AFT fighting back for middle class jobs:
Resolution to Promote Job Training in Public Schools
In the constant battle with corporate schemers and “education reformers” who promote college for all, the American Federation of Teachers has taking a bold step to push back against this failed education policy. In a resolution, binding to all AFT locals the national Union will urge the federal government to expand the reach of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs to all working-age children in the United States.
The move puts President Donald Trump in the cross-hairs of a labor Union that will force him to put-up or shut up. Leading up to the 2018 presidential election and after he was elected President Trump has used the neo-protectionist phrase “Make America Great Again.” The idea is to implement a policy of economic nationalism to rebuild America’s infrastructure and Industrial manufacturing power. The only problem with Trump’s talk is that America’s schools have been decimated by the neo-liberal elitist attack on blue collar work and jobs.
The professionalization of the workforce by the college for all mantra has led to the wholesale destruction of programs and curriculum that prepares students for good paying middle class jobs. The destruction has gone so far as to ban the using of the word “jobs” because students are supposed to go to college to prepare for careers. In Chicago alone, vocational education has all but disappeared under the leadership of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his predecessor Mayor Daley. There are no more than a 5 carpentry shops and 4 auto shops in the entire school system of 400,000 students and a city of 3 million people.
All job training has been moved out to the suburbs of Chicago away from the inner city over the years and has excluded most of the Hispanic and African-American students of the Chicago Public Schools. The destruction of job training programs is rooted in segregationist and racist polices to keep minorities from moving up the socio-economic ladder. The racism was later replaced by neo-liberal policies that believed minority children should not be tracked into physical or manual labor work.
The modern architects of the destruction of the CTE programs in Chicago were Arne Duncan and Aarti Duphila who mandated college for all policies that diverted federal grant money away from tradition job training programs and blended it with regular curricular classes. The Chicago Board of Education Inspector General has found widespread mismanagement of federal grant equipment with at least $8.5 million in missing equipment. The Counsel for Opportunity in Education reported that $36.5 million dollars were diverted from traditional job preparation programs to into college preparation programming that saw a tenfold staffing increase.
As the old-timers in the schools use to tell me: wait, you will see it will come back again!
[The entire resolution is reprinted below]
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AFT Resolution (2017)
PROTECTING NEXT-GEN WORKERS: HEALTH AND SAFETY EDUCATION FOR YOUNG WORKERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
WHEREAS, 1.6 million U.S. youth ages 15-17 are employed, and every year, nearly 59,800 youths get injured on the job seriously enough to seek emergency room treatment, and youth are twice as likely to be injured at work than are adult workers; and
WHEREAS, teens tend to be hired into industries that pose high risk to workers of all ages, such as restaurants, healthcare settings, retail trade and construction; and
WHEREAS, as new workers, adolescents are likely to be inexperienced and unfamiliar with many of the tasks required of them and may be reluctant to ask questions or make demands on their employers. Health and safety education is the key to preventing injury among working teens and provides them with important job and life skills they need, now and in the future; and
WHEREAS, today’s complex, global work environments require young people to develop skills that meet 21st-century challenges, and working safely is one of the vital life and career skills necessary for becoming a successful and fully functioning participant in the new economy. Career and technical education (CTE) in high schools and community colleges has traditionally been a vehicle to highly skilled employment for successful graduates in diverse sectors, including the construction, manufacturing and service sectors; and
WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers and several affiliates have recognized an opportunity to prepare students for safe jobs in construction, manufacturing and certain service sectors (automotive, culinary arts, cosmetology, etc.) by developing programs to train career and technical educators to become Occupational Safety and Health Administration-authorized trainers, in partnership with the ICWUC Center for Worker Health and Safety Education. These members then offer courses (OSHA 10-hour and OSHA 30-hour courses in both construction and general industry) as part of their curriculum. CTE students completing the OSHA authorized training receive a U.S. Department of Labor OSHA 10- or 30-hour card, which is a credential required for employment in many construction and manufacturing settings; and
WHEREAS, the State Vocational Federation of Teachers (the SVFT represents career and technical educators in the statewide Connecticut career and technical system) partnered with the Connecticut Technical High School System in 2011 as a joint labor-management program to offer OSHA-authorized training. This partnership has enabled the AFT and the SVFT to conduct the OSHA authorization courses for teachers, and the state has agreed to allow OSHA-authorized teachers to offer the 10-hour courses during the school year as part of the curriculum and to cover administrative costs for the student cards. The ultimate goal of the joint program is to have each graduating senior credentialed with an OSHA-10 certification in the construction and/or general industry each year. In 2016 alone, 800 seniors will graduate with the card; and
WHEREAS, the AFT continues to expand this program—for instance, the Chicago Teachers Union mounted a similar joint program in 2015. OSHA-authorized AFT staff and SVFT members serve as trainers and mentors for participating CTU participants; and
WHEREAS, the AFT has adopted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Youth @ Work: Talking Safety curriculum as a vehicle for members to teach adolescents about work-related hazards and their rights to a safe and healthful job under OSHA and state child labor laws. The AFT has conducted training-of-the-trainer courses for teachers, school nurses and paraprofessionals who have gone on to offer training to working students; and
WHEREAS, the SVFT and the Connecticut State Department of Education have entered into a partnership with NIOSH to train teachers in the Youth @ Work: Talking Safety curriculum so that every entering freshman within the district will receive this training and credential; and
WHEREAS, the Oklahoma governor signed S.B. 262 into state law on April 1, 2015, making this legislation a national first. It directs the Oklahoma Department of Labor to collaborate with the Oklahoma State Department of Education to provide workplace safety training to students in grades 7 through 12; and
WHEREAS, there remains more opportunity to build joint CTE labor-management initiatives and to protect the health, safety and well-being of working students and graduates:
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will work in partnership with the ICWUC Center for Worker Health and Safety Education to expand the OSHA Outreach Training Program to other states and career and technical education systems in K-12 districts and community colleges; and
RESOLVED, that the AFT will work to advocate for more health and safety training for young people by expanding the Youth @ Work: Talking Safety program to other K-12 locals and their districts; and
RESOLVED, that the AFT will develop model state legislation for affiliates interested in advocating for comprehensive K-12 education programs for working teens on basic workplace hazard awareness, control of dangerous exposures, workers' rights to a safe and healthful job, and how to speak up effectively when problems arise at work; and
RESOLVED, that the AFT will work to facilitate and support new joint labor-management initiatives for OSHA-authorized training and the Youth @ Work: Talking Safety curriculum; and
RESOLVED, that the AFT will urge the federal government to expand the reach of these programs to all working-age children in the United States.
The Resolution can be accessed @
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