The Blue-Collar Drought

SHRM ^ | February 2, 2019 | Dana Wilkie

[GuavaCheesePuff]

t age 13, Montez King took a machine shop class at a Baltimore high school that later landed him a job at what was formerly Teledyne Inc., earning $10 an hour. Back in 1991, that was pretty good money for a teen.

A few years later, King was earning $16 an hour as a full-time apprentice machinist, while Teledyne paid for him to attend community college two nights a week. At age 18, he had saved enough to buy his own home.

King credits that apprenticeship with giving him the opportunity to make a solid living. But he acknowledges that today, so few young adults in the U.S. are interested in so-called “blue-collar” jobs that there’s now a frightening shortage of workers who have traditionally been the economic foundation of this country—be they builders, welders, plumbers, pipe fitters, miners or mechanics.

[yesthatjallen]

Great idea, and I am not sure he has done that.

Of course it's a great idea. I thought of it.

If he wants prospects he should check schools to see if any of them still teach shop. He can ask the teacher if there is any kid who show promise and are gunho to learn and work. Also, try BOCES. I'm sure at least one person in every class has the aptitude to learn.

If he finds a good kid and he's a good boss willing to show the right kid with the right stuff he'll have a grateful and loyal employee for years.

Best of luck to your friend.

[Keyhopper]

Contractors get a break on insurance and workers compensation if they drug test. Funny thing is, I’m the one they send for drug testing. When I asked why, they told me I was the only one that would pass.

[Lurker]

“ Dumbya trusted the Rats, ”

I’ve become convinced he is one.

L

[Taxman]

Thank you for your advice. With school out now, my buddy ought to be able to find someone.

I’ll let you know what happens!

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Some of the local schools have deemphasized sending unprepared kids to college to flunk out - have started partnerships with industry and apprenticeship programs again.

One of the saddest things I’ve seen on TV was a shot of a local high school where mostly minority kids were being shown how to use basic carpentry tools. It was obvious that none of them had ever held a hammer or saw before in their lives. My dad taught me - but I’ll wager that most of these kids don’t have a dad that can teach them anything beyond jimmying a car door. I also had wood shop and metal shop in school.

[yesthatjallen]

True story.

I used to listen to a local black talk radio station. One guy in particular. Major chip on his shoulder about whitey.

He was always complaining when he drove past a construction site he didn't see any blacks.

So he brought on a man who ran a program to teach blacks construction trades.

The guy said every semester he had 15 students. By the end of the program he said he was lucky if 2 or 3 finished the program.

You can't teach people who don't want to learn.

[minnesota_bound]

Blue collar comedy tour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcQhnd-FHfo

[kearnyirish2]

That is why Kuwait fell in a day to Iraq; they expected their abused imported laborers to defend the country.

[kearnyirish2]

A lot of construction projects are required to hire x% of minority workers (roads and such); you see them standing in their spotless construction “costumes” in line waving traffic flags while the white and Hispanic men operate the machinery/do the work.

[Zhang Fei]

[True story.

I used to listen to a local black talk radio station. One guy in particular. Major chip on his shoulder about whitey.

He was always complaining when he drove past a construction site he didn’t see any blacks.

So he brought on a man who ran a program to teach blacks construction trades.

The guy said every semester he had 15 students. By the end of the program he said he was lucky if 2 or 3 finished the program.

You can’t teach people who don’t want to learn. ]

---

It may not be a question of desire. There are plenty of people who can’t hack it.

[Zhang Fei]

[That is why Kuwait fell in a day to Iraq; they expected their abused imported laborers to defend the country.]

---

That’s not why it fell. They thought, like Europeans, that their continued independence was due to their personal virtue. In reality, the only reason the Muslim countries in the region aren’t consolidated into 2 or 3 constantly warring empires (until only 1 remains) is Uncle Sam’s thumb on the scale. After Saddam, defense spending there skyrocketed. They began to understand not only that borders can change, but that Democrats can prevent Uncle Sam from riding to the rescue.

[kearnyirish2]

I personally knew a young Arab (non-Kuwaiti) who was beaten after the war for fleeing in Kuwait; he was some kind of manual laborer, and the Kuwaiti government expected their imported laborers to resist the Iraqi army.

[Zhang Fei]

[I personally knew a young Arab (non-Kuwaiti) who was beaten after the war for fleeing in Kuwait; he was some kind of manual laborer, and the Kuwaiti government expected their imported laborers to resist the Iraqi army.]

---

My guess? Palestinian. They are some of the least self-aware people on the planet. They have made multiple attempts at overthrowing the regimes that hosted them (Jordan, Lebanon). That’s why sympathy for Palestinians exists at the purely the-infidel-Jew-needs-to-die level rather than any particular genuine empathy for Palestinians as Palestinians.

[Zhang Fei]

Note also that that getting the help, domestic or imported, to defend the homestead is a longstanding tradition. A squire had almost no chance of being promoted to the equivalent of his liege lord’s position, but he risked his life in battle, anyway. Similar relationships exist around the world. Even in Kuwait, it’s suggested that thousands of Palestinians did just that, although the headline news was that Arafat endorsed Saddam’s invasion.

In total, 1,000 Kuwaitis were killed in combat and 7 months of occupation. That’s not a small number, out of the 500,000 native Kuwaitis. In % terms, it’s similar to the US death toll from WWII ops in Europe.

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait#Invasion
[Another crackdown occurred in January and February 1991. Iraqi forces publicly executed suspected members of the Kuwaiti resistance. Kuwaitis were kidnapped, their corpses later deposited in front of their family homes. The bodies of executed Kuwaiti resistance members showed evidence of different kinds of torture, including beating, electrical shocking, and fingernail removal.[43] Some 5,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait were arrested for their activities in support of the resistance, and Palestinian support was enough to cause Iraqi officials to threaten Palestinian leaders. Some Palestinians, however, supported Saddam’s regime because of sympathies with the Ba’ath party’s pugnacious anti-Israel stance. Palestinian members of the resistance sometimes disagreed with resistance tactics such as the boycott of government offices and commercial activity. The Kuwaiti resistance movement was suspicious of this Palestinian ambivalence, and in the weeks after Iraqi forces withdrew, the Kuwaiti government cracked down on Palestinians suspected of sympathizing with the Saddam regime.[50]]

[kearnyirish2]

I see a total of 420 being reported killed in the invasion.

They expected someone else to protect their monarchy (and we obliged).

[Zhang Fei]

[I see a total of 420 being reported killed in the invasion.

They expected someone else to protect their monarchy (and we obliged).]

---

420 out of 500K Kuwaitis is about 0.084%. The US population in 1941 was 140m. .084% is 118,000 troops. That’s almost half the number lost fighting Germany. Kuwait’s problem is that Iraq’s invasion force outnumbered them 4 to 1. And Kuwait is the size of New Jersey. The French had 40x the land area for making a fighting retreat, a German neighbor that was roughly comparable in terms of manpower and economic resources, a British ally with a significant expeditionary force on its soil and still lost 55,000 dead out of 40m, a similar proportion to Kuwait’s losses. Whereas Kuwait had 1/30 the manpower and a postage stamp-sized piece of real estate to defend, against every single one of its neighbors.

Note that 1,000 Kuwaitis were killed during the guerrilla warfare that arose during the Iraqi occupation. It makes no sense to fight your opponent head-on when he has overwhelming conventional superiority. Bushwhacking is the resort of the weak, and that’s what the Kuwaitis did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait#International_condemnation_and_Gulf_War

[kearnyirish2]

Kuwait has the same problem as Saudi Arabia - most natives are related to the royal family, very wealthy, and don’t do work set aside for “little people” (like fighting). American servicemen training with Saudi and Kuwaiti soldiers in exchange programs could describe it to you.