The following is a guest post from Mark H. Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, and the Chair of the Union Veterans Council
On Veterans Day, our nation recognizes and honors the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans and their families – past and present. It is fitting and proper that we hold these men and women in our hearts, in our prayers, and in our minds for all time. We must continue to be steadfast in demonstrating an unbreakable commitment to our veterans once their service has concluded. That commitment is especially needed with post-military veterans employment and career training opportunities.
As our nation continues to recover from the Great Recession, there are far too many Americans looking for work and that includes over 850,000 unemployed veterans. Today, the jobless rate for post-9/11 veterans is 12.1 percent. Having bravely served and defended our nation, it should be a national outrage that so many of these well-trained, highly skilled, motivated and disciplined veterans have been unable to find a job worthy of their incredible talents. As President Obama recently said, “If you can save a life in Afghanistan, you can save a life in an ambulance. If you can oversee millions of dollars of assets in Iraq, you can help a business balance its books here at home.”
Ensuring that our nation’s veterans receive the opportunities they have earned has been one of the top priorities for America’s Building Trades Unions. Through our involvement and support of the “Helmets to Hardhats” (H2H) program, we have assisted thousands of veterans in gaining career training and employment opportunities in the construction industry and in the skilled trades. In fact, there is a growing movement among construction end-users and contractors to utilize project labor agreements (PLAs) as a vehicle to expedite the entry of veterans into skilled craft apprenticeship training through the H2H program.
There is more that can, and should, be done. The AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council was established to do just that; and we applaud the United States Senate for its recent bipartisan approval of legislation that will help create job opportunities for veterans. The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides firms that hire unemployed veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per veteran. The Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran.
Acknowledging the valuable skills that our nation’s veterans have acquired through their training and experience – and to help these men and women translate those skills into gainful civilian employment – is a profound way to honor and reflect upon all veterans – past, present and future.
Assisting our veterans in a time of great need is not a Democratic responsibility or a Republican responsibility, it is an American responsibility.
Image from user eschipul on Flickr, via Creative Commons.
Tags: veterans
Mark it down: something good actually happened in Congress today, as the U.S. Senate passed a bill to help the job prospects of veterans. The bill would give tax credits to businesses that hire veterans and also help those who served in uniform get job training.
Many of Working America’s 3 million members are veterans, and this bill will help them get back into the workforce. The unemployment rate for veterans who served in wars is more than 11.5 percent.
It’s the only portion of the American Jobs Act that has passed so far. And while it’s definitely a step in the right direction, it’s only a start to the kind of investment we need to put more people back to work.
For instance: once again, the extension of unemployment benefits is set to expire. A new study shows that failing to extend unemployment benefits could cost the economy an additional half-million jobs. At a time when there are four job seekers for every open position and 42% of the unemployed have been out of work for 6 months or more, extending unemployment benefits is a must to keep money in people’s pockets. So when will that happen?
Let’s also consider the payroll tax holiday, which impacts millions of working families. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, has pledged to block the extension of this tax break, worth about $1,500 a year to the average household. That would amount to a tax hike for working people from a Senate Republican caucus who pretend to be concerned about preventing tax hikes on anyone.
The Senate tried—and failed, in the face of mostly Republican obstruction—to pass two popular jobs proposals that would have put hundreds of thousands of people back to work. That includes a bill to help states hire teachers, firefighters and police officers and another bill that would fund infrastructure projects to put construction workers back on the job. Each of these bills was fully paid for with a small surcharge—less than a penny apiece on the dollar—on the taxable income of the wealthy over $1 million a year. But the same people who are talking about ending the payroll tax holiday on working families found a tiny tax increase on millionaires radical and unacceptable.
Tax credits for employers to hire veterans absolutely have value, but the men and women who served our country would also benefit from other portions of the American Jobs Act, including having more jobs available as first responders or on infrastructure projects.
And, of course, we’re anxiously watching to see what comes out of the so-called “Super Committee,” the special Congressional body tasked with releasing deficit-cutting proposals. Both parties have released proposals that would put the burden of deficit reduction overwhelmingly on middle- and working-class families. Note that the kind of programs targeted by Super Committee proposals are mostly of the kind that kept millions of people out of poverty during this difficult economic climate. What the Super Committee should be focusing on is ways to kick-start the economy by putting people back to work.
Among the most breathtakingly cynical proposals to come out of the Super Committee has come from Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Wall Street favorite who won narrowly in 2010. His record includes such lowlights as pioneering the kind of bank deregulation that helped cause the financial crisis and running the corporate-funded hard-right group Club for Growth. Toomey’s Super Committee proposal revolves around shifting the tax burden even further away from the wealthy and towards the middle class – amounting to tax hikes for almost everyone making under $200,000 a year and tax cuts in the tens of thousands of dollars every year for millionaires. When a politician like Toomey says he wants to lower “your” taxes, either he thinks you make a million dollars a year, or he has complete contempt for your intelligence.
(Incidentally, Pennsylvania’s veterans certainly seem to understand that Toomey isn’t looking out for them.)
So, by all means, we should thank the Senate for passing a common-sense bill to help our veterans and put them back to work. But job creation needs to be the first priority in everything Congress does.
Tags: Jobs, Senate, unemployment, veterans
This week, the Senate will consider yet another portion of President Obama’s American Jobs Act. This time, it’s a bill that would help the job prospects of returning veterans.
Many of the families that we talk to every day across the country have a former member of the armed forces among them, and for these veterans, getting back into the workforce can be a challenge. The unemployment rate among veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated to be more than 15 percent. With Veterans’ Day coming up this Friday, it’s a good time to think about what to do to help.
The bill being offered in the Senate would give tax credits to businesses that hire veterans, with additional credits for hiring veterans who were wounded or disabled in service, or for hiring those who have been out of work for six months or more. In addition, it would connect veterans of all ages with job training programs.
It’s a small but important step towards putting people back to work, and one that can make a big difference in the lives of veterans, their families and their communities. Congress needs to get to work putting paychecks back in people’s pockets, and those who served in uniform and came back to this rocky economy certainly deserve it.
It’s a common-sense bill that is fully paid for, and it’s based on a principle that has earned bipartisan support. Of course, that has been true of an infrastructure jobs bill that a minority of Senators blocked last week and a bill to put teachers and first responders back to work that a minority of the Senate blocked last month. The story is getting old, and independents and moderates are starting to agree that congressional Republicans are blocking jobs proposals like these primarily to hurt President Obama politically.
So will the obvious merits of this jobs proposal, aimed at those who served in uniform, finally be enough to get Senate Republicans to stop their habit of preventing a vote on bills that would actually boost the economy?
Tags: Jobs, Senate, unemployment, veterans
by Jaclyn Scudiero—Missouri
A man that I was talking to used to be in the Army. He was very supportive of what we were doing. He told me that after he got out of the Army he ended up bankrupt because he was injured during his service and couldn’t find a job that payed enough.
Tags: Jobs, veterans
by Tamara Stanley—Ohio
It was the first day of sweat-breaking heat in Dayton, Ohio. The weather was hot in Dayton’s working class west side, but my efforts were not futile. I met a diverse group of people. Prior to my interaction, my night as a trainee was not going as planned, but the influence of my contacts, and their expressed need for change, strengthened my need to push on.
Along my journey I met a nurse who works with veterans. She refuses to leave veterans behind for a higher paying job in England. Her passion reminded me of why I was doing the job I was doing, and how important it is to press on for better health care. The next woman I met had watched me all down the street. She seemed tired as she shared her disgruntled feelings about health care, as she was a diabetic with no health insurance. My heart broke when she mentioned it. I am so proud to be a part of Working America. The TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW! The need for change is ever present! We are the change!
Tags: Health Care, taking action, veterans
by Kara Kukovich—Pennsylvania
I encountered a middle-aged man working in his yard while canvassing. After talking about jobs being lost in Pennsylvania, he asked me if I voted in the primary. Of course, my answer was an astounded, “Yes!” He said that he was a Vietnam veteran and that his son was sent to Iraq. He also said that the state of the country was the worst he had seen and that, especially for young people, things really needed to change. He said this primary was the first time in his life he had voted and he was 55 years old.
Tags: Jobs, veterans
by Adam Gazdalski—Pennsylvania
A veteran from the war in Vietnam brought to my attention the correlation between the treatment of soldiers back then and today. I became aware of the large volume of soldiers that come home from Iraq to face inadequate health care, debt, and life without a job. What an injustice to the people who serve our country! The man was eager to sign up as a member and also asked about volunteer opportunities.
Tags: Health Care, Jobs, membership, taking action, veterans
by D’Anthony Gildon—Missouri
I went to get support from a resident and he told me he served the country for 30 years in the Navy. He said, “Since you’re out here supporting our country I can support Working America.”
Tags: membership, veterans
by Matthew Gilmore—Missouri
I met a man in Gladstone, Missouri who told me about how he served in the U.S. Marine Corps but is now a teacher. He told me that he, his wife and daughter are all covered under his employer’s health insurance, but that if he lost the insurance only he would continue to be covered by the government. He was worried that if something happened his wife and daughter would go without.
Tags: Health Care, insurance, veterans
by Brian Bucher—Pennsylvania
I canvassed a Viet Nam veteran who was placed on disability. He had to choose between two health care plans, but he hadn’t been given explanations about the plans. He chose one that covered hospital care, but later found out that the plan he didn’t choose also covers emergency services and doctor’s visits. He cannot switch as the other plan costs too much.
He only receives $1,200.00 a month on disability, but just lost his Medicaid coverage because “he makes too much on disability.”
Tags: Health Care, veterans
