us all.

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We used to have 200 to 300 apprentices on course at any given time at the one Ford plant I worked at. I imagine it used to be the same way at all of them back then.

[marmar]

1. It's all going downhill ........

...... avec grand vitesse.

[rucky]

2. Something that would really help the construction industry...

would be a stimulus in the form of a massive home renovation program - including very low interest loans for homeowners for energy upgrades and general upkeep, as well as a mandate to the banks who are holding empty homes in foreclosure to invest in their upkeep.

This would also help preserve property values, which is the tax basis for schools & roads.

[SoCalDem]

3. Solar on EVERY roof..

od course the dirty-energy people would howl like a scalded dog..

[madrchsod]

5. ya..i can feel the wind blowing through my 70`s plate windows and

can`t afford to replace them and can`t find parts to fix them. i won`t mention my 25 yr old furnace....

[HillbillyBob]

6. I apprenticed to a restorer, but he died before we were through

It was unpaid for 3 yrs, I did learn a lot and a lot since.
I was also and electrician apprentice for 2 yrs, but I learned fast and also had an assoc degree in electronics(old tube stuff), the old fashioned teacher of the course was still sharing adventures in repairing radios under fire during WWII and Korea. He did not seem to think that anything had changed since '55.

If you pm me about your windows I might have some low cost help that you can do yourself for about 20$ to fix that, but I need to understand a little how they are constructed. I also did old house renovations. Some times it may be as little as some caulking or expanding foam. They are fixed panes?

I am the guy who is always beating on make your house more efficient so it does not cost you so much.
We have lowered our power use from 3300 kilowatts a month to about 1000-1200kwhrs or 450$ down to 150 200 for a largish total electric house. The heat pump died and its not affordable to fix right now.
We have a kero heater for winter, its a bit of a pain to fill 1 or 2x a day. Before I started finding and sealing leaks i would have to run it full on all day *6 gallons a day. I have insulated curtain liners they come in 2 sizes, short which I think is 60"long 48 wide. My big slider door takes the longer ones which i think are 80"l and 45" wide/pair. They really make a huge difference because the slider door is 78" tall and 7ft wide and all metal frame. They cost 20$ for the 'short' and 25$pr for the long, this is in Lowes @Danville Va, they are labeled blackouts i think I don't have the package anymore.

[greymattermom]

4. not just construction

There are no jobs in science and federal money for research is vanishing. The PhD degree is really an apprenticeship paid for by NIH research funds that are no longer available. Over half of the new faculty at our institution are foreign born, Chinese and Indian PhDs. Is that what we want for our country? Many of the Chinese faculty can't speak English and can't teach. All of their students are also Chinese. The Indians speak English quite well, however, and can write better than many American educated students. This the future of our intellectual base.

[droidamus2]

7. I have been looking

for work for over two years. I have been able to get some part time temp work but nothing in my chosen IT field or even something full time. Though tangential to the 'apprentice' question I have discovered something along a similar line. I here over and over that companies are reticent to hire the 'unemployed' because they seem desperate. Well DUH! of course we are desperate would you be desperate if you were about to lose your home and the 10's of 1000's of dollars you have sunk into the American dream? What I see them really meaning is they do not want to spend the money to train or re-train these workers. They would rather try to steal already trained workers that are currently working for other companies or ship in lower cost workers from overseas than give an American worker a chance to get back on their feet.
Most of the unemployed do want to work but these days it is not easy to find a job. I heard a discussion on the radio the other day about how there are all sorts of entry level jobs out there and the unemployed just won't take them. There is a couple of problems with this idea. One, I have been looking for jobs for 2 years and you don't see a lot of the 'entry level' positions advertised. I suspect in the IT business most of those trying to fill those jobs focus in on college recruitment rather than returning older workers. Two, if a person used to make lets say $52000 dollars a year and rightly or wrongly had not anticipated the economy tanking, expected there job to continue as they had always gotten at least decent performance reviews and made some economic decisions like trying to buy a home based on those assumptions, and yes maybe ran up a little credit debt too how is an entry level position with the commensurate low level of pay going to help. Yes it doesn't hurt but if I am working 8 hours a day at a job that won't pay my bills it wouldn't I be long before I will go bankrupt anyway (though if you are going to file bankruptcy you have to be working anyway so in that case it would make sense). Sure you could take a second job if they were available but when you are having trouble finding the first job what are the odds of that? Try on top of that being close to retirement age and the companies don't even want you for entry level jobs. You are over qualified or your skills are out of date or you wouldn't be happy with the pay and you would get bored with the work... they have a thousand excuses. I guess what I am getting at is the talking heads (which most of them are probably making in 6 figures so them talking about the jobless real pisses me off) try to make it sound so simple, just take one of those myriad entry level jobs out there even if it is at a meat packing plant and your on your way to a full economic recovery. It just isn't that simple.

[WingDinger]

8. Wrote a song about it, and it goes like this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/WingDinger/33