Biden puts in an executive order to socialize the apprenticeships of working Americans

How do those in the working class see it?

The Biden Labor Department proposes unreasonable rules on apprenticeship.

The Associated Builders and Contractors published their take on Biden’s latest veer towwards socialism: requiring employers of apprentices to provide full benefits (health insurance, life insurance, vacation, and any other benefits provided to full-time employees) to apprentices and to document their DEI initiatives.

On Jan. 17, 2024, the Federal Register published the controversial 626-page U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule that would make significant revisions to the National Apprenticeship System that will affect ABC members, chapters, apprentices and other industry stakeholders participating in government-registered apprenticeship programs.

On Jan. 30, 2024, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET, ABC offered a members-only webinar on the proposed rule regarding the problematic and beneficial provisions of the rule and how to best participate in regulatory and advocacy efforts to help improve this extensive regulation. Watch the archived webinar on ABC’s Academy, which is available to ABC members in management positions and chapter staff. To obtain login information, ABC members should fill out the online Academy Login Request Form.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration abruptly cancelled its Jan. 11 webinar summarizing the proposed rule. The webinar has been rescheduled for Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. ET.

The deadline for public comments on the DOL proposal is March 18, 60 days after the proposal was published in the Federal Register. ABC submitted a request to extend the deadline by 30 days.

DOL Proposal Widely Criticized

On Dec. 18, ABC issued a press release in response to the ABC-opposed proposal, which the DOL published a preliminary version of on Dec. 14:

ABC supports government-registered apprenticeship programs and offers more than 450 such education programs across the country as part of its all-of-the-above approach to meet the workforce needs of the construction industry,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “ABC is thoroughly reviewing the Biden DOL’s overreaching, 779-page proposal and is concerned that aspects of the proposed rule will limit the number of apprentices and employers participating in GRAPs.

Already, the government-registered apprenticeship system is woefully inadequate in meeting the workforce needs of the construction industry,” said Brubeck. “Recent data suggests that it would take 12 years for the current broken GRAP system to educate the more than half a million workers needed by the construction industry in 2023 alone. Additional unclear and onerous requirements in the DOL proposal are likely to exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage.

The misguided proposal will discourage employer participation in the GRAP system by adding more bureaucracy and paperwork requirements while also eliminating flexible competency-based approaches to workforce development that benefit apprentices and employers,” said Brubeck. “As currently written, the Biden’s proposal threatens to undermine significant investments recently made by taxpayers in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing projects procured by government and private owners.

The Biden DOL’s proposed rule was also panned by both the chairwoman of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and the ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee Bill Cassidy, R-La.

Rep. Foxx’s statement derided the new rule, stating, “If the goal was to make an already dysfunctional registered apprenticeship system less workable and relevant to the needs of workers and employers, this proposed rule appears likely to succeed.”

Sen. Cassidy’s statement criticized the rule’s circumvention of Congress, seeking to implement a new regulation “395 times longer than the legislation it is supposedly interpreting.” According to Cassidy’s statement:

The regulations would inject political ideology into the National Apprenticeship System, including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. The rule would allow DOL to dissolve the apprenticeship programs of employers accused by labor unions of misconduct without a requirement that the charges are verified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This would empower unions to intimidate and coerce employers with baseless accusations. It would also give unions veto authority over new apprenticeship programs, limiting job training opportunities for American workers. This comes at a time when workforce shortages continue and the labor force participation rate remains well below pre-COVID levels.

Additionally, the rule gives the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship and State Apprenticeship Agencies enforcement authority over labor disputes, a role already performed by the NLRB. Ultimately, the proposed regulation applies more bureaucracy to a system in need of flexibility when responding to pressing workforce needs.

The Biden proposal was also roasted in a Wall Street Journal editorial (Biden to Apprentices, You’re Fired, Dec. 18):

DOL’s manifest goal is to limit non-union programs that don’t result in more union jobs. The rule would let the department dissolve programs accused by unions of misconduct or found to be non-compliant with minor government regulations and DEI benchmarks.

One result of DOL’s regulations will be fewer job-training opportunities for minorities. The rule will also undercut the Administration’s industrial policy and climate agenda. The Inflation Reduction Act’s myriad green energy tax credits require employers to utilize apprentices from government-approved programs. Good luck finding them.

President Biden’s message to non-union apprentices: You’re fired.

(Read more at the Associated Builders and Contractors)

So, from the working force point of view, they know that Biden opposes their existence

They know that Joe wants to kill the oil industry, the industries supporting or using the internal-combustion engine, and all of the companies that support those enterprises.

Therefore, they know to watch Joe’s moves and oppose the actions that will further cripple their way of life.

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What do the unions of federal employess say about this executive order that forces Main Street to abide by their socialist rules?

Biden order expands federal apprenticeships, reestablishes labor-management forums

Government Executive gives the view of the unionized federal employees concerning this expansion of federal authority.

President Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order aimed at expanding federal agencies’ use of apprenticeship programs to attract and develop young federal workers, as well as reinstating agency labor-management forums that have largely sat dormant since 2017.

White House officials said the measure, entitled Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums, dovetails with the recent push by presidents of both parties to shift how federal agencies evaluate job candidates from a largely based on educational attainment to one that emphasizes applicants’ relevant skills and work experience.

At an event in Madison, Wisc., Wednesday, Vice President Harris touted registered apprenticeship programs as a valuable way for young people to prepare them for good-paying careers at a time when college affordability is at an all-time low, as well as a strong example of the positive outcomes that are possible when unions and employers collaborate.

“Apprentice programs for labor and union apprenticeship programs also pay their apprentices while they’re in the program, which means that people don’t have to worry about whether they have to borrow money in order to receive an education that is for the benefit of the community and its productivity,” she said. “I say all that to say that this is another example of, also, the partnership between our administration and unions, around the apprenticeship programs that they create for young people to enter a profession, enter a career that means a very high quality of life for themselves and their families.”

The order creates a new Registered Apprenticeship Interagency Working Group; led by officials from the Office of Management and Budget, the National Economic Council, Office of Personnel Management and the Labor Department; and tasks it with finding ways to incorporate apprenticeship programs at agencies.

The group also will make recommendations on how to promote the hiring and professional development of apprenticeship program graduates, as well as how such programs can help agencies recruit and retain employees with mission-critical skillsets.

(Read as much as you can stomach at the Government Executive)

Government employees have the highest salaries in the nation and are the hardest to fire. Therefore, a socialistic executive order finds great support among their ranks.

What did you expect? Biden has taken the bread and fish from the taxpayers and fed the federal unions. They are ready to make him king.

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How does one press outlet portray it?

Biden’s DEI mandates on employers fail American workers

Fox News lays out a defense of the business side of this total equation.

Andre Jones, a recent college grad, had been job hunting for months until he enrolled in an IT apprenticeship program that led to full certification and a thriving career. George Forest, an Army veteran, completed a diesel technician apprenticeship program that helped him transition from the military to civilian life. Allison Van Houten switched careers entirely because of an apprenticeship, leaving her job as a speech therapist to become a woodwork manufacturing specialist.

These are just a few of the dozens of apprenticeship success stories touted on the federal Apprenticeship USA website. Unfortunately, a new proposal by the Biden administration threatens to burden apprenticeship programs with red tape, extra costs, and more bureaucracy.

The Department of Labor quietly released a nearly 800-page proposal to regulate apprenticeships right before Christmas. Between the holidays and the busy start to the year, this proposal went largely overlooked by the public, though businesses, trade groups, state agencies and others have started to sound the alarm.

All signs indicate that the administration wants to finalize this rule quickly, despite its complexity — jeopardizing the success of apprenticeship programs and even their viability. Most tellingly, the labor secretaries and workforce development officers from Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Virginia banded together to outline their concern that this rule would stifle apprenticeship growth in their own states.

Apprenticeships can be a phenomenal way to connect workers with in-demand jobs and fill businesses’ workforce needs. They allow workers to get on-the-job experience and training while getting paid instead of spending years in school and foregoing a paycheck — or even taking on debt to find a job. For businesses, they generate a steady pipeline of talent who know the ropes of their industries inside and out.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s new proposal risks relegating apprenticeships to a last-resort option for businesses. Many pieces of the proposed rule are concerning, but three in particular represent some of the most problematic changes.

First, the proposed rule removes flexibility for businesses that run apprenticeship programs and imposes a one-size-fits-all structure. Today, businesses have three options when evaluating apprentices’ successful completion of their programs: a time-based approach, which requires the apprentice to complete a certain number of hours of training; a competency-based approach, which requires the apprentice to achieve certain skills; or a combination of the two.

This new rule removes the competency-based approach entirely and instead requires all apprentices to complete a minimum of 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and 144 hours of classroom instruction. This not only increases costs for businesses that can train apprentices in less time but also demoralizes talented workers who can achieve competency quickly.

Second, the rule requires that businesses provide apprentices with the same benefits as full-time employees, including paid leave, health care, retirement benefits and more. Essentially, businesses must provide the same benefits to apprentices as full-time employees without receiving the same caliber of work a full-time employee provides.

(Read at Fox News for the third point against the executive order)

It is odd that one executive order can do so much harm.

Furthermore, in an election year where Joe surely wants votes in Michigan — why does he implement a job-killing option like this?

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How does the left-leaning political machine portray it?

Biden issues executive order to expand federal apprenticeships

Politico tries to tell us that Joe has lifted the poor and oppressed in the working class who participate in apprenticeships.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order Wednesday pushing federal employers to expand and prioritize hiring workers through Registered Apprenticeship programs.

The Office of Personnel Management and the Labor Department are required under the order to prepare a report with ideas for expanding Registered Apprenticeship opportunities. The deadline for that report is in 180 days, at the beginning of September.

The order encourages federal agencies to give preference to projects that hire individuals through Registered Apprenticeship roles, which are often affiliated with labor unions. In some cases the administration advocates for incentives and requirements for contractors and grant recipients to hire apprentices.

Biden is also re-establishing labor-management forums for federal employees to give feedback within the government.

Those changes were recommended by the administration’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris. She is visiting Wisconsin today to meet with registered apprentices at a Metro Transit construction site and promote the changes under the executive order.

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And they wonder why we don’t believe them.

It is not as if finding the lies is not a continual action for those who read these outlets. If they would limit themselves to a lie per month or a lie per year among the daily articles published, it would be easier to give these publications a little grace. However, the constant stream of propaganda cannot be ignored.

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