[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 74 (Thursday, May 14, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1173-E1174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE PRE-APPRENTICE AND APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING ACT OF 
                                  2009

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 14, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, the Pre-Apprentice and Apprenticeship 
Training Act of 2009 makes mandatory the one half of one percent of 
funds now available under 23 U.S.C. 140(b) to ensure federal highway 
funds are used to provide on-the-job training and other services to 
combat a serious training deficit that builds in the effects of past 
discrimination and that is necessary because the current cohort of 
journeymen and other skilled workers is retiring. Currently, only 17 
states use fund previously made available for training and even that 
participation is spotty. The Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee,

[[Page E1174]]

under the strong leadership of Chairman Jim Oberstar has already taken 
the first important steps to include training as an essential part of 
building our infrastructure when he included, at my request, $3 million 
specifically for training in the General Services Administration 
stimulus authorization this year. He also included $20 million for 
federal highways training programs.
  Today, the official unemployment rate already is at 15 percent for 
blacks and 8 percent for whites, a typical gap throughout economic 
cycles. Most analysts predict that there is more unemployment to come. 
This surface transportation reauthorization is also necessary to 
finally afford the opportunity for minorities and women to gain their 
first foothold in the high-wage construction industry.
  More than 25 years ago, the federal government abruptly ended the 
government-sponsored labor-management remediation program designed to 
address training and exclusionary practices in the construction 
industry. Although deliberate exclusion has largely receded, 
elimination of this program has left a significant training deficit for 
workers in skilled construction trades, which is largely responsible 
for the white male profile of the construction industry today. This 
training deficit guarantees that infrastructure jobs will continue to 
go to trained, mostly white male construction workers, who now have 
faced a long period of unemployment and job scarcity. Particularly 
considering a steep rise in unemployment for minorities and whites 
alike, this bill will also help avoid racial tension.
  Because of the scarcity of trained workers during boom times, a few 
union programs had even begun training ex-offenders as pre-apprentices 
and apprentices to do construction work. This bill will mount a major 
national infrastructure program focused on job creation with a well-
designed component of pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs 
that can lead to high-paying journeymen jobs for the new workers who 
will be needed in the future. And it will assure compliance with the 
14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bar 
discrimination in the use of government dollars.
  More than 25 years ago the federal government prematurely ended the 
successful government-sponsored labor-management remediation program 
that addressed exclusionary practices and lack of training in the 
construction industry. Without a significant and systematic government 
effort, a serious training deficit has remained and continued to build. 
This training deficit is largely responsible for the white male profile 
of the construction industry today. Unless training is a strong 
component of the highway and transit reauthorization, 
underrepresentation of minorities and women will deepen.
  Training is a major barrier, particularly for African Americans and 
women in construction. Congress recognized the training deficit and 
encouraged the use of one half of one percent for training in the use 
of highway funds. Because use of federal funds was not mandated for 
training, only 17 states have chosen, intermittently, to fund training 
programs, since the program was authorized in 1998. Without appropriate 
training, federal funds will exacerbate the training deficit among 
previously excluded groups and others who have not had access to 
training in the construction trades.
  A recent study of African Americans, in particular, in the 
construction industry in eighteen metropolitan areas found that they 
are under-represented in construction jobs. If African Americans were 
employed in construction at the same rate that they are employed in the 
overall workforce, the study estimated that 42,700 more African 
Americans would be employed in construction in the eighteen 
metropolitan areas.
  The official unemployment rate as of April 2009 already is 15 percent 
for African Americans and 8.8 percent for whites. This disparity has 
been typical throughout economic cycles.
  A major, well-designed component in the surface transportation 
reauthorization bill for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs 
can lead to high-paying journeymen jobs, where, in good times and 
scarce, labor supply has developed.
  Congress must assure compliance with the 14th Amendment and Title VI 
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bar discrimination in the use of 
government dollars.

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