[Senate Hearing 110-986]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 110-986
MIDWEST JOBS PICTURE: STRATEGIES TO REBUILD COMMUNITIES (PART II)
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
EXAMINING THE MIDWEST JOBS PICTURE, FOCUSING ON STRATEGIES TO REBUILD
COMMUNITIES (PART II)
__________
OCTOBER 8, 2008 (DAYTON, OH)
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
senate
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TOM HARKIN, Iowa JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
PATTY MURRAY, Washington JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
JACK REED, Rhode Island LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
J. Michael Myers, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Ilyse Schuman, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
__________
STATEMENTS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2008
Page
Johnson, Steven, Ph.D., President, Sinclair Community College,
Dayton, OH..................................................... 1
Brown, Hon. Sherrod, a U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio,
opening statement.............................................. 2
McLin, Hon. Rhine, Mayor, Dayton, OH............................. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Mead, Dudley, Worker, Dayton, OH................................. 8
Prepared statement........................................... 10
Richardson, Tiffani, Worker, Dayton, OH.......................... 13
Honeck, Jon, Ph.D., Policy Analyst, Policy Matters Ohio,
Columbus, OH................................................... 14
Prepared statement........................................... 16
Edwards, Stacia, Director, Regional Workforce Transformation
Consortium, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH............. 19
Prepared statement........................................... 21
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.:
Enzi, Hon. Michael B., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Wyoming, prepared statement................................ 36
(iii)
MIDWEST JOBS PICTURE: STRATEGIES TO REBUILD COMMUNITIES (PART II)
----------
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2008
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Dayton, OH.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:00 p.m. at
Sinclair Community College, Charity Earley Auditorium, Room
172, 444 West Third Street, Dayton, OH, Hon. Sherrod Brown,
presiding.
Present: Senator Brown.
STATEMENT OF STEVEN JOHNSON, PH.D., PRESIDENT,
SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Mr. Johnson. I am Steven Johnson, president of Sinclair
Community College. I want to welcome all of you here for this
hearing.
It is certainly a very special occasion for us. U.S. Senate
hearings certainly are an everyday occurrence in Washington,
DC, on Capitol Hill. But they are certainly not an everyday
occurrence for us in Dayton, OH.
It is great to have Senator Sherrod Brown here with us
today, bringing to us this hearing and hearing from us our
concerns, our issues, our ideas, and our opportunities as we
look at the jobs challenge and the economic challenges that we
are, indeed, facing.
I was asked to welcome you this afternoon, and it is a
pleasure to do so. It is interesting times we are living in,
important times we are living in. Challenges and opportunities
abound. It is interesting how both seem to come at you in big
tidal waves. And so, with these challenges and opportunities,
we certainly need to be on our feet and on our toes in order to
embrace those.
I am so pleased that Senator Sherrod Brown is one of those
very active leaders who comes to us and not only makes us come
to him. He has held well over 100 meetings and hearings here in
the State of Ohio since being Senator. And that is not over
years and years and years and years. He has been a U.S. Senator
now for a couple of years.
I will remind you that Senator Brown sits on the Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and on the Banking
Committee. He is the first Ohio Senator, which--this is,
indeed, mind-boggling--the first Ohio Senator in 40 years to
sit on the Agriculture and Nutrition Committee and the first
Ohio Senator to serve a full term on the Veterans Committee.
As a U.S. Senator, he has held 110 roundtables around the
State with farmers, veterans, health professionals, small
business owners, community leaders, teachers, and bankers. He
began his career as an elected leader by being elected to the
Ohio House of Representatives in 1974. He served as Ohio's
Secretary of State from 1983 to 1990, leading the effort to
what the Washington Post calls the most successful voter
registration in the country.
As a congressman from the 13th District from 1993 to 2006--
U.S. congressman--he earned a reputation as an independent
voice for ordinary Ohioans and middle class families, a man of
principle who has made a career of standing up to special
interests who have too much influence in Washington.
Fifteen years ago--and I think this is important to
amplify, 15 years ago, Sherrod pledged not to take the
congressional health plan until every Ohioan has healthcare
coverage. To this day, he refuses the congressional health
plan.
A native of Mansfield, OH, Senator Brown is a graduate of
Yale University and earned a Master's degree from Ohio State
University in education and public administration.
Not yet 2 years ago, Senator Brown was Sinclair Community
College's commencement speaker. I remember that day very, very
well. He went to great lengths to be here at Sinclair to be our
commencement speaker. It was not easy, given his schedule, to
do so. But he did it. He made it.
He was one of the best commencement speakers ever, and then
he went a further step during the commencement ceremony to make
sure that he shook the hand of each and every graduate, each
and every graduate, because each and every one of them means
something to the Senator.
Thank you for being with us today.
Would you please welcome Senator Sherrod Brown.
[Applause.]
Opening Statement of Senator Brown
Senator Brown. Dr. Johnson, thank you very much. Thank you
for your terrific leadership at one of the great educational
institutions in this State.
I say that not just when I am at Sinclair, but as President
Johnson knows, I talk about Sinclair all over the State because
of the terrific things that I know you are doing from my being
here several times to the stories that Brooke and Jack Dover
and Ed Roberts and so many others on my staff and around the
State talk to me about.
So thank you very, very much.
One of the great things about a community college
graduation--and many of you, I know, are very active at the
school. Some of you are students here. If you have never been
to a community college graduation, it is the greatest event
because it is full of students who are first in their family to
go to college. It is full of students walking in during
commencement holding a baby or having a small child with them.
You see three or four generations. Often, it is the student
and parents and grandparents and kids. It is people that have
been in and out of school often for several years and have
gotten things together and are going out to change the world.
When you stand there and get to meet the students as they
graduate one by one, the one group of students I remember the
most were the dental hygienists. On their mortarboards, they
had a tooth or something.
But the other thing about this, I remember talking to some
of these students. I guess it was May, 18 months or so ago, and
I remember how many of them had jobs. I mean, a huge percentage
of them that graduated from here, upwards of 90 percent
graduated from Sinclair, and have jobs in this area and really
are an engine of growth.
With all that has happened, Mayor Johnson, the city of
Moraine--well, all over this region--and Mayor Raizk, the city
of Wilmington, this community college is so important. That is
why we decided to do the hearing here. That is why I thought
there was no better place than Miami Valley, or really no
better place in southwest Ohio, to talk about jobs and what we
need to do to get our economy back on track and to do this
hearing than at Sinclair Community College.
So thank you for the introduction, and we will get started.
This is an official hearing of the Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee. This is the second of two I am
doing in the State. We did one earlier today at the University
of Toledo. This is the first time I have really done a
committee hearing in the State from that committee.
Senator Kennedy is Chairman of the committee. Senator Enzi
from Wyoming is the Ranking Member. Kelly Hastings, if she
would put her hand up, represents Senator Enzi and the minority
staff. So thank you for coming. It is her first trip to Dayton.
She grew up in Virginia and works for a Senator from Wyoming,
and this is close enough to half way in between, I guess.
Thank you.
I want to recognize a handful of elected officials here.
Mayor Raizk from Wilmington and Mayor Johnson from the city of
Moraine.
Thank you for being here.
Andre Harper is here, representing Senator Voinovich. He is
in the front row.
Nan Whaley from the city of Dayton is here. She is the city
commissioner. Nan, welcome.
Two of our county commissioners--Judy Dodge, thank you, and
Debbie Lieberman, thank you for being here. I also say about
the county commissioners in Dayton how well they work together.
Sometimes when I am in other counties, I just don't say
anything about the county commissioners because they don't
always work so well together. So thank you for that.
After a short opening statement from me, we will hear from
our five witnesses who represent very differing views, but we
are really on the same team on so many of these issues. Each of
them will speak for about 5 minutes, and then I will ask a
series of questions.
The hearing will last about an hour and a half. I will stay
around and hopefully the panel will, too, if you have questions
or want to discuss anything with me or with my staff
afterwards.
Chris Slevin is here from my Washington office. He works on
labor and trade issues for us. He has worked on a lot of issues
fighting for the middle class, as well, as a part of the work
that the committee does.
Brooke Hill runs our Cincinnati office and works in this
region of the State. Many of you know Brooke.
Jack Dover and Angela and Ed Roberts are also here. Angela
works pretty much all the time in Dayton.
A strong middle class is an essential foundation of our
prosperity and our stability. Middle class families across the
country, as we know, are in a moment of great challenge and of
great potential. Challenges for the economic conditions forced
upon them by deregulation, by unfair trade deals, by wrong-
headed tax policies. Potential on account of our Nation's work
ethic and our Nation's ingenuity, and nowhere better is that
illustrated than, I think, in Dayton, OH, and its history.
This is a crucial time for the middle class. This past
Friday, the Labor Department reported for the 9th consecutive
month the country has lost jobs. In September, 159,000 jobs
were eliminated from payrolls, the highest number in 5 years.
Ohio's 7.4 percent unemployment rate hit a 15-year high
this summer. Even prior to the steep downturn, Ohio still had
hundreds of thousands fewer jobs than it had prior to the last
recession. Across the country, 9.4 million workers are
unemployed and looking for work, 2.2 million more than a year
ago, the highest figure recorded since December 1992.
Two million people have been jobless for more than 6
months. Nearly 6.1 million people are working part-time because
they either can't find full-time work or because slack business
conditions have led to fewer hours and, of course, to less pay.
This week, it is estimated that 800,000 Americans will
exhaust their unemployment insurance, including 22,000 people
in Ohio and some number of them in the Miami Valley. Last week,
many of us in Congress fought to extend unemployment insurance
for workers. The House passed an extension overwhelmingly, 368-
28. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked it, and we
weren't able to pass it.
Because Congress couldn't finish the bill, more than
800,000 unemployed people in the United States will stop
getting their much-needed unemployment checks. That number will
grow to 1.1 million by the end of the year. We return to
session in November, and I hope we can--it is going to one of
my top priorities. I know it is one of Senator Kennedy's and
many others. It is a top priority to extend benefits at that
time.
Whether the country is officially in a recession or not, we
can say with certainty that Ohio's middle class is in a
recession. But Dayton and the Midwest are also ripe for
revival.
A strong workforce, Dayton's access to transportation
lines, its locations, this community college, Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, the entrepreneurial spirit of Dayton are all
assets for new manufacturing and new industries. Sinclair
Community College epitomizes the energy and hard work that can
revitalize this State.
How can the Federal Government, we should ask, play a role
to help reposition Ohio for a new era of prosperity? What role
can rapid response networks play in getting workers and
communities one step ahead of the curve? What skills and
training can be enhanced to meet the demands of new industries?
What investments in infrastructure and manufacturing can help
communities rebuild?
These are the questions our witnesses are helping us answer
today. I look forward to their remarks and to our discussion.
So I will begin the introductions. I want to introduce the
five of you, and then, Mayor, you can start. But let me
introduce each of you.
Mayor Rhine McLin is the Mayor of Dayton. Rhine has been in
office 7 years, having previously served in the Ohio Senate and
Ohio House of Representatives, where I first knew her and her
sister and her father. In 1994, she became the first African-
American woman to serve in the Ohio Senate.
Dudley Mead is another Dayton native. He is a pilot for
ASTAR. He faces possible job loss due to DHL's proposed deal
with UPS. And as he knows and the mayor and all of us have been
working hard with Congressman Turner and all to do all we can
to try to at least in part fix that situation.
Tiffani Richardson is a Dayton native. She worked for
Delphi until 2 years ago. She is currently attending University
of Phoenix Online school.
Jon Honeck writes about workforce development,
international trade, taxation, economic development policy for
Policy Matters. Jon has a Ph.D. in political science from the
University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Stacia Edwards is director of the Regional Workforce
Transformation Consortium here at Sinclair. Prior to directing
the consortium, she spent 22 years at Wright State, most
recently as assistant dean of the College of Science and Math.
She has degrees from Hanover College and Indiana University.
Mayor McLin, would you start? Give us 5 minutes or so, and
then we will start the questions after the 5 panelists.
STATEMENT OF HON. RHINE McLIN, MAYOR, DAYTON, OH
Ms. McLin. Thank you. Thank for you inviting me to speak
this afternoon on behalf of the city of Dayton.
I especially want to thank Senator Brown for organizing
today's event and giving us the opportunity to express our
concerns and suggestions for stimulating economic growth
throughout the Dayton region. Certainly, the events that have
transpired at the national level over the past few weeks
regarding the Wall Street crisis only deepen the concern and
anxiety we feel locally about our economic future.
As I talk to my fellow mayors from around the country and
around the area, we share the same frustrations about how to
lead our cities forward with so many demands for services and
so little resources to go around. A 10-point plan developed by
the U.S. Conference of Mayors outlines our priority needs, some
of which are directly related to our discussion today,
including the need to supplement fading Community Development
Block Grant dollars, increasing Federal funds to rebuild and
modernize our infrastructure, and creating a more competitive
workforce for our young people and those displaced by lost
manufacturing jobs.
In Dayton and the region today, there is no more pressing
issue than the retention and creation of good jobs for our
citizens and for our future. Our viability and quality of life
as a city and region depend on it. Yet, as the city of Dayton
struggles to avoid a $13 million projected budget deficit for
next year, we find it difficult to offer the programs and
services we know are needed to stimulate economic growth and to
create more jobs.
Certainly, we can point to recent economic development
successes that are encouraging for the Dayton area. In the
city, we are witnessing investments by CareSource and our other
major healthcare institutions. The University of Dayton is a
partner in the re-
development of prime land around its campus.
The BRAC process occurring through the Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base will create new high-paying jobs for the region. The
development of Tech Town and related high-tech companies is
helping with our transition from a heavy manufacturing economy
to one based on new and emerging technologies.
However, this transition, like any change, comes with a
significant level of pain and difficulty. Dayton and the region
have experienced the loss of retail businesses, manufacturing
jobs, and corporate offices that often accompany such
transformations.
We understand that our economic challenges will not
disappear overnight. There is much work to be done to retain
and attract high-quality jobs and to educate our youth and
retain the workforce for tomorrow's careers. Sinclair plays a
vital role in that effort.
As mayor of a city that is facing the challenges firsthand,
I have talked to more people than I care to admit who have been
affected by the various job closures that have hit Dayton and
the surrounding region in the past few years. Laid-off workers
from such traditional community anchors as General Motors,
Delphi, and their related suppliers tell the same story of
frustration and fear.
Many Dayton residents are even being affected by the DHL
announcement to downsize its operation in Wilmington, OH. We
have many residents who take buses to Wilmington each day to
work the busy nightshift. These workers also express the same
frustration and fear. Frustration that they dedicated their
careers to helping these companies succeed and fear that their
current skill sets will not be adequate to fill future jobs in
the changing economy.
So what can be done to support these men and women who have
been or soon will be hit by the economic challenges today?
First, we urge legislators in Washington, DC, to follow through
on efforts to extend unemployment insurance. That is one way to
assist workers and their families as we enter another winter
season. Although admittedly a short-term fix, this action would
do much to help people who are already hurting.
We also believe that as a large urban city, Dayton has
needs uniquely different than newer suburban communities. Older
infrastructure, brownfield remnants, and a population with more
social service needs combine to create higher hurdles for urban
cities to overcome.
At one time, mature cities had the Urban Enterprise Zone
program to help level the playing field. But now those benefits
and business incentives are available in almost any community.
Big cities need special tools and resources to help us deal
with extra challenges we face.
We believe that additional National Emergency Grant monies,
like those recently sought by the Ohio Department of Jobs and
Family Services from the U.S. Department of Labor, would
provide valuable aid. These funds would be used to help expand
the capacity to offer more job and skill training programs for
displaced workers, especially those from General Motors and
DHL.
The ability to retrain and prepare our out-of-work citizens
for future employment is critical. Such services will help
workers and their families survive the economic transition as
we work aggressively to create and offer new job opportunities.
In addition, Federal resources to invest in local
infrastructure would help Dayton expedite efforts to clean up
old brownfield sites and open the way for new business
development and subsequent job creation. We have benefited from
such financial assistance in the past for projects like Tech
Town and other brownfield redevelopment sites.
But the pace of the funding process can be as frustrating
as it is complex. While we understand that money and resources
are tight at every level, without the legislative and financial
support of the Federal Government, communities across the
country will continue to suffer or experience delayed
revitalization success.
Given the downward spiral of the national economy today,
the sooner that communities can begin to create and grow jobs
at the local level, the sooner we can see a rebound on a
broader, national scale.
Thank you again for this opportunity to express our
concerns. We look forward to continued dialogue on how we can
all work together to protect workers and their families and
repair and revitalize our local job market.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. McLin follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Hon. Rhine McLin
Thank you for inviting me to speak this afternoon on behalf of the
city of Dayton. I especially want to thank Senator Brown for organizing
today's event and giving us the opportunity to express our concerns and
suggestions for stimulating economic growth throughout the Dayton
region.
Certainly the events that have transpired at the national level
over the past few weeks regarding the Wall Street crisis only deepen
the concern and anxiety we feel locally about our economic future.
There is no more pressing issue in Dayton and the region today than
the retention and creation of good jobs for our citizens and for our
future. Our viability and quality of life as a city and region depend
on it.
Certainly we can point to recent economic development successes
that are encouraging for the Dayton area. In the city we are witnessing
investments by CareSource and our other major health care institutions.
The University of Dayton is a partner in the redevelopment of prime
land around its campus. The BRAC process occurring through Wright
Patterson Air Force Base will create new, high-paying jobs for the
region. And the development of Tech Town and related high-tech
companies is helping with our transition from a heavy manufacturing
economy to one based on new and emerging technologies.
However, this transition, like any change, comes with a significant
level of pain and difficulty. Dayton and the region have experienced
the loss of retail businesses, manufacturing jobs, and corporate
offices that often accompany such transformations.
We understand that our economic challenges will not disappear
overnight. There is much work to be done to retain and attract high-
quality jobs, and to educate our youth and retrain the workforce for
tomorrow's careers.
As Mayor of a city that is facing the challenges first-hand, I have
talked to more people than I care to admit who have been affected by
the various job closures that have hit Dayton and the surrounding
region in the past few years. Laid-off workers from such traditional
community anchors as General Motors, Delphi, and their related
suppliers tell the same story of frustration and fear.
Many Dayton residents are even being affected by the DHL
announcement to downsize its operation in Wilmington, OH. We have many
residents who take buses to Wilmington each day to work the busy night
shift. These workers also express the same frustration and fear--
frustration that they dedicated their careers to helping these
companies succeed, and fear that their current skill sets will not be
adequate to fill future jobs in the changing economy.
So what can be done to support these men and women who have been or
soon will be hit by the economic challenges today?
First, we recommend that unemployment insurance extensions continue
in order to assist workers and their families as we enter another
winter season. Although admittedly a short-term fix, this action would
do much to help people who are already hurting.
We also believe that as a large urban city, Dayton has needs
uniquely different than newer, suburban communities. Older
infrastructure, brownfield remnants and a population with more social
service needs combine to create higher hurdles for urban cities to
overcome.
At one time, mature cities had the Urban Enterprise Zone program to
help level the playing field, but now those benefits and business
incentives are available in almost any community. Big cities need
special tools and resources to help us deal with the extra challenges
we face.
We believe that additional National Emergency Grant (NEG) monies,
like those recently sought by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family
Services from the U.S. Department of Labor, would provide valuable aid.
These funds would be used to help expand the capacity to offer more job
and skill training programs for displaced workers, especially those
from General Motors and DHL.
In addition, Federal resources to invest in local infrastructure
would help Dayton expedite efforts to clean-up old brownfield sites and
open the way for new business development and subsequent job creation.
We have benefited from such financial assistance in the past, but the
pace of the funding process can be as frustrating as it is complex.
While we understand that money and resources are tight at every
level, without the legislative and financial support of the Federal
Government, communities across the country will continue to suffer, or
experience delayed revitalization success.
Given the current condition of the economy, the sooner that
communities can begin to create and grow jobs at the local level, the
sooner we can see a rebound on a broader national scale.
Thank you again for the opportunity to express our concerns. We
look forward to continued dialogue on how we can all work together to
protect workers and their families, and repair and revitalize our local
job market.
Thank you.
Senator Brown. Thank you very much, Mayor.
Mr. Mead, thank you.
STATEMENT OF DUDLEY MEAD, WORKER, DAYTON, OH
Mr. Mead. Good afternoon. It is an honor to appear before
this committee today.
I would like to begin by saying thank you to Senator Brown
for holding this important hearing and to Mayor McLin for her
valuable attention and support as well.
My name is Dudley Mead. I was born and raised and currently
live here in Dayton. I have been a professional pilot for
nearly 30 years. I am quite proud of the rich aviation heritage
I have inherited from my family, my hometown of Dayton, and the
State of Ohio.
Although a longer version of my statement will be entered
into the record, I would like to summarize my testimony for you
and answer any questions you might have.
I am currently employed as an airline pilot by ASTAR Air
Cargo in Wilmington, OH. ASTAR is one of the two Ohio-based
airlines that provide airlift services for DHL. As all of you
are very aware, last May, DHL announced that they would be
transferring all of their air operations to their main
competitor, UPS. This will result in the shutdown of ASTAR Air
Cargo and the termination of all of our 1,000-plus employees.
This news was absolutely devastating to everyone at ASTAR
and for the nearly 9,000 other DHL workers and related business
people who would lose their jobs in southern Ohio because of
DHL's catastrophic decision. I have firsthand knowledge of
looming bankruptcies, potential forced relocations, many, many
home losses, and certain massive financial strife for my co-
workers at ASTAR.
For myself, this announcement could not have come at a
worse time. The prospects of finding a comparable job in the
airline industry are abysmal. The airline industry is rapidly
contracting, and most of the U.S. airlines are eliminating tens
of thousands of positions for pilots, mechanics, and other
employees.
Well over 5,000 airline pilot jobs will be lost at major
U.S. airlines this year, not including the additional 1,000
pilot jobs lost at ASTAR and ABX. Furthermore, the recent
shutdown of nearly a dozen other domestic airlines has added
thousands more to the number of airline pilots that are looking
for jobs today.
There are, however, foreign airlines that are hiring
pilots. A move to one of these airlines would require expensive
retraining and require that I move my family and my earnings to
some far-away place like Hong Kong or Dubai, which,
unbelievably, I am now forced to seriously consider.
I have heard the plans of State and Federal Governments to
assist employees with education, training, grants, and
benefits. I applaud this news, although I am loathe to have to
ask for governmental assistance. Unfortunately, retraining for
me and virtually all of the other ASTAR pilots will be
mandatory due to the obsolete aircraft that DHL has had us
operating for the past 40 years. This training will be
expensive.
The primary qualification in the aviation industry is known
as the ``type rating.'' A type rating is an FAA certificate
granted to a pilot upon completion of a rigorous training
regimen in one specific type of aircraft. This training would
cost $25,000 to $50,000 per rating, depending upon the type of
aircraft, and will be impossible to afford for many of us due
to this high cost.
When I was asked to testify today, I was also asked to
share my feelings about my pending job loss and offer
suggestive strategies for recovery from our plight. Quite
frankly, I am absolutely furious about the path DHL has chosen.
The single aspect that makes me so apoplectic is that DHL has
purposefully misled all of us with the obvious sole purpose of
creating a global monopoly with their former competitor, UPS.
In June 2007, DHL bought 49 percent of our airline, signed
an airlift agreement with ASTAR, which expires in the year
2019. Then, just this past March, DHL was party to and signed
off on certain aspects of a 4-year contract between ASTAR and
our pilot group represented by the Airline Pilots Association.
This merger with UPS will breach both of these contracts
and destroy thousands of subsequent personal and business
deals, which were based upon DHL's commitment to fulfill their
contractual obligations to us.
Another egregious example of DHL's misrepresentations is
their stipulation that the air operations are the root cause of
their massive losses, that the financial improvement is
contingent upon the transfer of flying to UPS, and that they
have no other options. DHL has said that their mandatory goal
of saving $1 billion per year will be achieved only through
this arrangement with UPS.
The justification for their failure to consult with the
State or to entertain alternative proposals from ASTAR and ABX
was based on their judgment that it was unrealistic that any
governmental assistance or alternate proposals from their
primary vendors could bridge this billion-dollar gap.
It is important to understand that this last claim is
untrue. A review of a DHL-supplied fact sheet clearly shows
that the bulk of the improvements that will supposedly lead to
the $1 billion savings are network reductions and
rationalizations that can be made no matter who DHL uses to
supply its lift.
Working with a single air provider, UPS, is only one of
many improvements. In reality, the transfer of flying to UPS
saves only $200 million per year, which could easily be
achieved if the two carriers were integrated and allowed to
upgrade their aging aircraft fleet.
The only possible reason for this incredible subterfuge is
a clandestine agreement to create a monopolistic empire with
DHL supplying the international market and UPS supplying the
domestic market for express parcel delivery. The illegal
antitrust aspects of this syndicate are utterly outrageous and
obvious even to the untrained eye.
Consequently, I implore you to continue your unwavering
support of the truth in this fiasco. Your tireless efforts will
uncover the realities that have been so carefully hidden and
will save thousands, if not tens of thousands of jobs and,
ultimately, the economy of a huge portion of our great State.
I am quite certain that I speak for the more than 10,000
people who are directly impacted by this deal when I say thank
you from the bottom of our hearts for your determined stand in
this fight. The incredible magnitude of assistance and
attention you, Senator Brown, have given to us is recognized by
everyone and dismissed by none.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Mead follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dudley Mead
Good afternoon. It is an honor to appear before this committee
today. I would like to begin by saying ``thank you'' to Senator Brown
for holding this important hearing and to Governor Strickland and Mayor
McLin for their valuable attention and support.
My name is Dudley Mead. I was born, raised and currently live here
in Dayton. I have been a professional pilot for nearly 30 years. My
father, also a Daytonian, was a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force who
continued to fly as a private pilot after retiring from military
service. My mother and three of my five siblings are also licensed
pilots. I am quite proud of the rich aviation heritage I have inherited
from my family, from my hometown of Dayton, and from the State of Ohio.
A longer version of my statement will be entered into the record.
I'd like to simply summarize for you, and answer any questions you
might have.
I am currently employed as an airline pilot by ASTAR Air Cargo in
Wilmington, OH. ASTAR is one of the two Ohio-based airlines that
provide airlift services to DHL Worldwide Express.
As all of you are very aware, last May DHL announced that they
would be transferring ALL of their air operations to their main
competitor, UPS. The president of ASTAR, John Dasburg, announced to his
employees that upon the termination of our contract with DHL, he would
be forced to shut down our airline and lay off all of ASTAR's 1,000-
plus employees.
This news was absolutely devastating for all ASTAR employees and
for the nearly 9,000 other DHL workers and related business people who
would lose their jobs in southern Ohio because of DHL's catastrophic
decision.
For myself, this announcement could not have been made at a worse
time. The prospects of finding a comparable job in the airline industry
are abysmal. The airline industry is rapidly contracting and most U.S.
airlines are eliminating tens of thousands of positions for pilots,
mechanics and other employees.
A recent survey of the six ``legacy'' airlines in the United States
shows furloughs or planned furloughs of nearly 4,300 pilots this year.
Of the 20 ``national'' U.S. airlines only two, Southwest and Virgin,
plan to hire and half of the remaining 18 plan furloughs for a net loss
of over a thousand jobs in this group as well. This totals well over
5,000 jobs lost at legacy and national airlines this year not including
the additional 1,000 pilot jobs lost at ASTAR and ABX.
Additionally, the recent failures of several airlines including the
cargo carriers Gemini and Kitty Hawk, and the passenger carriers
American Trans Air, Aloha, Skybus, Maxjet and Eos have added several
thousand more to the number of airline pilots that are also looking for
jobs.
Exacerbating this pilot surplus is the recent change to the
mandatory retirement age for pilots from age 60 to 65, which has slowed
or completely stopped pilot retirements for the next 5 years. Airlines
do not need to hire new pilots to replace those who previously would
have been retiring.
The proposed merger between UPS and DHL will certainly not create
jobs for ASTAR pilots at UPS, either. On July 10, UPS spokesman Norman
Black told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that UPS has no plans to
hire DHL pilots that lose their jobs. This statement is consistent with
UPS' past actions.
When UPS acquired Menlo Worldwide (the successor of Emery Worldwide
from Dayton) they eliminated all 1,400 jobs at the Dayton International
Airport and did not hire any of the Emery pilots. When UPS acquired
Challenge Air Cargo, they failed to transfer any of the jobs from that
transaction, as well.
There are airlines that are hiring pilots overseas, however. A move
to one of these airlines would require expensive retraining and require
that I move my family--and my earnings--to some far away place like
Hong Kong or Dubai which, unbelievably, I am actually considering.
Even if the domestic airline industry were to improve and begin
hiring large numbers of pilots, those of us who are losing our careers
would have to start over in an entry-level position. For example, even
though I am a pilot with over 12 years of seniority, I would have to
start over as a first year pilot with first year status and pay at
another airline. Starting over will be very difficult and, indeed, may
not be possible for many of our pilots who's average age is 49 years
old.
Other than Southwest Airlines, which plans to hire only 100 or 200
additional pilots this year, none of the handful of other airlines in
the United States offer salaries that come close to matching those of
the Legacy carriers, or the cargo carriers, ASTAR, ABX, Fedex and UPS.
Were I able to get hired despite these difficult circumstances,
first year pay would start at around $21 an hour--which represents an
85 percent pay cut for me--and I would not regain my current salary
level for at least 10 years if at all.
I have heard of the plans of the State and Federal Governments to
assist employees with education and training grants and benefits. I
applaud this news, although I am loath to have to ask for governmental
assistance.
Unfortunately, retraining for me and virtually all of the other
ASTAR pilots will be mandatory due to the fact that DHL never upgraded
our fleet to more modern aircraft. The airliners at ASTAR have an
average age of around 30 years and are not operated by virtually any
other airline in the United States.
The training required to allow ASTAR pilots to be competitive in
this job market will be expensive. The primary qualification in the
aviation industry is the ``Type Rating.'' A Type Rating is an FAA
certificate granted to a pilot upon completion of a rigorous training
regimen in one specific type of aircraft. This training would cost
$25,000 to $50,000 per rating depending upon the type of aircraft and
will be impossible to afford for many of us due to this high cost.
When I was asked to testify today, I was also asked to share my
feelings about my pending job loss. To put it succinctly: I AM
ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS!
The thing that makes me so apoplectic is that DHL has purposefully
misled their employees, their vendors, the affected communities, the
worldwide media, and our government all in the interest of creating a
global monopoly with UPS.
In my testimony submitted for the record, I cite some of the more
egregious examples of DHL's misrepresentations.
A fact sheet distributed by DHL representatives at recent
congressional hearings, cross-checked with the public records of the
costs of doing business with ASTAR and ABX, clearly show that the air
operations are absolutely NOT the cause of the massive losses DHL
purports to have incurred in the United States. Nor are the air
operations at UPS going to offer the $1 billion savings that DHL
claims.
DHL has said that their mandatory goal of saving $1 billion will be
achieved only through its arrangement with UPS. The justification of
their failure to consult with the State, or to entertain alternative
proposals was based on their judgment that it was unrealistic that any
assistance by the State or proposals from ASTAR or ABX could bridge
this billion dollar gap. It is important to understand that this last
claim is untrue.
The air operation costs to DHL from the ASTAR and ABX AXMI
agreements annually run approximately $550 million and $650 million,
respectively (including fuel costs), for a total of $1.2 billion. With
an advertised cost of $1 billion to have UPS fly DHL freight, it is
clear that the transfer of the air ops will, at best, save $200
million--a cost which could be easily recouped either by the merger of
ASTAR and ABX, the renegotiation of the ASTAR and ABX contracts, the
introduction of more modern and fuel efficient aircraft, or a host of
other aggressive cost cutting measures.
A review of the DHL supplied fact sheet clearly shows that the bulk
of the improvements that will supposedly lead to the $1 billion savings
are network reductions and rationalizations which can be made no matter
who DHL uses to supply lift. Working with a single air provider--UPS--
is only one of many improvements. Nevertheless, DHL has given the
impression that the entire financial improvement is contingent on this
transfer of flying. In reality, the transfer of flying to UPS saves
only $200 million per year.
However, you will also note that DHL absorbs $2 billion in one-time
implementation costs. Therefore, over the course of the 10-year
proposed block space agreement DHL saves $2 billion, but spends $2
billion in one time implementation costs. Even these savings are
illusory because they have experienced a dramatic loss in volume and
revenue simply as a result of announcing the deal.
The most basic point, though, is that neither the State nor the
incumbent vendors have to bridge a billion dollar a year gap in order
to compete; they simply have to save $200 million, a more than
realistic figure, especially if the two carriers are integrated.
I believe this perspective is important because DHL's primary
defense is that it cannot continue to sustain the losses it is
experiencing. No one can argue with this, but the fact is that the
transfer of flying does nothing to stem the losses.
I believe that this information is the ``smoking gun'' which
clearly shows the construction of a false foundation upon which DHL has
built their argument for the elimination of their entire U.S. air
operation and the resulting devastation of Wilmington, OH and the
economy of southwest Ohio.
The only possible reason for this incredible subterfuge is a
clandestine agreement to create a monopolistic empire with DHL
supplying the international market for express parcel delivery and UPS
operating the domestic U.S. market. The illegal antitrust aspects of
this syndicate are utterly outrageous and obvious.
I implore you to continue your unwavering pursuit of the truth in
this fiasco. Your tireless efforts will uncover the realities that have
been so carefully hidden and will save thousands of jobs and,
ultimately, the economy of a huge portion of our great State.
I am quite certain that I speak for the more than 10,000 people who
are impacted by this deal when I say ``Thank You'' from the bottom of
our hearts for your determined stand in this fight. The incredible
magnitude of assistance and attention you have given to us is
recognized by everyone and dismissed by none.
Thank you.
Senator Brown. Thank you very much, Mr. Mead.
Ms. Richardson, do you prefer Richardson Gipson or just
Richardson?
Ms. Richardson. Just Richardson.
Senator Brown. Richardson, OK. Thanks for joining us.
STATEMENT OF TIFFANI RICHARDSON, WORKER, DAYTON, OH
Ms. Richardson. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Brown, for
holding this hearing.
Hello, my name is Tiffani Richardson, and I am a single
mother of one daughter, Taylor, who is 12. I graduated from
Fairmont High School in 1989. I always wanted to work for
General Motors because my family worked there.
I started there in 1990 and did not look back. I thought it
was the best job anyone could ever have. I had job security,
insurance, strong union, excellent wages, and I could retire
from there. Two years ago, I never thought my job security
would ever end. Delphi told us that we didn't have a choice,
that we would either take the buyout or go down with the
company.
I decided to take the buyout. We were told that we were
going to get $140,000. After taxes, we got anywhere from
$80,000 to $92,000. They didn't tell us that we would owe more
than $10,000 to $20,000 in taxes because they did not take out
enough when they gave us our money. How is that? I think that
Delphi should pay my tax bill. How can I pay my tax bill when I
have no money?
Then Delphi told us that we could file for unemployment.
This was a lie. Delphi told them that our buyout money was our
salary for 3 years. That is not true. I worked for Delphi for
16 years and I am not eligible for unemployment benefits for 3
years? If I get laid off from a job before April 2009 when
unemployment says that I am eligible, what am I to do?
Then I decided to go back to school because Delphi told us
they would pay. Not true. They would pay only if we were
getting another trade, either HVAC or in the medical industry.
The Career Transition Center is no help either. The only thing
that I wanted to do was just to get back in the workplace. That
is all they wanted to do, which was just supplement us and put
us back in to what we knew best.
I stopped going and decided to do everything on my own.
Someone told me about the Dayton Urban League being a good
place to look for a job. I talked to a lady named Ms. Theresa
Lane, who is an outstanding job developer and helped me get
into the program I applied for. I decided to intern with
Americorps. I give 1,700 hours of service for 1 year. The
reason I decided to do all of this is to get an educational
award for school for $4,700.
I only make $6.15 an hour. I am currently on welfare. I
receive food stamps, medical, and cash benefits. How do you go
from making $25 an hour down to $6.15? You do the math.
Right now, I am attending University of Phoenix Online. I
am getting my bachelors of science in communications. I will
graduate next year in December 2009. Right now, my grade point
average is 3.0.
My life has changed so much. I had to pull my daughter out
of private school and send her to public school. It is a
struggle for me to put gas in my truck every week. Sometimes I
ride the bus just because I have no gas. I don't know the last
time I bought myself something that I needed. I just try to pay
my mortgage, electric, gas, car note, and insurance. And after
all that, I have nothing left.
What activities can I do with my daughter? Nothing. I don't
know when is the last time my daughter and I had a family
outing. Either I have no gas or I have no money. It is very
stressful having to tell your child that you can't do something
because you have no money.
I would like to see the Federal Government look into this
and try to help us. I would like them to look into our back
taxes that we have to pay, unemployment benefits that are owed
to us, and schooling that we are eligible for.
Thank you for listening to my story, and I hope my story
can help.
Senator Brown. Thank you very, very much.
Mr. Honeck.
STATEMENT OF JON HONECK, PH.D., POLICY ANALYST, POLICY MATTERS
OHIO, COLUMBUS, OH
Mr. Honeck. First, I want to extend my thanks to Senator
Brown and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions for the invitation to speak this afternoon. It is a
pleasure to be here to present the views of Policy Matters Ohio
on strategies that can help Ohio and other Midwestern States
overcome some of their current economic challenges.
No one has all the answers, but there are some realistic
actions that we can take now. Federal policy can make a huge
difference in helping Midwestern States make the transition to
a healthy economy, especially by improving programs to help
dislocated workers change occupations and enter new economic
sectors.
One of the most important actions we must take is to
modernize unemployment insurance for the 21st century to bring
more people into the system. Ohio's unemployment insurance
system has both structural and financial problems and poor
benefit coverage, problems that also occur in other States. The
Federal Government should seize this opportunity to offer an
historic bargain to the States that would help them with their
financial crisis in return for fundamental reforms to
eligibility.
The House of Representatives last year approved House bill
3920 which include a port of change that would begin to address
the issue. The Senate should approve Senate bill 1871, which
further expands upon the House bill.
Poor benefit coverage is due, in part, to eligibility rules
that are tailored to full-time, year-round work. But full-time
work is no longer the norm for many people. Some people choose
to work part-time to balance family and work responsibilities.
Others are forced to work part-time as employers limit access
to healthcare and other fringe benefits.
This is especially true in the service sector and in
transportation, the parts of our economy that are adding jobs.
And I should point out that at Wilmington, at the air freight
hub, as many as 1,400 part-time workers may be ineligible for
benefits when they are laid off, even though they have worked
steadily for years.
Another crucial reform to the unemployment insurance system
is to extend benefits for workers who are in an approved
training program. All too often, workers cut short their
training experiences or decide not to enter training at all
because they must start a job search. This economic reality
prevents individuals from reaching their full potential because
they could not enter a higher skilled occupation.
States that are leaders in moving large numbers of
unemployed workers into training have implemented extended UI
benefits on their own, realizing that it is a smart long-term
investment in human capital. The Workforce Investment Act
program, which is the premier Federal employment and training
program for low-income and unemployed adults, is also in need
of an overhaul.
The law mandates a sequence of services that allow some
local workforce boards to create a series of hoops that delay
participants' entry into training. The upshot is that some
individuals become discouraged and never make it to training.
Congress should scrap the sequence of services in favor of a
rapid effective assessment of an individual's needs and labor
market prospects.
WIA also needs to become more tightly integrated with the
needs of employers, but without giving up its traditional
funding streams. The traditional WIA board has not been enough
to ensure the involvement of employers in some areas. Sector
strategies are the best way to do this, to get the involvement
of employers. The SECTORS Act of 2008, which brings together a
wide variety of stakeholders to build career ladders, can help
put talent pipelines into place. Unemployed workers can then be
directed toward these career ladders if they need to change
occupations.
Another important Federal program that needs to be
modernized is Trade Adjustment Assistance. This is a major
program in Ohio. The application process needs to be reformed.
Rather than the cumbersome workplace-by-workplace approach, it
is time to recognize that in some sectors of the economy, the
loss of market share has been so pervasive that a sector-wide
certification process should be contemplated, and communities
that have been severely impacted by international trade should
be eligible for special economic development assistance.
TAA should also be broadened to include workers in the
service sector. Large parts of the service sector, including
jobs in legal and healthcare fields, now can be moved overseas.
TAA program rules should take this into account, and the
Federal Government should increase funding for the program
commensurately.
Also, the TAA, we just need a better trade policy to
stabilize the manufacturing sector. It would be better if
people did not lose their jobs in the first place. Public lack
of confidence in manufacturing as a career has now become so
widespread that it affects the ability of employers to fill
available jobs that pay good wages. Workforce development
policy alone cannot address this situation.
Some of the programs that also need to be taken into
account is the TAA for firms to help employers retool. That is
funded at a paltry $11 million per year for the entire country.
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, which can help
any small manufacturer, has been funded for years at or below
$100 million, and that is not a big amount for the entire
country.
Finally, we should seize the opportunity afforded by
bipartisan support for a new national energy policy, to merge
it with a rejuvenated workforce and economic development
strategy. Here in Ohio, we have a successful solar panel
industry, and we can make many of the components that are
needed for wind turbines.
Energy efficiency and green building projects are also
becoming more commonplace. Federal policy should ensure that
low- and middle-income citizens have the opportunities to enter
these growing fields and to move up the career ladder.
In some cases, this might mean a traditional community
college experience. In others, it might mean pre-apprenticeship
programs that build basic math and literacy skills necessary to
succeed in a training program for a skilled trade. Congress
should start by funding the Green Jobs Act and its Pathways Out
of Poverty program.
Thank you, Senator Brown, and to the committee.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Honeck follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jon Honeck, Ph.D.
Good afternoon Chairman Brown, and members of the Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Thank you for extending the
invitation to speak before you this afternoon. It is a pleasure to be
here to present the views of Policy Matters Ohio on strategies that can
help Ohio and other Midwestern States overcome some of their current
economic challenges. Policy Matters Ohio is a non-profit, non-partisan
research institute with offices in Cleveland and Columbus that conducts
research on workforce development, tax policy, economic strategy, clean
energy, and education.
Mr. Chairman, there is no doubt that we come here today at a
critical moment. If present trends continue, the first 10 years of the
21st century will be remembered as a ``lost decade'' in Ohio's economic
history. We are one of only two States, the other being Michigan, that
have not recovered all of the jobs that we lost during the 2001
recession. In fact, Ohio today has about the same number of jobs that
we did in 1997. It is not a coincidence that Ohio and Michigan are in
the same boat. They both depend heavily on manufacturing, and we live
in an era in which the large parts of the domestic manufacturing
industry are undergoing a painful restructuring process. Since 1998,
over 4 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost, a reduction of
almost one-fourth. Over 278,000 of these job losses occurred in Ohio.
It is noteworthy that these losses occurred even as the national
economy recovered and grew, albeit at a slower pace than in the 1990s.
Federal trade and economic policies have severed the traditional link
between national economic growth and rising employment in
manufacturing. This link was the key to Ohio's economic prosperity. We
need to find a way to restore this connection and stabilize
manufacturing, and to become leaders in other economic sectors.
Unfortunately, we have no immediate prospects of restoring Ohio's
overall job total even to what it was 8 years ago. On the contrary,
economists now acknowledge that the national economy is in a recession,
having shed over three-quarters of a million jobs this year. Ohio's
economy is floundering as well, having lost 11,900 jobs since December
2007 (on a seasonally adjusted basis). Ohio's unemployment rate now
stands at 7.4 percent, which is more than a full percentage point above
the national average.
As our national government takes steps to confront the financial
crisis, it is time that we redirect investment and ingenuity to
boosting the real economy, rather than financial speculation. Long-term
prosperity must be built on an internationally competitive economy
where people make quality products and provide quality services. We
believe that the only way to do this is by restoring the social compact
between employers and employees that lets workers share in the
productivity gains made by companies. Rather than being reactive as we
have in the current crisis, it is time to develop a long-term plan to
move forward.
No one has all of the answers, but there are some realistic actions
that we can take now. Some of these actions will make it easier to
address the current economic crisis, and others will take longer to
bear fruit. Federal policy can make a huge difference in helping States
like Ohio make the transition to a healthy economy.
One of the important long-term actions we must take is to modernize
unemployment insurance for the 21st century. We commend Congress for
passing a much-needed extension of unemployment benefits for 13 weeks.
With the growth in long-term unemployment, the Senate should act to
further extend benefits, as the House voted to do last week. Beyond
that, the agenda must move forward to a more strategic, long-term
approach.
Ohio's unemployment insurance system has both structural financial
problems and poor benefit coverage, problems that also occur in many
other States. The Federal Government should seize this opportunity to
make a historic bargain with the States that would offer help with
their financial crisis in return for fundamental reforms to
eligibility. The House of Representatives last year approved H.B. 3920
which included important changes that would begin to address this
issue. The Senate should approve S.B. 1871, which further expands upon
the House bill.
Poor benefit coverage is due in part to eligibility rules that are
tailored to full-time, year-round work. But two trends in our economy
make it less likely that people will be working full-time, when
compared to previous generations. First, because wages have been
stagnant, many families have sent an additional adult into the
workforce who juggles paid work with parenting or caring for elderly
relatives. These newer workers--often women--may work less than full-
time so that they can better balance their multiple responsibilities.
But secondly, many workers are involuntarily part-time because
employers--particularly retailers but others as well--have tried to
avoid paying benefits by manipulating schedules. So ironically, workers
sometimes juggle two part-time jobs, neither of which provide benefits,
and work even more hours than one full-time job would require. In the
12 months ending June 30, only 37 percent of jobless U.S. workers were
receiving unemployment benefits. This percentage is lower than it was a
generation or more ago. In many parts of the economy, full-time work is
no longer the norm for many people. This is especially true in the
service sector and in transportation, the parts of our economy that are
adding jobs.
Ohio's eligibility threshold for unemployment benefits exacerbates
this problem. It requires that a person make an average of at least
$206 a week during 20 weeks of the previous year. This means that
someone working 20 hours a week at $10 an hour would not qualify; nor
would someone working 29 hours a week at the minimum wage. For this
reason, it has been estimated that as many as 1,400 part-time workers
at the DHL Wilmington air freight hub will be ineligible for benefits
when they are laid off, even though they may have worked steadily for
years.\1\ The State is seeking Federal aid for many of these workers.
But more broadly, Ohio should reduce its earnings requirement. And in
the future, Congress should consider steps to ensure that earnings
thresholds like Ohio's do not leave workers struggling without
unemployment benefits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ John Nolan, ``Part-timers at DHL Wilmington may not qualify for
benefits,'' Dayton Daily News, August 20, 2008.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another crucial reform to the unemployment insurance system is to
extend benefits for workers who are in an approved training program.
Under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the Federal Government
provides tuition assistance for unemployed workers through local
workforce investment boards. All too often, however, workers cut short
their training experiences or decide not to enter training at all
because they must start a job search. This economic reality prevents
individuals from reaching their full potential because they cannot
enter higher-skilled occupations that can support a middle class
standard of living. States that are leaders in moving large numbers of
unemployed workers into training, such as Washington and New Jersey,
have implemented extended UI benefits on their own, realizing that it
is a smart long-term investment in human capital.
The WIA program, which is the premier Federal employment and
training program for low-income and unemployed adults, is also in need
of an overhaul. The law mandates a ``sequence of services'' that allows
some local workforce boards to create a series of hoops that delay
participants' entry into training. The upshot is that some individuals
become discouraged and never make it to training. Congress should scrap
the sequence of services in favor of rapid, effective assessment of an
individual's needs and labor market prospects.
The WIA system should be reoriented to support long-term training
if workers want to pursue this option. In a well-known study of
community college students in Washington State, researchers found that
1 year of post-secondary education and a credential were necessary to
create a ``tipping point'' that substantially improved labor market
outcomes for low-skilled adult students.\2\ This means WIA should
provide enough funds for supportive services such as transportation or
child care to enable participants to persist in training. It also means
revising WIA performance standards to include long-term employment and
wage results.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Prince, David and Jenkins, Davis. ``Building Pathways to
Success for Low-Skill Adult Students; Lessons for Community College
Policy and Practice from a Longitudinal Student Tracking Study. (The
``Tipping Point'' Research.) Washington State Board for Community and
Technical Colleges. April 2005. Available at http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/
docs/data/research-reports/resh_06-2-tipping_point.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIA also needs to become more tightly integrated with employers'
needs, but without giving up its traditional funding streams. The
traditional employer-led WIA board has not been enough to ensure the
involvement of employers in some areas. Sector strategies are the best
way to do this. The SECTORS Act of 2008, which brings together a wide
variety of stakeholders to build career ladders, can help to put talent
pipelines into place. Unemployed workers can then be directed toward
these career ladders if they need to change occupations.
Providing income support for workers in training would give all
unemployed workers an opportunity to access a benefit that is already
available to participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
program. TAA participants also have access to a Federal health care tax
credit, so unemployed workers generally prefer to go this route if they
intend to enter training. Thousands of Ohio workers have entered the
TAA program in recent years. Ohio is one of the leading States for TAA
activity. Since January 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor has
certified 68,094 workers at Ohio companies as eligible to apply for TAA
because they have lost their jobs due to international trade. This
number includes 9,703 workers in 2007, and 7,296 from January through
August 2008.
There is widespread acknowledgement that the TAA program does not
cover all of the affected workers in manufacturing. Supplier
certifications do not go past the first tier of affected companies, and
workers in many smaller workplaces lack awareness of the program.
Moreover, restricting the program to the manufacturing sector no longer
makes sense. Large parts of the service sector, including jobs in legal
and health care fields, now can be moved overseas with a speed that was
unthinkable a generation ago. TAA program rules must take this into
account and allow workers in the service sector to become eligible for
benefits. The Federal Government should increase funding for the
program commensurately.
The TAA application process should also be reformed. Rather than
the cumbersome workplace-by-workplace approach, it is time to recognize
that in some sectors of the economy the loss of market share has been
so pervasive that a sector-wide certification process should be
contemplated, and communities that have been severely impacted by
international trade should be eligible for special economic development
assistance.
Of course, workers would be better off if they kept their jobs and
did not have to use the TAA program. A better trade policy would help
to stabilize the manufacturing sector. Public confidence in
manufacturing as a career has now become so widespread that it affects
the ability of employers to fill available jobs that pay good wages and
benefits. Workforce development policy alone cannot address this
situation.
As we develop strategies to make our economy more competitive, it
is readily apparent that the Federal Government has under-invested in
key programs to help our manufacturing base, even as manufacturing has
struggled in recent decades. The other side of the TAA program, TAA for
firms, is funded at a paltry $11 million per year. The Manufacturing
Extension Partnership program, which can help any small manufacturer,
has been funded for years at or below $100 million annually. These
programs are important, especially for small companies that lack the
time or expertise to effectively modernize their facilities or
undertake extensive market research to launch a new product. Textbook
economic models often assume that most companies are making optimal use
of new technologies and the latest management techniques. In reality,
there are variations in productivity levels among firms, creating a
wide gap between best practice and reality. Many firms can make
substantial improvements to their performance by adopting best
practices, and without making enormous investments in capital
equipment.
Finally, we should seize the opportunity afforded by bi-partisan
support for a new national energy policy to merge it with a rejuvenated
workforce and economic development strategy. Here in Ohio, we have a
successful solar panel industry and we can make many of the components
that are needed for wind turbines. Energy efficiency and green building
projects are also becoming more commonplace. Federal policy should
ensure that low- and middle-income citizens have the opportunities to
enter these growing fields, and to move up the career ladder. In some
cases this might mean a traditional community college experience, in
others it might mean ``pre-apprenticeship'' programs that build basic
math and literacy skills necessary to succeed in a training program for
a skilled trade. Congress should start by funding the Green Jobs Act
and its Pathways out of Poverty Program.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee for the
opportunity to testify today. I would be pleased to answer any
questions that you may have.
Senator Brown. Thank you very much, Mr. Honeck.
Ms. Edwards.
STATEMENT OF STACIA EDWARDS, DIRECTOR, REGIONAL WORKFORCE
TRANSFORMATION CONSORTIUM, SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE, DAYTON,
OH
Ms. Edwards. Thank you, Senator Brown, for inviting me to
testify this afternoon. And on behalf of the Regional Workforce
Transformation Consortium and Sinclair Community College, I
would like to thank you personally for your deep commitment to
the future prosperity of the region.
The Dayton region has a window of opportunity to effect
workforce transformation within the next 3 years if we can
identify a strategy and lay the foundations necessary to meet
both the needs of the employers and the skills of the
employees. The region has seen significant disruptive changes
that are impacting both employers and workers in the Dayton
region.
Downsizing and plant closures have left many workers
unemployed with few resources dedicated to assisting their
transition into new industry sectors with similar skill set
requirements. At the same time, the Base Realignment and
Closure, BRAC, process will create highly skilled job
opportunities by 2011, but currently, the region does not have
the talent pool of experience required to fulfill every key
position.
A 2006 job vacancy study identified a short-term demand for
employees with more advanced skills that are needed within
existing businesses as they strive to remain competitive and
grow. The study revealed more than 21,000 job vacancies.
However, the skill sets needed for the majority of these
positions disqualified most, if not all, of the 26,000
unemployed at the time.
This skills gap between the workforce needs of employers
and the available workforce revealed the root problem the
region must solve in order to recover from the disruptive
changes on the horizon as a result of downsizing, BRAC, and
current demand. Today, I would like to provide high-level
details on the actions that have already been taken, a
strategic plan for future implementation, and recommendations
as to how the Federal Government could support the region as it
goes through the transformation.
There has been a consolidation of interests and of
capabilities between the academic, public, and industry sectors
through the development of the Regional Workforce
Transformation Consortium. Simply stated, the mission of this
organization is to develop capabilities that allow for the
affected redeployment, revitalization, and rebuilding of
workforce on both the supply and demand side.
This organization mirrors the partnerships described in the
Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success,
SECTORS Act of 2008 authored by you. The initiatives can guide
the effective use of individual group funds for a collectively
agreed-upon goal. This results in the consortium's ability to
leverage investments rather than operating in an environment of
isolation and competition.
The Regional Transformative Workforce Response is based on
a series of strategies applied over time to deal with the
trauma created by disruptive changes and is based on a model
applied in the case of disaster recovery. Acknowledging that
there are a number of stages necessary to achieve the ultimate
re-establishment of prosperity or activity that existed prior
to the disaster is the focus of this model.
The five stages--respond, recover, restore, rebuild, and
redevelop--are used as a framework for redefining specific
workforce outcomes, actions, and recommendations that relate to
the short- and long-term.
Our first stage is to respond. Within the first 6 weeks,
the strategy must focus on the ability to align displaced
workers with existing demand within the region's businesses.
Funding is needed in transition centers to provide tools that
can assess workforce skills at the individual level and
translate these skills into existing employer demand.
The second stage is to recover. This is a 6-month outlook
and requires every effort to bolster the capacity of the
existing business and industry infrastructure to absorb
displaced workers. Subsidizing education and training,
including soft skills management and supervisory skills, of
incumbent lower-skilled workers in an effort to prepare them
for higher-skilled, high-wage jobs that meet the need of the
employers would also create vacancies in entry-level positions
for workers with appropriate skills.
Our focus for this strategy would be to fund the target
sectors of the regional economy, thus focusing dollars within
infrastructures that can best provide for employment in the
long-term. These short-term strategies could be funded with
Federal dollars that are already allocated to deal with the
dislocation events in unemployment.
The workforce consortium believes that the region will
continue to experience difficulty accessing Federal funds in
place to support dislocated workers because those funds are
shrinking, highly competitive, and planning grants narrowly
define what regions are permitted to do with the funds.
The third stage is to restore. Within 1 year, programs and
efforts focused on the long-term realignment of skills to the
workforce development priorities of the region must be well
established. Reskilling and continuous learning programs, such
as those modeled in the Ohio Skills Bank, broaden the capacity
of workers to take on jobs within new businesses.
Systemically, the development of such programs depends on a
clear understanding of the regional educational and training
assets, a dynamic knowledge of the key demand areas within the
region, and funding to maintain, improve, staff, and execute
these efforts.
The fourth stage is rebuilding. This is a longer-range
strategy that will impact the region within the next 3 years.
These rescaling programs broaden the capacity of workers to
take on jobs within new businesses and industries, again
addressing the need for high-skilled workers.
Within the Dayton region, it is our view that long-term
stability requires the development of small- and medium-sized
businesses in the targeted industries. Subsidies within
targeted industries will be needed to continue engagement with
employers, to foster on-the-job training opportunities as the
norm rather than the exception.
The final stage, redevelopment, looks beyond the next 3
years. The long-term prospects for prosperity within the Dayton
region will depend on the development of an infrastructure that
is adaptive to the increasing rate of change within the global
economy and the ability to capitalize on natural advantages in
the region, including the low cost-of-living, a stable supply
of water and power, a hub of research and development activity
and expertise in the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the
existence of a strong education system.
These five stages are the framework for regional stability.
If executed correctly, employment pathways will provide both a
near and longer-term view to employer demand at the
occupational level and will provide a lattice of opportunities
that could lead to multiple strategic industries.
A focus on the individual's transferable skills provides
the region with the opportunity to manage a system that allows
for fluid movement from one industry to another based on the
regional demand. The Dayton region looks forward to working
with our Government representatives as we implement the
strategy for recovery.
I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Edwards follows:]
Prepared Statement of Stacia Edwards
Thank you Senator Brown for inviting me to testify this afternoon
on the ``Midwest Jobs Picture: Strategies to Rebuild Communities.'' On
behalf of the Regional Workforce Transformation Consortium I would like
to thank you personally--Senator Brown--for your deep commitment to the
future prosperity of this region.
The Dayton Region has a window of opportunity to effect workforce
transformation within the next 3 years if we can identify a strategy
and lay the foundations necessary to meet both the needs of the
employers and the skills of the employees. The region has seen
significant disruptive changes that are impacting both employers and
workers in the Dayton region. Downsizing and plant closures have left
many workers unemployed with few resources dedicated to assisting their
transition into new industry sectors with similar skill set
requirements. At the same time, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
process will create highly skilled job opportunities by 2011, but
currently the region does not have the talent pool of experience
required to fill every key position.
A 2006 job vacancy study commissioned by Montgomery County also
identified a short-term demand for employees with more advanced skills
that are needed within existing businesses as they strive to remain
competitive and grow. The study revealed more than 21,000 job
vacancies; however, the skill sets needed for the majority of these
positions disqualified most, if not all, of the 26,000 unemployed at
the time. This ``skills gap'' between the workforce-needs of employers
and the available workforce revealed the root problem the region must
solve in order to recover from the disruptive changes on the horizon as
a result of downsizing, BRAC and current demand.
Today, I would like to provide high level details on the actions
that have already been taken, a strategic plan for future
implementation, and recommendations as to how the Federal Government
could support the region as it goes through this transformation.
In the fall of 2007 a sector strategy was launched by Montgomery
County. This sector approach to workforce development for the Dayton
region is organized into three parts--strategic industries, core
industries, and infrastructure industries--each of these three industry
areas have unique workforce needs. A summary highlighting workforce
demand in each industry area along with a full report is attached in
Appendix A.
[Editor's Note: Due to the high cost of printing, previously
printed material is not reprinted. To view the above referenced report,
please go to http://mcohio.org/Montgomery/home/docs/
Workforce_Strategy_May62008.
pdf.]
There has also been a consolidation of interest and of capabilities
between the academic, public, and industry sectors through the
development of the Regional Workforce Transformation Consortium. A
detailed description can be found in Appendix B, but simply stated, the
mission of this organization is to develop capabilities that allow for
the affected redeployment, revitalization and rebuilding of workforce
on both the supply and demand side. The consortium provides a
collaborative environment where strategic initiatives can guide the
effective use of individual group funds for a collectively agreed-upon
goal, this results in the entire group's ability to leverage
investments rather than operating in an environment of competition.
Additionally the Ohio Skills Bank initiative has been leveraged as part
of the region's strategic framework.
Now that the framework and network has been developed through the
Consortium, the strategic plan for regional workforce transformation is
being developed based on a disaster recovery model. This model for
recovery recognizes that there are a number of stages necessary to
achieve the ultimate re-establishment of prosperity or activity that
existed prior to the disaster, and is the short-term solution. The five
stages: respond, recover, restore, rebuild, and redevelop, are used as
a framework for defining specific workforce outcomes, actions, and
recommendations.
Our first stage is to respond. Within the first 6 weeks, the
strategy must focus on the ability to align displaced workers with
existing demand within the region's businesses. Funding is needed in
transition centers to provide tools that can assess workforce skills at
the individual level and translate these skills into existing employer
demand.
The second stage is to recover. This is a 6-month outlook, and
requires every effort to bolster the capacity of the existing business
and industry infrastructure to absorb displaced workers. The 2006 job
vacancy study identified a significant number of openings within
existing industries that require high skills and provide a high wage.
This issue might be alleviated by subsidizing education and training,
including soft skills, management and supervisory skills, of incumbent
lower skilled workers in an effort to prepare them for higher skilled,
high wage jobs that meet the need of the employers. This strategy would
also create vacancies in entry level positions for workers with
appropriate skills. Our focus for this strategy would be to fund the
target sectors of the regional economy. In this way dollars are focused
within infrastructures that can best provide for employment in the
long-term.
These short-term strategies could be funded with Federal dollars
that are already allocated to deal with the dislocation events and
unemployment. Some of the local, longer term issues facing dislocated
workers, however, link directly to the difficulty accessing and
qualifying for the Federal funds that are already in place to support
obtaining the skills needed by employers.
The third stage is to restore. Within 1 year, programs and efforts
focused on the long-term realignment of skills to the workforce
development priorities of the region must be well-established. These
programs broaden the capacity of workers to take on jobs within new
businesses. However the development of such programs depends on a clear
understanding of the regional education and training assets, a dynamic
knowledge of the key demand areas within the region, and funding to
maintain and improve these efforts.
The fourth stage is rebuilding. This is a longer range strategy
that will impact the region within the next 3 years. Within the Dayton
region it is our view that long-term stability requires the development
of small- and medium-size businesses in the targeted industries that
tie closely with the mission of the Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
Education remains a significant factor in this stage. Creating and
sustaining a high-skilled workforce that meets the ever-changing
demands of existing employers requires that employees are constantly
presented with options to increase their skills so that continuous
learning is the norm rather than the exception in business and
industry.
The final stage, re-development looks beyond the next 3 years. The
long-term prospects for prosperity within the Dayton region will depend
on the development of an infrastructure that is adaptive to the
increasing rate of change within the global economy and the ability to
capitalize on natural advantages in the region--including the low cost-
of-living, a stable supply of water and power, a hub of research and
development activity and expertise in the Wright Patterson Air Force
Base and the existence of a strong education system.
These five stages are the framework for regional stability. If
executed correctly, employment pathways will provide both a near and
longer term view to employer demand at the occupational level, and will
provide a lattice of opportunities that could lead to multiple
strategic industries. A focus on the individual's transferrable skills
provides the region with the opportunity to manage a system that allows
for fluid movement from one industry to another based on the regional
demand.
Senator Brown. Thank you, Ms. Edwards, very much.
Thank you all.
A couple of introductions. Commissioner Foley, thank you
for joining us. Tom Raga, thank you for joining us, he is the
former State Representative and now works at Sinclair Community
College.
Thank you for joining us.
Mike Wiehe is here from Congressman Turner's office.
Welcome to him. Brewster Rhodes from the governor's office is
here with us, also. He runs this region for the governor. So
thank you for joining us.
Mayor McLin, one of the beauties, perhaps, of our political
system is that regardless of which party is in control of the
Government, every 4 or 8 years, we start again with a new
Administration. And we will, with either Senator McCain or
Senator Obama, start again in January. That means new people at
the Labor Department, new people--new decisions on TAA and some
other issues.
A couple of questions I want to ask you. First, about the
Labor Department. What has your experience been in working with
the Labor Department on plant closures, on rapid response? We
have some of those same issues, Mr. Mead, obviously, with what
is happening--what might happen with the Labor Department if
the news doesn't get better at DHL.
But I wanted to ask the mayor what has your experience
been, and what recommendations do you have for improvement
that, come January--and a big part of this hearing is come
January--I want to take issues to the new Labor Department and
figure some new things out.
Ms. McLin. I would say that the biggest difficulty you have
is getting the correct message. Many times you are told one
thing, people are told another, trying to get the correct
message. So, therefore, you would know where to move to the
next level.
The second thing is that it is not clear when the problems
come down on whether we fit in there or we don't, and if you
don't ask the questions, you can't get the answer. So it is
more of a probing on our part to get the responses that we need
in assisting.
Sometimes the people call our offices because they are so
frustrated with going through the process that has been
established. One of the things that we found out, even with
being able to apply--and I cannot recall the correct term when
your job has been displaced because of out of State, out of the
country contracts----
Senator Brown. Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Ms. McLin [continuing]. Then you could do that. It took a
long time to even get that in process for people who were
impacted to be able to apply.
What we would like to see that would help, even from the
local government on up, is that if, when we are talking with
the Federal Government, they would give us one message.
Senator Brown. When you deal with something like a rapid
response team there, is it not just different messages, but
different people? Because one of the things we have tried to do
with DHL is to have one person in the Administration we can go
to, one person at the Labor Department, so that all roads run
through that person. Should that be part of the strategy for a
plant closing, any plant closing, any sort of distress in the
community?
Ms. McLin. I believe that is the best method because I
think that has been very helpful to you, Mayor, because by the
time that we got to the DHL, we had experimented with the
General Motors, with the Delphi, and all of that. And so, they
were able to benefit with the criticisms that had come from the
General Motors and the Delphi plants closing to be able to
benefit the mayor from Wilmington. So I think that would be a
part of customer service.
Senator Brown. I appreciate in your testimony your
historical view of what Federal programs initially aimed at
cities have sort of bled into inner-ring suburbs, outer-ring
suburbs, small towns, sort of everywhere, which each has its
own set of problems, of course. I grew up in a city of 50,000
surrounded by small towns and rural areas, and that is a
different set of problems than the city of Dayton. But the
mission was sort of lost, as you suggest.
I hope we would look to a new Administration, in a new
Congress, and be more focused, first, on the manufacturing
agenda and second, on an urban agenda. There will be a lot of
overlap, but they are two very different things.
Do you have examples that you can either give me now or
give me later on what kinds of things should be unique to
cities? I mean, I know CDBG moneys are really, really, really
important for Dayton. They are also important for Wilmington.
They are also important for Springfield and Xenia. But are
there some unique programs we should be thinking about that are
programs that are uniquely urban strategy?
Ms. McLin. Well, let us just take the CDBG money. That
formula needs to be reworked to really help the distressed
areas because, what we have found in the city of Dayton, that
because we have approached it from a very aggressive manner, we
get penalized for doing good. So the formula really is a
problem.
I'll give you an example like the housing bill that just
came down, which we really thought that the city of Dayton was
going to benefit from. Well, we only got $5 million, and we are
a distressed city. Cleveland got $11 million. It is a
distressed city. But Youngstown only got $3 million, and we
know that is a distressed city. Toledo got $12 million and
Columbus got $22 million.
In the formula that was calculated--now we are talking
about directly to the cities.
Senator Brown. This is the recent, the $240 million, $260
million coming--let me, just for people's information.
One of the things that I am on in the Senate Banking
Committee, and housing is part of that committee's
jurisdiction. And we wrote in part--this wasn't the most recent
legislation. This was from months ago. We were able to get a
significant amount of money, close to $4 billion, for
communities that had significant foreclosure problems, as
almost everywhere does. But it is based on the severity of the
problem in the community.
We wrote it in a way that Ohio gets significantly more than
the national average per capita, but based on severity of
problems. The money coming to Ohio is $260 million. I think you
are going to get significantly more than that.
Ms. McLin. We have to apply to the State, and the State is
in the process of working out their formula. But the city
itself----
Senator Brown. OK, the formula is going to work in a way
that does much better for this city. Talk to me if it doesn't.
I mean, talk to me either way about it. But it is certainly
supposed to be----
Ms. McLin. Well, we have been in touch with the governor's
office, saying that we really need the help because, this year
alone, we are tearing down 300 homes.
Senator Brown. Cost of $9,000 to $10,000 each--$9,000,
$10,000, $11,000 each?
Ms. McLin. It depends, it is averaging around $5,000 to
$7,500 per, but if we are talking about apartment buildings or
any other distressed structure, on a larger number, that is
higher, which causes us to have problem here.
If we can take our neighbor's house and the house next to
it as a nuisance, and we tear it down. If we can even offer--we
have a program we call ``Lots Linked'' --to that person to be
able to purchase that lot through the REIT program, and then
that increases the value of their home and we have also taken a
nuisance out of the neighborhood, which improves it.
But that is one of those things that when the formulas are
being--just giving you an example, that is why I used the
housing legislation that was--coming with the formulas and with
the CDBG money, we get penalized when we do a good job.
Senator Brown. Yes, I think in the end you won't on this,
but I understand the issue, and sometimes you are. Are you
using any significant or do you expect to use any significant
amount of the CDBG money to rehab homes? Or just the ones that
are the worst, or with the limited amount of money you need to
knock down the worst ones to preserve the neighborhood?
Ms. McLin. We want to use the money to not only knock down,
rehab those that are--would be beneficial and because we even--
that would be good that we can do that. We also have talked to
your department about even coming up, as we talk about land
banking with these projects. I am going way off now. But
talking about land banking on these projects is that using the
Farm bill that came down, to use that for some urban farming or
some other creative things that we can do with the land that we
have.
I have Commissioner Whaley, who had been heading up our
land banking initiative, which is going to end up having to be
a regional project for it to be effective.
Senator Brown. The county treasurer in Cleveland who is
very interested in that, as you know. The governor is
increasingly interested in the legislation. And there seems to
be some potential real agreement on the State level on that. So
we will work with you on that.
Thank you, Mayor.
Mr. Mead, I just want to talk to you about DHL, and I am
sure you are angrier than I. I am plenty angry about it, and
you are probably angrier about it in that it affects you so
directly.
Give me your opinion on how DHL took a company that was
profitable, Airborne, in 4, 4\1/2\ years, turned it to the
losses of this magnitude when they had State assistance when
they bought Airborne? Are those numbers true? And how did this
happen?
Mr. Mead. Well, I think DHL's customer base before they
bought Airborne Express was a completely different customer
base than what Airborne Express had before the merger. Airborne
serviced sort of a low-cost, high-volume market, and DHL's was
more of a low volume, high cost. DHL concentrated on
international deliveries from key cities in the United States--
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York--the larger cities,
really supplying the international market solely.
And when they merged with Airborne Express, they tried to
integrate two systems that just simply didn't work. They tried
to assume the customer base of Airborne Express, and they tried
to, I think, impose the cost structure of the international
market on that. And so, they lost a lot of business with that.
The merging of the two systems, the two sort systems down
in Wilmington, was also a bit of a disaster. Airborne Express'
freight system, the physical containers they use to move the
freight around, are vast different than any other freight
system in the country. And they couldn't integrate those two
systems to where the freight was interchangeable between the
aircraft from the company that I work for, ASTAR, or the
company that was there originally, the Airborne Express, which
is now ABX.
So they lost a lot of economy of scale by failing on that
merger. They still, to this day, operate two different sort
systems down there, which is going to double the cost of what
they do.
Furthermore, DHL abandoned, as you know, their brand-new
sort facility in Cincinnati, which cost them $315 million. I
think they were there for just about a year before they left it
and moved to Wilmington.
So DHL is no stranger to losing money. And I think that the
United States, before the merger or the combination of Airborne
Express and DHL, DHL realized a small loss in the United
States, which they used as a loss leader to supplement their
global delivery system. When they assumed the Airborne Express
portion, they increased that loss exponentially.
Senator Brown. Why do you think that Deutsche Post and DHL
will not even really listen to an offer from ABX and ASTAR?
Mr. Mead. Well, as I said in my testimony--I hope I wasn't
too over the top--I firmly believe that they have a global
vision of joining forces and having UPS service the domestic
market and DHL service the international market. I think that
is their ultimate goal. Now, whether or not that passes
antitrust scrutiny or not remains to be seen.
Senator Brown. Only one competitor?
Mr. Mead. Yes. Well, I am sure there are ways around it. I
am sure they have got lawyers working on this full-time. I
assume what they eventually want to have happen is DHL's market
share will shrink in the United States to the point where they
go ahead and pull out, and DHL just operates the international
market. And DHL and UPS feed each other across the Atlantic
Ocean.
Senator Brown. Is that the best case to make for antitrust
violation?
Mr. Mead. Well, I don't know if that would pass antitrust
scrutiny. I am not a lawyer. I don't really know. But my
feeling is it is clear that the air operation is not the
problem. DHL's own records indicate that the cost of ASTAR Air
Cargo and the cost of Airborne Express combined is only about
$1.2 billion. Well, if they pay $1 billion to UPS to fly the
freight, they are only saving $200 million a year.
Now, in order to effect this changeover, DHL has announced
that it will cost them up to $2 billion just to do the
changeover. So, in effect, in 1 year, they are incurring the
costs that they would have lost over 10 years by operating
ASTAR and ABX together.
Were they to allow Airborne Express, or ABX now, and ASTAR
to merge, were they to re-fleet the airlines, were they to
transfer the sort system back to the Cincinnati hub, which they
still own and is a state-of-the-art system, they could transfer
thousands of jobs from the Wilmington area down there, which is
actually what happened when DHL was operating the Cincinnati
hub. We bussed people in from as far away as Dayton to operate
the sort system at the Cincinnati airport, which is in northern
Kentucky.
And so, there are a number of ways that DHL could mitigate
that loss. But the bulk of the improvements that they are going
to realize through this restructuring are through things other
than the air operations.
Senator Brown. Is it safe to say that most of your co-
workers at DHL and ASTAR and ABX think that this is all about a
merger?
Mr. Mead. Yes, no one can see any other reason--the
decision came so far out of left field that it surprised
everyone, including most of the management of ASTAR Air Cargo.
The management thought--they were being very tight-lipped about
it, but they thought that DHL had purchased some 767s. Well,
they did purchase some 767s, which have yet to be delivered.
ASTAR Air Cargo and ABX were vying for those aircraft. As
it turns out, three of them are going to Europe, and we still
don't know where the other three are going. But at the time, we
thought they were going to come to one of the two airlines that
were based in Wilmington. Until May 28, I think, I know some of
the management of our company really thought that that was
going to happen.
It was such an outrageous announcement that no one could
come to any other conclusion. They obviously lose a lot of
money in the sort facility down there, and they lose a lot of
money through other inefficiencies. A specific example of that
would be the fact that they operate extremely old aircraft.
All of our aircraft at ASTAR Air Cargo are three-man
aircraft. We have a captain, a co-pilot, and a flight engineer.
Most modern airliners have two crew, the captain and the co-
pilot. They have eliminated the flight engineer. They use
computers and move most of the systems functions up to the
front so that the pilots can operate them. So you would save
money by operating two-pilot aircraft.
In addition, most modern airliners are two-engine aircraft.
Only a few, only a small handful of ASTAR's aircraft have two
engines. The 727s have three engines. The DC-8 that I fly has
four engines. So by going with more efficient aircraft, you
would save a tremendous amount of money.
Well, DHL never invested in our company. They never
suggested that our owner invest in the company and try and
upgrade our fleet to a more modern fleet that would obviously
save a lot of gas as well. So there are massive inefficiencies
that they never addressed for years and years. And their answer
is to transfer all the flying to UPS.
Personally and from the people that I have spoken with, no
one can figure out any other reason that DHL would have made a
decision like this other than to try and merge, in some fashion
or another, with one of the other global players in the market
and create a duopoly or monopoly, if you will.
Senator Brown. Thank you.
We have asked Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl, who is the
chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate, to look
at this, as you know. And he has written a strongly worded
letter to the Justice Department.
Believe me, he is a lawyer, and he knows antitrust well. He
thinks it is an antitrust violation. That doesn't mean the
Justice Department will decide that, but it does mean that it
is--I am not a lawyer, and I am certainly not an antitrust
lawyer. But the more and more evidence that we gather seems to
say that they want to see basically two cargo companies left,
FedEx and DHL, and that would come together.
Well, thank you for your comments and testimony.
Ms. Richardson, I am confused as to what happened with you
both on your unemployment and your education promised by
Delphi. Was this all about Delphi, or was it partly about the
Government not stepping up where it should have on
unemployment? Can you kind of walk us through that so we can
better understand?
Ms. Richardson. Before we left, before we took the buyout,
Delphi came in and talked to us and so did unemployment, who
told us they would not fight us for applying for unemployment
benefits. I was not supposed to leave until----
Senator Brown. ``Us'' was several hundred employees at that
point?
Ms. Richardson. There was almost half our plant left. As
soon as we found out, we were told, again, either take the
buyout or go down with the company. I had to make a decision. I
have a daughter, family. I didn't want to leave, but I didn't
know what the outcome was going to be.
So when I applied for benefits, they told me that Delphi
had told them that that was 3 years' salary and that we were
not able to receive benefits. I looked for a job 6 months after
I left. I was not supposed to leave until January. They came
and tapped me on my shoulder on a Thursday in November, told me
my last day was the next day, that Friday.
I went 6 weeks, 6 to 8 weeks without any money. Once I
filed, I fought. And I am still fighting for my unemployment
benefits. It took me 6 months to find an $8-an-hour job, which
I got fired from, but I won my case. I got one check, and then
Delphi stepped in and said, ``No, you cannot receive it. You
are not able to receive it.''
So it has been a fight. When it came to school, I went to
the transition center. I wanted to go to school for
communications. I want to get my Master's in public
administration nonprofit. They told me when I applied for
school, we had to take a test. I took the test. I already went
to school at Central State and Ohio State University. I didn't
go to school for 10 years. If I didn't pass a certain part of
the test, I couldn't go to school. I don't understand that.
It went on and on. It was a fight about that. Then I said,
``Well, I want to go to school for this.'' ``No, you have to
either--we are trying to get you a trade.'' ``I don't want a
trade. This is what I want to do.'' They told me that I would
have to get an employer to say that they will hire me after I
finish school and get five references.
OK, I have to go to school first to get my degree to get in
the field that I want to get into. So how do I have to do that?
So I stopped going to the transition center. I stopped dealing
with Delphi. I stopped dealing with unemployment. So everything
I have been doing, I have been doing on my own. And it has been
a struggle.
There are no jobs out here. Like I said, I interned just to
try to network. I got on at Dayton Urban League through Ms.
Theresa with Americorps. I interned there for a year. I was a
program coordinator. I implemented a program for HIV and AIDS
outreach for teens at Urban League. I gave away 100 free
computers to low-income families at Urban League. I worked in
the tutorial program.
I am a very smart individual, and it is hard for me to go
out here and find a job, and the only thing somebody wants to
do is give me an $8 or $9 an hour job. So I have to do what I
have to do. I have been networking. I have met people. But
again, it is still--the hardship is I have to go home every day
knowing I still don't have a job.
Senator Brown. Talk to me about your University of Phoenix
Online program.
Ms. Richardson. I came into their bachelor's program. I had
enough credits from Ohio State and Central State to begin my
bachelor's program. I have already tested out of two of my
classes, so I will graduate in December 2009 in communications.
Senator Brown. What is your experience from people you have
talked to that have gone through a similar program with a major
like that about job prospects?
Ms. Richardson. It has been big. Some of my friends have
tried to start their own business. It has been hard for them.
Some people I know did do the HVAC and medical. I know people
who stayed at Delphi for another year, and that is one thing
Delphi did not tell us that once we took the buyout we had an
option, people stayed on. I know people who transferred to
Michigan. I know of people who transferred to St. Louis.
Now these plants are in trouble, and now they don't know
what they are going to do. It is sad because we gave our
hearts. I worked 16 hours a day almost 2, 3 years. I did
everything I could for Delphi, and I just feel like they just
took everything from us. They promised us dreams and gave us
nothing.
Senator Brown. You finish your degree in communications in
December 2009, you said?
Ms. Richardson. Yes.
Senator Brown. What are you most interested in?
Ms. Richardson. A job.
[Laughter.]
I love working with youth. I want to give back to the
youth. My daughter is 12 years old. She is at that time now she
is about to be a teenager. Working at Dayton Urban League and
working in our Saturday program, we made our teens stand up.
We have a program called ``Teen Up.'' Our teens are going
out into the community. We have gotten stars to sponsor us. We
are really trying to make our teens stand up and take it back.
It has to deal with abstinence. It has to deal with being good
role models. This is what I want to do. I love it. I want to
help some teens out.
I had one teen, we went head-to-head when he first came
there. By the time he graduated the program, I am his
``auntie.'' That is what he calls me. He moved to Chicago. He
is now at the top of his class in 9th grade. He is playing
football. He is playing basketball, and I am trying to go up
there next month to see him.
I mean, if I could just help one kid, that is just my goal.
Senator Brown. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Ms. Richardson. Thank you.
Senator Brown. Mr. Honeck, talk to me about Ms.
Richardson's situation. I could see you, you were obviously
listening to her story. Talk to us about the archaic side, if
you will, of the unemployment system. I mean, so many people
aren't eligible at all in the system today.
Give us a couple of minutes of sort of how it has gotten
the way it has and how we fill these holes, especially in bad
economic times, when just far too few people are eligible for
unemployment? Not just extending it, which we, of course,
should do immediately, but people that haven't been able to
qualify, for whatever reasons.
Dr. Honeck. Well, unemployment is a complicated system. It
has been built up over a period of decades. It is a number of
different issues. It was built for a situation where people
were working full-time in steady jobs, one breadwinner. And my
fellow panelist's case, it sounds like the issue is severance
payments that are made after the last day of work under Ohio
law get then counted against UI payments. That is one set of
problems.
There is another set of problems in the State with monetary
eligibility. A person has to make $206 a week, average $206 a
week for a period of about 20 weeks in what is called a base
period over a year. And someone who was making $10 an hour, 20
hours a week will not qualify, won't hit that.
Someone who is making minimum wage, working full-time or
almost full-time, won't make that, even though the employer is
making payments on that individual's behalf. So, nationally,
what is called the recipiency rate for unemployment is about 37
percent. In other words, only a little over a third of all the
people who are unemployed are actually getting covered.
Senator Brown. What is the historical number, 20? Say, in a
recession in the late 1950s or recessions of the 1970s? Were
those numbers similar? Is it historical?
Dr. Honeck. I don't have those numbers at my fingertips.
But I would say that it has gone down over time. It has
slipped.
Senator Brown. Is it because we have a less traditional
economy now, or are there other reasons?
Dr. Honeck. Part of it, I would say, is just less
traditional economy and, as I said, just the way we treat
monetary eligibility. I think the monetary eligibility
requirement goes up every year, and the wages of large sectors
of our economy do not.
The minimum wage, we passed a constitutional amendment
here, but for years, Federal minimum wage didn't go up. State
minimum wage didn't go up. The people who were working full-
time but at minimum wage weren't then becoming eligible.
Senator Brown. Let me shift to TAA. In your testimony, you
said the TAA application process should be reformed rather than
the cumbersome workplace-by-workplace approach. It is time to
recognize that in some sectors of the economy the loss of
market share has been so pervasive that a sector-wide
certification process should be contemplated.
Talk about that, and then talk about do you relate it to
manufacturing or the service sector? Do you connect it only to
trade with all the job loss from NAFTA, PNTR, and CAFTA, and on
and on?
How do we structure TAA? How do we structure workforce
investment in the months ahead?
Dr. Honeck. Well, with TAA, it generally has been the
preferred route for unemployed workers because it provides
extended income support. It provides tuition assistance. There
is a healthcare tax credit involved as well. But the
application process has been somewhat cumbersome.
It seems that the Department of Labor probably hasn't
invested enough resources to do accurate certifications in the
first place. So you see a lot of reapplications and reappeals,
basically. The Department of Labor has been taken to task by
the Court of International Trade, where a lot of these appeals
end up, for not doing a thorough job.
What I am saying is that when you see, let us take
textiles, for instance. When you see just pervasive loss of
market share, almost any shutdown in the industry is going to
be related in some way to trade. And it is rather than having
people apply company by company and risk--frankly, risk the
situation that occurs sometimes where a lot of smaller
companies aren't even aware of it. While the union companies,
the unions are aware of the program, and they make an effort to
sort of shepherd their members through the process, but a lot
of smaller companies will slip through the cracks.
Let us take a look at how we make people eligible, and
instead of tying it, in fact, to particular trade deals, let us
just look at--whether that is CAFTA or NAFTA or whatever, let
us just look at international trade in general and say, you
know, this is the bargain we are going to strike with American
workers that if we have a certain trade policy that undermines
their employment, it may undermine their community, let us make
it easier to apply.
Senator Brown. Thank you, Mr. Honeck.
Ms. Edwards, your thought on TAA and some of the comments
Mr. Honeck made?
Ms. Edwards. I said at the beginning I am not an expert in
WIA or TAA. I just heard those for the first time about 6
months ago. So I defer to Dr. Honeck about that.
But my experience in doing the work on our sector strategy
has been that it is difficult for people on both sides to
understand all of the intricacies of the system--how to apply,
how to access these funds, how to put people on these pathways
and benefit from the dollars that are already there. So, for
instance, taking a dislocated worker and understanding what
pots of money they could be eligible for, assessing them so
that they could advance their skills and making sure then that
that education falls within all of the parameters and rules and
regulations that come along with that funding.
We have heard anecdotal stories of individuals where it
takes them 3 years to get through a nursing program, for
instance, but the funding cuts off in 2 years. And those are
the types of scenarios that I have learned about.
Senator Brown. You spoke about, as did Dr. Honeck, you had
spoken about sectors. What are the sectors or clusters that you
see emerging in southwest Ohio? What can we work around here?
Ms. Edwards. The data that we have evaluated suggests
aerospace research and development, of course, with Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base, information technology, healthcare
and human sciences, and advanced manufacturing.
Senator Brown. OK. Slow down. OK. Aerospace----
Ms. Edwards. Aerospace R&D, research and development.
Information technology, healthcare and human science, and
advanced manufacturing.
Senator Brown. How many of those sort of connect with
Wright-Patterson, certainly aeronautics?
Ms. Edwards. Certainly, everything would connect with
Wright-Patterson. When you look at several of these areas with
regards to even manufacturing, you find manufacturing and
information technology in many different industries.
Healthcare, with what is the BRAC, part of that mission will
relate directly to healthcare. They are bringing people in, for
instance, in the medical areas, physicians and clinical
laboratory scientists, for example.
Senator Brown. Is this community ready for BRAC, for the
next BRAC round?
Ms. Edwards. I would say we are trying. Are we ready?
Meaning, do we have the individuals here right now?
Senator Brown. Well, it is not ready. We are on track to
where we need to be?
Ms. Edwards. We are certainly identifying what we need to
have in place. And some of the work that we are doing and the
pathways that we are trying to create, we are hoping that we
can produce the workforce that they need.
Now one of the issues with the military is that they
advertise their positions on USAJOBS. And so, while we may
produce or may not produce the workforce that they need, they
have said that they will be advertising and recruiting for
those positions across the country.
So that is another interesting issue for us as we try to
prepare for that. Because as we talk to these individuals about
the positions that are available or will be available because
of the BRAC, we want to make sure that there are positions for
them then at the time, 2011, when BRAC does happen.
Senator Brown. I understand Montgomery County has been
applying for a grant from DOL that you are in involved with.
Can you----
Ms. Edwards. The Regional Innovation Grant. That is
correct.
Senator Brown [continuing]. Can you give me an assessment
of--partly similar to the question I asked the mayor--what we
need to do to make that process work better in the next
administration? Or do you not have any complaints about that?
Ms. Edwards. Certainly, our experience with the RIG grant
has been a bit frustrating in that it was our understanding
that it would be a pretty short turnaround time. Our process
started several months ago, and we didn't get very quick
feedback from individuals. But then the feedback that we got
was sometimes contradictory.
In some respects, they wanted it to be a more direct grant,
so we did focus on advanced manufacturing. Then we received
input that it should be a broader grant. We were told to be
specific. So we selected our regional, our nine-county regional
area and defined that area, and they told us then that we
should focus on a larger area.
Now the Regional Innovation Grant is only an 18-month
$250,000 planning grant. So, to focus on a larger region, it
didn't seem to make sense for us at the time.
Also one of the things that we were to be doing was to be
identifying a regional economy, to be planning and
understanding that regional economy. Some of the things that
they were wanting us to do, there seemed to be an expectation
that we already knew the answers to some of these questions.
Senator Brown. Let me finish by asking one question of all
five of you. I will start with the mayor, giving you no time to
come up with this answer. What is the one or the two things
that you would like, that you would want out of my office, that
you would like to see the Federal Government do, if you could
pick one or two things, other than save DHL--I guess that would
be the one for you.
But if you have something specific on what you think we
should do to help this valley, help the Miami Valley, help
Dayton?
Mayor McLin.
Ms. McLin. I think that one of the things would be that
when we are applying for money and going through the process
the answer comes sooner than later, and the other thing is that
I really would like very much for your office to look into the
formulas of how cities get money, especially like with the CDBG
grants and when we are dealing with infrastructures and
brownfields. If the process could be expedited, it would be so
helpful.
Senator Brown. Thank you, Mayor.
Mr. Mead.
Mr. Mead. Continue to do what you have been doing. You have
been very good about supporting our cause and bringing our
cause to light and taking it to the right people in Washington.
Beyond that, we have not gotten a lot of information about, if
this deal should go through and we end up on the street, what
our options are, what is available to us as far as unemployment
benefits.
I have heard a lot of rumors about what we would be
entitled to, but there is really nothing that is out there that
we have had access to. Of course, our main goal recently has
been focusing on souring this deal so it doesn't happen so we
can continue to remain employed. So we don't know what the next
step would be after that, if the worst were to happen.
Senator Brown. Good point. We are trying to walk that line.
So if we put too much discussion into what happens if we lose
it, we obviously want to stay focused on doing all we can to
save those jobs. We are looking at the other and talking to
people, but we perhaps need to be a little more public, and the
mayor and we will all work on that together. Thanks.
We are talking to the Department of Labor, and they have
somebody on the ground and all that. But that is a very good
assessment. Thank you.
Ms. Richardson.
Ms. Richardson. I would just really like for you to look
into and investigate more to help us out, the ones who already
have had the buyout and the ones that is coming up, especially
December 23 with truck and bus, looking into our unemployment
benefits. Again, I have been gone 2 years, and I am still
fighting to receive mine.
Also, looking at possibly creating more jobs. I don't know
where they are going to come from. But give us the resources
that we need and the understanding so we can get on our feet
and we can prosper for our families.
Senator Brown. Thank you.
Dr. Honeck.
Dr. Honeck. Two different things. I will stay with the
unemployment compensation theme. I think we ought to take a
look at taking the deal that workers who are getting TAA are
getting and think about offering that to most or all other
dislocated workers. The opportunity to go to school for up to 2
years, get income support, healthcare, tax credit, and really
not limit people, in a sense, for a lot of folks to that 6
months of getting unemployment, and then they have got to go
take a job.
The other thing is job creation. I think one real
opportunity that we have is in the field of green energy. If
you look at what has happened in Europe, in Germany and other
places, they have created hundreds of thousands of jobs,
manufacturing wind turbines or energy efficiency products. A
lot of those products, the profile fits with what Ohio can make
and is making.
There are companies in Ohio who are already in the wind
turbine supply chain. But the opportunity is not just going to
come to us. We have to reach out and take it. I am sure you
heard the story of the two plants in Pennsylvania that went in
from I think a Spanish company to make wind turbines, and they
actually converted in one case a factory that had been
shuttered and took some of the workforce, union workforce and
put them to work making those products.
We have an opportunity, but we have got to be organized and
strategic about it.
Senator Brown. Ms. Edwards.
Ms. Edwards. We certainly have an opportunity with what is
happening with BRAC and taking advantage of that. When we look
at what is coming with BRAC, we have research and development,
and what the research indicates there is that manufacturers
like to be located by research and development.
In saying that, I believe it was Dr. Honeck who commented
that individuals are no longer looking to manufacturing as a
career choice. And so, how are we going to communicate that to
the population that there may well still be jobs, careers, and
futures in the area of manufacturing? Certainly, the
legislation, the SECTORS legislation, work like that
contributes to our future as well.
Senator Brown. Thank you.
On a positive note, I appreciate the comments of the last
two, particularly on where we're going. Yesterday Governor
Strickland and I were in Perrysburg, OH near Toledo at an
expansion of a company called First Solar. They have 700 jobs,
they are adding 150 jobs over the next year or so. They are the
largest solar energy manufacturing company in the country. The
governor spoke for a little while, and I spoke for a little
while, not very long there--I just took people on a tour around
Ohio, of what is happening in the State with alternative
energy, and including what you have here with the National
Composite Center, what Sinclair does, what Wright-Patterson
does, and in Lake Erie where they are going to build wind
turbines. It will likely be the first time there will be a
field of wind turbines in any fresh water anywhere in the
world.
There are things happening in alternative energy all over
the State. We have a terrific opportunity because we are both
an agricultural State and a mature industrial State that we
know how to build things and we can produce--obviously
bioenergy because--biomass because of our agriculture. We can
obviously build things in this State.
We can build fuel cells, wind turbines, solar panels and
have great opportunity there. The Federal Government finally
passed last week what are called the tax extenders that will
bring some permanence to the tax system and predictability so
that investors will want to put capital into major projects
like wind and solar and fuel cells, and I think that this State
really is well positioned in every corner of this State,
including Miami Valley, for manufacturing on alternative
energy.
It will really make this the Silicon Valley of alternative
energy, and that is the goal. I think there is a lot of
interest in doing that.
Thank you all for joining us. Thanks to the panel. The
hearing will technically remain open for 10 days. So anybody
who wants to submit comments, they can do that, add to any of
your testimony. The committee will officially take this. This
will be the official record.
So thank you all for being here. Thank you in the audience,
and the committee is adjourned.
[Additional material follows.]
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Prepared Statement of Senator Enzi
Thank you Senator Brown for holding this important field
hearing today to address the needs of American workers and the
role job training can play in strengthening and rebuilding our
communities.
I believe job training is critical to the success of our
communities and Nation. Job training is important both to
provide a skilled workforce to avoid closings and to assist
workers who have become dislocated. That is why I helped author
the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) which
creates a streamlined job training and employment system for
our employers and workers. Unfortunately, the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) is 5 years overdue for reauthorization.
The Senate passed a bipartisan WIA reauthorization bill in both
the 108th and 109th Congress by unanimous consent. However, in
this Congress a Senate reauthorization bill was not even
introduced. Such inaction is unacceptable.
Congress must renew and improve the Workforce Investment
Act by building on its successes so that all Americans have
access to education and training opportunities. The structure
is already in place, we just need to refine the system to
prepare our workers for the new careers of the 21st century.
The fact is that we don't even know what the high wage, high
demand, high skill careers will be in the next decade. The
skills for today's jobs are not the skills needed for
tomorrow's jobs--everyone must have the opportunity and access
to training and education that will keep them successful in a
rapidly changing work environment.
We face many challenges today. Today, an estimated 85
percent of jobs are classified as ``skilled'' jobs, compared to
only 15 percent of jobs classified as ``skilled'' jobs in 1950.
From 2004 to 2014 the numbers of jobs in the U.S. economy is
expected to grow by 13 percent, those jobs requiring at least
some college will grow the fastest. By some estimates, nearly
four out of every five new jobs being created will require some
education or training beyond high school which is why it was
critical that Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity
Act which we had been working on for 5 years!
In order to meet these challenges head on, we must work
with our businesses--big and small--to make sure they have the
highly skilled workforce they need to be successful in the 21st
century global economy. Additionally, our workers need more
opportunities to grow their skills and our businesses deserve a
high quality, highly skilled workforce.
Over the past 4 years we have been able to reauthorize Head
Start, career and technical education programs and higher
education. We are working on high school reform to make sure
that more of our students graduate on time with the knowledge
and skills they need to be successful in college and the
workforce without remediation. We need to get the
reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act done so that
everyone throughout life has access to the education and
training opportunities they need to be successful. Once again I
urge the Senate leadership to take up reauthorization of the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA), it is past time for the Senate
to get serious about workforce development and job training and
take action on this important legislation.
[Whereupon, at 4:35 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]