Thursday, September 18, 2008

Future Workers

Three people got together to debate the best way to move forward with Michigan's workers and Right to Work. Those three workers were Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place Inc.; Stan Greer, project director, National Institute for Labor Relations Research; Bill Black, legislative and community affairs director, Michigan Teamsters...and it only got a little scary.

The group discussion continually came back to three main points of education, unions, and retraining members of the workforce who have lost their jobs and have no other skill sets.

Klohs pointed out that when people make decisions about where they live, a major determining factor is the workforce. She also pointed out that manufacturing is still alive in West Michigan, but the way it is executed is changing. Baby boomers are retiring soon and when that is combined with a low educated workforce, the outlook can be scary.

When it comes to Right to Work, the debate heated up. The major issues around unions came from job classifications. The arguments against Right to Work include: bad for manufacturing workers; bad for women; creates lower wages, poor health care and unsafe job sites. In defense of Right to Work, job growth was consistent and rapid.

Jake Himmelspach, reporter

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