[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 47 (Monday, April 15, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             WORKER TRAINING AND THE BOSTON HARBOR CLEANUP

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Ben Franklin once said that ``an 
investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.'' The same can 
be said about an impressive initiative on worker training undertaken in 
recent years by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority as part of 
the current environmental cleanup of Boston Harbor.
  In replacing outdated and obsolete water treatment plants with new 
state-of-the-art facilities, MWRA invested in retraining its existing 
work force in the skills needed to operate the new facility, rather 
than lay off hundreds of employees and recruit new workers with the 
needed skills. The strategy worked, and has led to lower costs for the 
new plant, lower costs for ratepayers, and a newly skilled work force 
with high employee morale.
  I commend MWRA for this practical demonstration of the effectiveness 
of job retraining and the wisdom of tapping the untapped potential of 
its experienced work force.
  Too often, such retraining initiatives are the exception, not the 
norm. We live in an era when workers are too easily under-valued and 
under-appreciated by employers. The MWRA example can be a lesson to the 
Nation that a wise course is available. I ask for unanimous consent 
that an article by Douglas B. MacDonald, executive director of MWRA, be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Boston Globe, Mar. 19, 1996]

                     Everyday Heroes of Deer Island

                       (By Douglas B. MacDonald)

       The first phase of the new Deer Island sewage treatment 
     plant has been up and running for a year. The ``filthiest 
     harbor in America'' is quickly succumbing to visible signs of 
     environmental recovery; seals and porpoises in the water, 
     swimmers at the beaches, fishermen on the shore. Those are 
     striking testimony that the new infrastructure of pumps, 
     valves and tanks really can retrieve our environment from the 
     careless ravages of a neglected sewer system. Within the new 
     plant there is another less publicized but equally 
     inspirational, success story; the workers themselves.
       When the MWRA began design and initial construction of the 
     new Deer Island treatment facilities in the late 1980s, it 
     wrestled with the question of how more than 200 workers at 
     the old Deer Island and Nut Island plants would fit into the 
     new plant. Those workers, experienced only in operating 
     treatment facilities with antiquated technology, might have 
     been considered as obsolete as the old plants themselves.
       Happily, neither MWRA management nor its workers ever 
     accepted that fatalistic view. The workers were challenged, 
     and they challenged themselves, to staff the 21st century 
     facility arising in their midst.
       The old plants were decades past their prime, underfunded 
     and neglected. Workers had to almost hand-process raw sewage. 
     They kept the old plants functioning with little more than 
     their own dedication.
       But from their years of working with outmoded and failing 
     equipment, the workers had become pros at troubleshooting the 
     nuances and complexities of the MWRA's sewer system, which 
     takes in over 400 million gallons of wastewater each day from 
     43 communities. They managed to operate the old plant with 
     countless jury-rigs, even bringing in their own tools to keep 
     the plants functioning. Collectively, the old plant workers 
     has over 4,000 years of experience. Their knowledge was an 
     enormous potential asset.
       Still, decisions about staffing the new plant were 
     difficult. Managers and collective bargaining units wrestled 
     with how to mesh the workers' pride and old-plant experience 
     with yet-to-be-attained technological skills and computer 
     literacy. Discussions were candid and sometimes heated.
       Slowly, however, trust took root. MWRA management agreed 
     that existing workers would be the core of the new work 
     force. Workers who upgraded their abilities were promised 
     jobs in the new plant. The notion that a new generation of 
     technology must make redundant a generation of workers was 
     rejected outright.
       Armed with this guarantee, each worker developed a training 
     plan, and MWRA invested several million dollars in courses, 
     workshops and support for outside schooling. Programs covered 
     everything from basic reading and math skills to advanced 
     computer training.
       Giving workers a sense of ownership in the new plant was 
     another important step, and began with plant familiarization 
     tours of each new building at the earliest points of 
     construction. As the new plant was being designed, plant 
     staff provided engineering firms with ``will it work?'' 
     critiques, relying on their own knowledge of the 
     idiosyncrasies of the old system.
       Today the human side of the new Deer Island treatment plant 
     is a remarkable story, and underscores the resilience of the 
     American worker. For example, a 20-year veteran worker staffs 
     a three-screen computer console, clicking the mouse like a 
     kid playing a video game. Three years ago this man feared 
     that computer illiteracy would land him outside the plant 
     gate. But he and his computer-trained coworkers know from 
     experience exactly what the computer tells them is going on 
     with a valve 500 yards away.
       This new productivity benefits MWRA and its rate-payers. 
     Three years ago, cost projections foresaw 500 workers as the 
     necessary staffing level for the Deer Island plant. Today, 
     MWRA plans to run that plant with about 400 workers.
       For all the money spent on the new tanks, valves and pumps, 
     the best time and money expended to date on the Boston Harbor 
     Project has been invested in the workers who are running our 
     facilities. For the public we serve and for the people we 
     employ, it was the smart thing to do and it was the right 
     thing to do.

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