WHEREAS:

Growing awareness of the need to align career pathway training with 21st century workforce needs has created renewed interest at the national level in pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships and paid training opportunities; and

WHEREAS:

Apprenticeship holds great potential to help many individuals, particularly young adults, attain good jobs and to ensure that state and local governments meet their ongoing needs for skilled workers; and

WHEREAS:

Job training programs prepare workers for a range of public sector jobs, from community health workers to workers’ compensation adjudicators. However, there has not been an attempt to invest in public sector pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship and paid training opportunities at the scale necessary to address the significant jobs gap inflicted by the pandemic recession on state and local government; and

WHEREAS:

The American Recovery Plan Act of 2021 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act include significant funding for pre-apprenticeship and expanded registered apprenticeships to put Americans to work in good-paying union jobs in building and maintaining infrastructure and working in the care economy.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

AFSCME will continue to develop policy recommendations to promote broader adoption of pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship and paid training opportunities in state and local government; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

AFSCME will continue to find opportunities to develop pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship and paid training programs to prepare workers for higher paying, more secure jobs and to help state and local government employers meet their needs for skilled workers.

SUBMITTED BY:
Susan M. Cleary, President
Craig A. Ford, Secretary-Treasurer
NUHHCE/AFSCME Local 1199
New Jersey