Local Jobs for Local Workers

Once a week for the past several months there are these guys protesting across the street from my office with signs that read "Local Jobs for Local Workers." As I pass them on my way home I sort of wondered what they were protesting, thinking it was probably related to jobs going to other countries. Last week they were handing out flyers describing their plight. Apparently, they are upset because an electric generating plant on the outskirts of our community is being built using cheaper labor from Southern States (e.g. Louisiana and Texas) rather than the more expensive local workers.

As I sorted through this the bottom line I came up with is...You want me/all of us to pay more money for electric so that you can have a short term construction opportunity. Part of me wants to stop and ask what I am getting for my extra money. How much more will I be asked to pay?
Isn't this opposite of a free market?

Part of their argument was that this company says that part of their mission is to invest money back into the local communities, which it does through its foundation and various charities. If it costs more to build and maintain facilities doesn't that mean less money to invest back?

How do you tell these workers that their job and the skills that provide have been made a commodity? If they cannot compete on price, then they need to find a value-add that makes them better, or a place in the process where they can add value. Easier said than done, especially for jobs like construction.

What steps as a society do we need to take to retrain these types of workers to give them the skills they need to find a place? This has serious implications for our children, and the generations on the rise.

Solving the education issues and providing these opportunities are the issues that are the National Crisis, not Social Security.

Catching up....

First things first, I must apologize for taking so long between posts, between vacation, building a house and the hot dog days of summer I have not had the opportunity to write.

During my brief hiatus I have been reading and thinking alot more about globalization. I have read Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat." Another new source is a recently started blog by Steve Weber, a professor at UC Berkley. Combine that with the CNOOC bid for Unocal and all the political rumblings that have followed, plus the cry for the revaluation of the Chinese yuan and Beijing's response. The result: Tylenol + 42.

"Globalization" seems like the newest buzz word, and something you hear Alan Greenspan talk about on Capitol Hill. But I for one can tell you globalization slaps me in the face day by day:

• The Mexicans who have framed, bricked and drywalled my house.
• My Inidan friends who came here as part of an outsourcing project and to whom I chat with over Yahoo Messenger whether they are around the street or back in Hyderabad.
• The low 5.875% rate I am getting on my mortgage, made low as a result of the trade deficit with China and the US Treasuries they are buying.
• The Vietnamese women who do my fiancee's nails.
• The smell of curry that wafts in the hallway of our apartment (until the house is done), and the numerous foreign born tech contractors that live in our apartment complex.

While it is easy to talk of "globalization" in the abstract and whether we should have this policy or that policy, it takes on a whole other dimension when it is staring back at you. From the people I have met that are tying to make a better life for their families, to the higher/lower cost I would pay for my house and my mortgage.

Our society has many things to deal with including what I am going to label the "Britney Spears" effect. All you need to do is watch"Cribs" on MTV, one episode of "American Idol", or see the people looking to make a quick buck somewhere to realize that our work ethic and mindset are warped. Today's column in the NY Times by Nicholas Kristof, among other things, shows how misguided our values are in relation to the world and entertainment. Kristof notes that while virtually no attention has been given to the genocide in the Sudan, and news organizations say how expensive it is, an anchor at ABC can fly to Africa just to interview Brad Pitt.

Why is it the jobs most kids aspire to do when they are young are the least valuable to society? I would propose that if you asked kids in the US vs kids in India/China what they want to do when they grow up, the US kids are going to be more favored to the "glamourous" entertainment jobs, vs the value added, society advancing science, math, and tech jobs the Indian and Chinese kids would choose.

Look no further than the US Congress this past week....What are our leaders worried about in Washington and crying for reform over????

Not Education......but Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas