Summary
"When I'm driving past a construction site, do I see my skin color? Maybe three or four," said Rondale Williams, 35, a father of two who is enrolled in Pre2. "A lot of Blacks weren't interested in going into that kind of work. So I'm not knocking the unions. We shut ourselves out of a lot of things."
Williams vowed to complete the program but is frustrated by his now bleak prospects. "I went to school for this and I still can't get in?" Williams said. "Does that mean I'm going to be sitting on the sidelines again?""How are you going to continue to do these projects? They are either going to get fined or shut down," said Cheryl Freeman-Smith, director of workforce development for the Chicago Urban League. "We got federal support to get more Blacks into the union. That is the whole point of this Pre2 program. We're concerned because in an industry that has long had trouble meeting its requirements, closing the unions is going to compromise a lot of the work that's being done."[...] the inability of new workers to get jobs could wind up hurting contractors across the region if insufficient numbers of minorities and women are in the pipeline to meet government participation requirements. [...] with entry into the unions blocked, the students will need a Plan B. For African Americans and women, entry into the construction trade unions has historically been blocked by factors that have included racism, nepotism, and hostile work environments.See the full content of this document
Extract
Construction's Costly Decision
The closing of Chicago-area building trade union apprenticeship programs is a major setback for jobless adults enrolled in programs to help them get into the unions. But the inability of new workers to get jobs could wind u...
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