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Oppose H.R. 27 to save Employment Services,
preserve key programs; Urge your representatives to vote "no"
March 2
Feb. 28, 2005
- With the lead of Representative John Boehner (OH-8), H.R. 27 was approved
along party lines last week in the full Education and the Workforce committee.
The House of Representatives is anticipated to vote the afternoon
of Wednesday, March 2, on the Job Training Improvement Act of
2005 (H.R. 27), which continues the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) with
some changes.
This bill is a radical and partisan departure
from previous job training policy that could affect tens of thousands
of AFSCME member jobs and the services they provide across the nation.
We need to keep the pressure on. Here's
what you can do to take action now:
- EMAIL Regardless
of your agency of employment, union members and their families are urged
to use the OCSEA's E-Action
Center to email our legislators and tell them to help
Ohio's economy and retain the funding to employment services.
TAKE
ACTION NOW
- PHONE
Dial the capitol switchboard toll free 1-888-355-3588,
ask to be connected to your U.S.
House Representative, and tell him/her that he/she has an obligation
to make sure Ohio's economy is as healthy as it can be. Tell
him/her reducing funding to employment services will only hurt Ohio's
economic recovery.
H.R. 27 transforms the original local one-stop
idea of a better-coordinated workforce system into a means to block
grant, cut and privatize key state programs. Specifically, the
legislation would do the following:
- End the employment service by combining
(or “block granting”) it with the adult and dislocated worker
training programs under WIA and sending most of the funds to local one-stop
centers, which business-dominated boards govern and private companies
can operate.
- Promote privatization and
destabilizes other programs
- Governors must transfer to local one-stop operations
some portion of funds from all WIA “partner programs”,
including unemployment insurance, trade adjustment assistance, vocational
rehabilitation, TANF and veterans employment programs run by state
agencies.
- Other social programs (such as child support
enforcement and assistance to the individuals with disabilities
provided by state Medicaid agencies) can be added to the WIA one-stop
system as “partner programs” and, if added, would have
to contribute funds to local one-stop operations.
- Repeal longstanding civil rights protections
in order to allow direct government funding of job training providers
who engage in religious based hiring discrimination.
As if this were not enough, the Bush administration
is trying to convince Congress to change H.R. 27 to allow the
Governors to add five other WIA “partner programs”
to the core WIA block grant under a so-called “WIA Plus” plan.
These programs include Trade Adjustment Assistance, Vocational Rehabilitation,
Adult Education, Veterans Employment and Training programs and Food Stamps
Employment and Training programs. Under “WIA Plus” Governors
could by pass public administration requirements where they exist.
All OCSEA members, particularly those in ODJFS,
are urged to contact Ohio committee members, emphasizing
that proposed cuts to federal funding for state employment services would
be devastating to Ohio's economy. Our unemployment is currently
at 5.9 percent and the state's economic recovery is still not
healthy.
See Related
Ohio's employment services funding
at risk; Urge legislators to remove harmful H.R. 27 provision (Feb.
8, 2005)
The
House Committee on Education and the Workforce
AFSCME PEOPLE Cash In Contest
pumps up union's political muscle
OCSEA
E-Action Center - Send your legislator an email now
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