Posted on 05/22/2025 1:37:35 PM PDT by DFG
WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Breitbart News exclusively in her office at the U.S. Department of Labor here in Washington last week that she is working tirelessly to execute President Donald Trump’s order to expand the number of apprenticeships in America to at least a million.
“A million apprentices is what the president is asking for,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “We have about somewhere between 680,000 and 700,000 at a time. We just saw 83,000 come online since Jan. 20. We had the International Firefighters here for their very first apprenticeship day that we celebrated and said, ‘We need that workforce in the firefighting system,’ whether it’s wildland firefighters out west or in the east, every single day, how do we fulfill that goal? The only way I can do that is if I’m on the ground asking: ‘Is it working for you?’ Everybody that I’m talking to has said the tariffs and the talks, they’re working for us. So, this job doesn’t seem that hard when he’s leading the way only because he’s laying down all the groundwork for us to come in right behind him and it’s kind of like a vertically integrated team. He’s put together a formidable team to do the job. Somebody like myself can bring trade talks to the table but then say, ‘How’s this working for unions, how’s this working for business owners, and how can I assist you in the compliance of what we’re going to do so we can get to a yes and they can fulfill their goals as well?’”
Of course, Trump was, before his time in politics, the host of the hit show “The Apprentice” on NBC–so this vision from the president for an expansion of apprenticeships in the United States is right up his alley.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“How’s this working for unions”
Sounds like the administration is trying to steal the opposition’s base, or at least its old base from the 70s and 80s.
This is the way. College may be a decent choice for a very small set of professions, but almost everyone really ought to start On The Job training at 18. Avoid the debt, start getting some kind of paycheck. Start picking up skills. Learn about the real world. I’d like to see the College enrollment drop by about 90%.
Unionized employee giveaway. But I’m a cynic.
We don’t need government help to have apprenticeships. If the gov would simply stay out of it there would plenty of training. Where you gong to find a million numerate, literate, drug free, willing to take nasty jobs apprentices. My plumber couldn’t keep his son in the business despite $100k per year. The kid wanted time off, benefits, and lack of stress. He took a factory job as a machine operator.
But then again extend this to most of the bullcrap credentially like doctors, dentists, accountants, etc. Otnwould be good.
Trump’s union hack Sec of Labor “ Somebody like myself can bring trade talks to the table but then say, ‘How’s this working for unions, how’s this working for business owners, and how can I assist you in the compliance of what we’re going to do so we can get to a yes and they can fulfill their goals as well?’”
Yep. Union first. Now flow the grift err money.
Are we going to be able to accommodate jobs for that many robot mechanics?
You’re probably right. Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) has done a great job in his apprenticeship scholarships...He said last year he had over a million dollars for scholarships and was encouraging signups..he’s been on with Chris Cuomo on News Nation with guys who have gone through auto mechanics making 7 figures annually. Chris said his own son had gone through his program but I don’t remember WHICH one...
90% may be bit much. But a 50% reduction would be good. AND a 50% reduction in the number of colleges.
My sister taught math for 45 years. She saw the incessant demand that EVERYBODY go to college. Her schools, under government pressure, put every kid on a college track no matter how flat-out stupid they were. Of course, that meant grade inflation and “social promotion.” Then, when those stupid kids got to college, they couldn’t hack it. They either dropped out or took a year of basic remedial classes. The whole system is stupid beyond belief.
It wasn’t that way when my sister started teaching in the mid 70s.
There are no stupid electricians. The personal safety risk is too high.
She’s hitting on all cylinders!
Back in the day, companies would actually hire you and THEN train you and you didn’t have to have a degree. Now, most positions require a 4 year degree or even a specialized degree - these companies expect you to spend 100K getting pre-trained in college before you get the job. They’ve shifted the training costs from the company to the worker. Just like they shifted retirement costs from the company to the worker when they cut out pensions.
Something we’ve lost as a society is the sense of brotherhood. The free market worshippers and free traitors screwed over their fellow countrymen for ‘muh corporation’ and ‘muh free trade’ all to make a buck. It’s caused a breakdown in societal cohesion. Then of course there’s outsourcing to replace their countrymen and ‘insourcing’ to also replace their fellow countrymen with foreigners to artificially shrink wages. These neoCON free traitor scum will cry “muh free markets!” but they have zero problem artificially inflating the supply of labor with H1Bs, foreigners, outsourcing, etc. It’s not free markets when Americans have to pay 50% of their wages in taxes and illegals and foreigners don’t. It’s just screwing over you own brother - it’s an abomination. Thank God Trump has taken the Republican party back from the Bush family and the neoCON scum like Paul Ryan and Mitthead Romney that were screwing everyone over - all for “muh corporation!”
Robots still throw tantrums when they at being hung up for storage right now. Maybe they with take up some service related jobs in 10 years. I suspect they will be an expensive additional piece of equipment for jobs up until the tech is way cheaper and more ubiquitous.
As one who once upon a time was “Free Trade and Free Markets Uber Alles”, today I find myself in 100% agreement with what you wrote.
We truly are resembling the world of “Rollerball”.....”Ladies and Gentlemen, Our Corporate Anthem”
You don’t believe your plumbers story do you?
You have never tried hiring and keeping tradespeopleor factory workers. Let alone run a small business.
I agree. See these links on H-1Bs and the lack of action by Pres. Trump :
https://instituteforsoundpublicpolicy.org/?na=v&nk=1053-5347f621bd&id=238
https://rumble.com/v6tfful-412226301.html
If you google what is the average wage for plumber you will learn the truth.
Father and son did a job for me. The son will do occasional work on the side now so long as he is paid cash. He wanted no part of full time unless he had benefits and time off. And a straight 40 hours.
Google says $55-75k for plumbers. Think a million young people want that? Thats less than the gov freebie benefits.
If you own your own plumbing business then there is a lot more but only if you can and want to run a business as well as be a plumber. I think the kid was not wanting to mess with the business side.
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