Getting Detroit Back to Work

[dcsmart]

A worker makes electrical generators for small wind turbines at a former auto parts plant in Manistee, Michigan. Former auto workers are among the plant’s workforce. Photo: Jim West/jimwestphoto.com

As GM and Chrysler’s retrenching deepens, the two companies have announced that together they will shutter 24 plants. Rank-and-file job losses will likely total in the tens of thousands.

Bill Parker, who heads the local union at a Detroit-area Chrysler plant, wonders why the administration’s restructuring plan will empty auto factories and disperse thousands of skilled workers in the Midwest who’ve spent a lifetime shaping metal into useful things.

Why not retain workers who already know how to manufacture complex machines, Parker says, and make use of exhausted auto factories, rather than letting them crumble?

The government, already doling out $500 million this year to train workers for “green jobs,” could save wads of cash.

He points out that achieving the carbon emission reductions President Obama wants will require billions of dollars invested in green energy, including building those wind turbines that swooped through so many of his campaign ads. A Department of Energy report says producing one-fifth of the nation’s electricity from wind could support 3 million jobs in the United States—and would require a $500 billion investment.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://labornotes.org/node/2252

[madrchsod]

1. the chinese or indians will sell the same thing cheaper...

until there are trade policies in place to protect the "new green" jobs these guys are training for nothing. i`ve gone through 40 some years of watching my trade sold to taiwan,south korea,china,and india. the same thing will happen to them.