We have been hearing about a labor shortage for well over a decade. In our industry, many question whether union apprenticeships can supply enough workers. And many people ask, who will be the union workforce of the future?
And to fuel more fear among policy makers and elected officials, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation rears its ugly head. As workers, this reaction is the fear that it’s going to kill our jobs!
To some extent, both are myths. AI is not taking our jobs away—as long as we are engaged at the bargaining table and the legislative arena. Labor must continue to be strong regarding Artificial Intelligence and automation, as it always has been. It will change our jobs, and that’s a reality.
As a young organizer, I recall Cesar Chavez saying that “the only constant factor in the union is change.” Well, that also applies to the workplace. The Trades will continue to train our members to meet the needs of any project, any jobsite, and any technological innovations for decades to come.
And is there a labor shortage? The answer is “NO!” What we have is a shortage of employers who participate in Joint Labor Management Apprenticeship Training programs.
In the State of California, the Joint Labor Management programs graduate over 95 percent of the state-certified apprentices in the construction sector. What we have is too many employers that have refused to invest in the future of California’s construction workforce, and yet they cry “there is a labor shortage.”
They have refused to invest in the best standards in the industry, and if they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Those employers are the same cadre that propose that the solution is “guest workers,” therefore fomenting global exploitation.
It is imperative that we promote a high-skilled, high-wage workforce instead of the race to the bottom.
All we need to do is invest in the youth of our communities. We have hundreds of people lining up to fill the slots at our apprenticeship training centers. The LA/OC Building and Construction Trades have over 22,000 apprentices within our jurisdiction. That is more apprentices than any other Council in the country and more than any other state in the country, including New York and Texas. We are doing our part, in collaboration with our educational and community partners via the Apprenticeship Readiness Fund, the nonprofit arm of our Council.
This issue has even captured the attention of the pro-business “Wall Street Journal.”
“How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation” they wrote on April 1. But it was no joke. There is a reason why NABTU President Sean McGarvey calls our newcomers “The Infrastructure Generation.”
In a recent survey, the article says, these trends appear:
- 74 percent of respondents say that there’s a significant stigma associated with going to a vocational school or Trade over a traditional four-year university and it’s clear that parents are contributing to this.
- 79 percent say parents want them to pursue college after high school and only 5 percent say the same about vocational school.
- Yet, 75 percent of respondents say they are interested in exploring vocational schools that offer paid, on-the-job training because clearly, college isn’t for everybody!
“Rising pay and new technologies in fields such as welding and machine tooling are giving trade professions a facelift, helping them shed the image held by some of being dirty, low-end work,” the article concludes.
Well said, “Wall Street Journal.”
Or as we have always said: The work is a bit dirty but the money earned is clean.