Tonight, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the senior Northeastern Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, offered the Transportation Job Corps Act as an amendment to H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act.  The Transportation Job Corps Act, which Nadler has introduced previously, would create a career-ladder grant program within the Federal Transit Administration to help existing workers retain jobs in the public transportation industry, while also recruiting and preparing young adults across the nation for jobs in the transit sector.  Promoting diversity and serving underrepresented segments of the population will be particular priorities for these grants.

“With economic recovery and the creation of jobs now the essential focus of federal legislation, the Transportation Job Corps Act would provide critical investment in the economy and our transit workforce,” said Nadler.  “There is a long and impressive tradition of federal investment in public works as a means of improving infrastructure, creating jobs, and boosting a troubled economy.  The Transportation Job Corps Act would stimulate job growth and help secure stable and meaningful work for the disconnected youth of our nation.”

The following is the text of Nadler’s statement on the amendment, offered during tonight’s markup of H.R. 7:

“Mr. Chairman, my amendment would add the Transportation Job Corps Act, which creates a career-ladder grant program within FTA to address both the issue of job retention for existing workers, and of job creation for new workers, with a focus on ‘disconnected youth,’ in the transit industry. 

“The public transportation industry, like many other sectors in the United States, will be faced with major challenges in the near future.  A large percentage of the transit workforce will be retiring in the coming years.  There is no pipeline of replacements on the horizon, and relatively few programs exist to provide training for existing workers to perform their jobs adequately and move up the career ladder.

“At the same time, across the country, we face a growing crisis of ‘disconnected youth’: individuals between the ages of 16 to 24 who are not in school and have been out of work for at least six months.  According to a report by the Community Service Society, the population of ‘disconnected youth’ is estimated to be at least five million nationally, and in our major economic centers the numbers are staggering: 200,000 in New York City, 93,000 in Los Angeles, 97,000 in Chicago.  Yet, this challenge also reaches smaller cities and towns, as well as rural communities, where more and more of this generation lives on the margins of our society and economy.

“I have introduced legislation, the Transportation Job Corps Act (H.R. 929), to address both the issue of job retention for existing workers, and of job creation for ‘disconnected youth,’ in the transit industry.  This bill will create a career-ladder grant program within the Federal Transit Administration that would consist of:

• Basic Skills Education and Pre-Apprenticeship Skills Grants for educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to do outreach and provide remedial education to ‘disconnected youth’ to prepare them for a career in the transit industry;
• Apprenticeship Grants for transit agencies to develop labor-management apprenticeship programs for transit-related jobs, with a special emphasis on ‘disconnected youth’ that have completed a Pre-Apprenticeship program;
• Transit Worker Education and Retention Grants to enhance training for existing workers so that they can keep their jobs, especially as technology improves and additional skills are needed, and to advance their careers; and
• Workforce Diversity Grants to increase education opportunities within the transit industry for individuals who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and that are underrepresented among transit management.

“The bill, and this amendment, also creates a framework for a joint management-labor partnership to identify national and region-specific skills gaps and train people for employment.  Educational institutions, research organizations, non-profit and youth experts, and other stakeholders would be able to participate in the process.  This part of the bill is important because this is where specific jobs are identified, and it must be done at the regional level.  For example, in New York we might need to train people to be electricians for the subway system, but in Southern California we might need to train people to be alternative fuel bus mechanics.  And the needs today might not be the same tomorrow.

“I am pleased that the underlying bill contains transit training and assistance programs, but in order for a program to be effective and create high quality jobs, labor and management have an equal seat at the table.  And we should take advantage of this opportunity to address both challenges of maintaining a robust workforce for the transit industry and the need to find stable meaningful work for the ‘disconnected youth’ population.  More importantly, we should adequately invest in this program.  I fear administrative funds provided for this purpose in the underlying bill will not be enough to complete the necessary training, so my amendment provides $50 million per year for the career-ladder training grants programs.

“The Transportation Job Corps bill is a carefully crafted comprehensive approach that as the support of a wide range of labor and civil rights organizations, such as TTD, ATU, APTA, the Corps Network, Community Service Society and the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights.”

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