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Archive for May, 2008

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Union Apprenticeships Are More Successful Than Other Programs

Union apprenticeships provide more skilled workers and are more successful at recruiting women and ethnic minorities to the building trades in Massachusetts, a study by the Labor Resource Center at the University of Massachusetts-Boston has found.

The full study, being released Wednesday by the resource center, is based on a comparison of union and nonunion apprenticeship programs registered with the state Division of Apprenticeship from 1997 to 2007.

“We spend over $28 million a year in recruiting and training the best qualified craftspeople in the construction industry, and the results of this study demonstrate that the investment is paying off,” said Frank Callahan, president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, in a statement.

• Apprentices in union programs go on to journeyperson status at higher rates — 81 percent (6,142 workers), compared to 19 percent (1,419) in nonunion programs.

The Coming Crisis

The issue is not simply a concern that we will have to pay outrageous prices for a gallon of gas. If that were the worst of it, the situation would be difficult but manageable.

The reality, however, goes deeper and is much more troubling. There are multiple problems affecting the world that are having a decidedly negative net effect: a global rise in demand for crude oil, the plateau in the production of crude oil (which may indicate the peak has already been reached) and continued global population growth.

Together, these three factors are serving to shove the world into a crisis that has ominous possibilities.

As Oil Concerns Mount Profits Roll In

Against the backdrop of consumer protests and rising tensions, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP), two of the world’s largest oil producers, announced record profits for their first-quarter earnings this past Tuesday.

With oil currently priced at an unprecedented $120/barrel, the announcements underscored the clear division between consumer concerns and what many activists and environmentalists perceive as corporate exploitation.

While company executives were no doubt basking in the good news, commercial truckers in both the U.S. and Europe staged vehement demonstrations, bringing traffic to a halt in some cities. Given the strife, BP’s 63% profit growth seems obscene, not to mention unlikely to hasten the move to clean and sustainable alternatives, and considerable handouts in the form of government subsidies further abet this inequity.

According to the Center for American Progress, the big five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobile, and Royal Dutch Shell – received $1.3 billion in tax breaks last year despite $123 billion in profits.