SECTOR INITIATIVES: Manufacturing

The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute implements a range of activities to help retain and grow unionized, family-sustaining jobs in U.S. manufacturing. To carry out this challenging mission we have adopted a four-pronged strategy designed to stimulate the creation of more union jobs in US industry while developing plans and policies that keep existing unionized manufacturing jobs in their home communities. In collaboration with both private foundations and public funders, the Institute is working to achieve these goals by promoting:

The Working for America Institute (WAI) receives support for its initiatives from a number of sources, including the Annie Casey, Margaret Casey, Ford and Sloan Foundations, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council.

The Institute is working in collaboration with several leading academic and nonprofit researchers, primarily in the Midwest, under a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to research the role of unions in retaining high-wage manufacturing jobs in the United States. Our research partners are from:

Case Western Reserve University
University of Chicago
Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center
University of Wisconsin
Keystone Research Center
Center on Wisconsin Strategy

This two-year research project focuses on component manufacturing (including but not limited to auto parts). In carrying out the investigation, the Institute has examined the impact that the restructuring of this sector over the past two decades has had on unions and unionized workers. We have also identified the strategies unions have adopted, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to try to retain high-wage jobs during this period. WAI will use the research to help unions formulate pro-active strategies that can enable them to play a key role in retaining good manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Look for this report in early May.

In order to promote high performance work organization in manufacturing, as well as to provide workers with the portable credentials they need in today’s manufacturing environment, the Institute supports a coalition of manufacturing unions. Since 1998, WAI has collaborated with the coalition working with employers and education and training providers through the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC). The labor coalition consists of BCTGWU, GCIU, IAM, IBEW, IUE/CWA, USW, PASS, SMWIA, UNITE/HERE, UAW, and GMP, and over the years, union mergers have altered its composition. Overall, the MSSC’s mission is twofold:

In addition to providing entry level and advanced training for new manufacturing workers, the MSSC assessments and certifications will enable current manufacturing workers to:

The MSSC formally launched its national assessment and certification system in November 2005. (See Connections at www.workingforamerica.org). There are currently 46 assessment centers in 18 states approved to offer the on-line assessments that lead to a nationally recognized certification as a “Manufacturing Production Technician.” In addition, the Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Company has published its “High Performance Manufacturing- Portable Production Skills Textbook, together with a Manufacturing Applications Workbook and an Instructor Resource CD. These materials are based on the MSSC Production Skills Standards and are useful to incumbent and entry-level workers, as well as to students studying for manufacturing careers. In addition, a number of educational partners are developing curricula that prepare workers for the MSSC Assessments.

When complete, the MSSC Certification System will consist of nationally validated skill standards for production and production support work; assessments and certifications of individuals in high performance manufacturing skills and MSSC approved curriculum for teaching these skills. For additional information about the MSSC Skills Standards and Certification System, please visit: www.msscusa.org.

The Institute has also received funding to assist local implementation projects in Wisconsin, Indiana and California. Partners in these states include the Milwaukee Area Technical College in Wisconsin, the Indiana AFL-CIO Labor Institute for Training in Indiana and a consortium of community colleges in Southern California. All of these projects work with local unions, companies and educational institutions to introduce and implement the MSSC Skill Standards, Assessments and Certifications in their respective states. These organizations are also collaborating in the development of curriculum for teaching the standards to students, entry-level and incumbent workers.

The Institute has also received funding to assist the Milwaukee Area Technical College in Wisconsin pilot test the MSSC Assessment. In addition, the Institute has received funds from the Indiana AFL-CIO Labor Institute For Training to assist in aligning the MSSC Skill Standards with the State of Indiana’s Manufacturing Certificate of Achievement Program. These two projects are working with local unions, companies and educational institutions to introduce and implement the MSSC Skill Standards and Assessment in their respective states.

The increasing use of advanced technologies has transformed the manufacturing process, creating workforce challenges (put the link here) for the sector.

With support from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the Institute is sharing promising practices developed by labor-management partnerships. Case studies prepared by WAI document the ways in which partnerships address these challenges, and outline the practical techniques best suited to replicating and/or adapting them with:

We are concentrating on those industries within manufacturing that pay average national wages of over $15.00/hour. See our monthly Economic Update for more information on these industries.

This effort to integrate unionized employers and labor-management partnerships into the Department’s existing High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGJTI) will help ensure that job-seekers and incumbent workers have the skills for high demand jobs. Strengthening the connection between the public workforce system and unionized employers and partnerships will also improve access to some of the best jobs in the nation.

The Institute is working work with ETA to bring together potential and existing partnerships at an Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Strategies Forum scheduled for April 19-21, 2006. At this major convening, these partnerships will share their successes in addressing these challenges and identify barriers they overcame. The Institute is also developing a Tool Kit that will help guide partnerships and their public system counterparts as they pursue these promising practices.

In addition to the work funded by the Department of Labor, the Institute has been engaged in a number of activities to encourage public support for the manufacturing sector, including implementation of a “High Road Community Audit” strategy. We performed our first community audit in collaboration with

Based on experience, the Institute believes that this type can focus on sectoral interventions that help retain and grow unionized high wage jobs in any region.

The Institute continues to provide information and technical assistance to manufacturing unions about opportunities to secure federal workforce development resources to help with both new entrant, incumbent and laid off worker training and job placement.

If you would like more information about any of these initiatives, call Tom Gannon, Manufacturing Field Specialist at (216) 391-0900, or email him at tgannon@workingforamerica.org.