I received an email from from a student, John Gaal, in a Harvard Trade Union class I taught in 2009. Gall, who is Director of Training and Workforce Development Programs in St. Louis, sent materials about the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the National Apprenticeship Act. The Department of Labor's celebration of programs like this represent innovative and creative solutions to our nation's immediate and longer-term unemployment problems I have written about as the "New Compact" of private businesses, government, unions coming together to provide the good jobs our workers and our nation need.
Winners Trailblazer/Innovator Awards honored at the 75th Anniversary of the Department of Labor's celebration of the National Apprenticeship Act was Bayless Floors MAP. Pictured above are U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis; Dr. John Gaal, Director of Training & Workforce Development, St. Louis; Eric Kastner, Floor Layer Instructor, Bayless High School; Greg Hefele, Coordinator, St. Louis Floor Layer JAP; Larry Rebman, Director, Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and John Ladd, National Director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship. Click here to view award.
Also honored was the St. Louis Carpenter's Joint Apprenticeship Program Green Construction Corps program. Pictured at left are U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis; Dr. John Gaal, Director of Training & Workforce Development, St. Louis; Bruce Bird, Coordinator, SEMO Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Program; Larry Rebman, Director, Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and John Ladd, National Director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship. Click here to view award.
Detailed information about the projects can be found in a paper by Gaal in a Harvard Trade Union Occcasional Paper, "The Training Trilogy: One Union Three Experiments in Sustainability."
