Tri-City Building & Construction Trades Council

Salena Zito: The 'unspeakable stupidity' of devaluing work

A few months ago, Mike Rowe stumbled on a 2011 video of himself speaking in front of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee during the Obama administration about the mindset of government toward skilled trades. His argument was that skilled trades were the key to saving our economy, not those jobs that require a four-year degree.
His argument fell on deaf ears.
So he went again in April 2014, this time testifying before the House Committee on Natural Resources to discuss the opportunities for skilled trade workers in the energy industry. This time he brought props, specifically the poster his guidance counselor from high school pointed to when he tried to bully Rowe into picking a high-priced university over a community college his senior year.
Rowe said he had nothing against college, but the universities his counselor recommended were expensive. "I had no idea what I wanted to study. I thought a community college made more sense, but Dunbar said a two-year school was 'beneath my potential,'" Rowe explained.
"Mr. Dunbar pointed to a poster hanging behind his desk," Rowe told the committee. "On one side of the poster was a beaten-down, depressed-looking blue-collar worker. On the other side was an optimistic college graduate with his eyes on the horizon. Underneath them, the text read: Work Smart NOT Hard."
"Mike, look at these two guys," Mr. Dunbar said. "Which one do you want to be?"
"I had to read the caption twice. Work Smart NOT Hard?" Rowe recounted.
The visual was jarring, not to mention insulting, yet once again, nothing happened.
Rowe made his final plea to Congress in March 2017 when he once again schlepped to Capitol Hill, this time for the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. He discussed how Career and Technical Education can help close the skills gap and empower students to succeed, and he stressed the need to change current law.
His message was simple: Career and technical education, and skilled trade professions, need a PR makeover and a champion. "If you want to make America great again, you've got to make work cool again," he said.
"So, my point to Congress was we just have to get people to think differently about the definition of a good job. And we need to put better examples of real people out there who are prospering as the result of learning a trade," he said.
"We just shot seven or eight PSAs a couple months ago with people who we helped through the trade scholarship fund at the foundation -- HVAC workers, plumbers, welders, all making six figures," he said. "And I am going to put these PSAs out there in the same spirit of those ads that made people think differently about conservation, and we are going to make people think differently about work."
The spots are pitch perfect. The first one with Chloe Hudson begins with Rowe dispelling the notion that you cannot make six figures working with your hands.
It then cuts to Hudson, a welder who received a work ethic scholarship from Mike Rowe WORKS and went on to earn six figures a year, talking about the beauty of her life.
"I'm going to raise whatever I have to, I'm going to spend whatever I have to get these examples front and center. So that's what I've got. In a way, it's nothing new. In another way, it's me finally saying, 'Look, this was a good idea 10 years ago, and why not me?' I'll do it. I'm going to do it," Rowe says with his characteristic charm that has endeared him to millions for more than 20 years.
Rowe said people really need to acknowledge the "unspeakable stupidity" of taking shop classes out of high schools 40 years ago. "The unintended consequences of that alone have been unraveling in ways that's just mind-boggling. We effectively removed from view an entire category of vocations," he said.
"In the long history of stupidity, you'd have to go a long way to find something dumber than universally removing shop class from high school. But of course, at the same time we did that, we started telling that same generation of kids that the best path for the most people was the most expensive path," he said of the idea that higher education is the only path to success.
Which brings Rowe to wonder: Were they intentionally telling students who went into trades that they were achieving lower education?
It should make us wonder as well: Who did these decision-makers think was going to take care of their plumbing, fix their car, install their air conditioning, repair their furnace or rewire their house?
Rowe said he knows he is not going to open the eyes of the varsity blues crowd. "I can't. They're not persuadable. But there are a lot of people in the middle, a lot of people that just want to feel better about the possibility of exploring a career. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take my own advice. I'm going to stop telling Congress what to do, and I'm going to do it myself," he said.

Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner and CNN political analyst.

Salena Zito: The 'unspeakable stupidity' of devaluing work A few months ago, Mike Rowe stumbled on a 2011 video of himself speaking in front of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee during the Obama administration about the

Riverdale School District broke ground Friday on a new addition and renovation project at its elementary school.

NEWS: Today, NABTU released the findings of a landmark research study that finds that union construction apprenticeships and workplaces are increasing diversity across the construction industry.

Read the full study here: https://bit.ly/3CYry23

Construction Career Expo at Rock Island High School Gym - Wednesday, April 12th 2023 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

CONSTRUCTION TRADES CAREER EXPO
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12TH, 2023
3:30 – 5:00 PM
ROCK ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL GYM
1400 25th AVENUE, ROCK ISLAND

Representatives of the Tri-City Building & Construction Trades Council Apprenticeship Programs & area contractors will be on hand to discuss their apprenticeships and opportunities about careers in the construction trades.

• Bricklayers Local 6
• Carpenters Local 4
• Electrical Workers Local 145
• Glaziers Local 581
• Heat & Frost Insulators Local 81
• Ironworkers Local 111
• Millwrights Local 2158
• Operating Engineers Local 150
• Painters Local 1178
• Plasterers & Cement Masons Local 18
• Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 25 & Sprinkler Fitters Local 669
• Roofers Local 32
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 91
• Black Hawk College Highway Construction Careers Training Program

Changes for Quad-City construction union leadership Steven P. Tondi and Alan Anderson have retired after a combined 72 years of service.

PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS WILL HARM IOWA PUBLIC SCHOOLS – CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE - JANUARY 2023

Vouchers will harm public schools Once, Iowans were proud of “the education state.” Our K-12 schools ranked near the top of the nation. Since early statehood, in the 1850s, Iowans built schoolhouses and hired teachers to ensure their children had a better education than they had. We valued teachers and our high school graduates ranked high in ACT/SAT testing, a predictor of academic success. Sadly, K-12 education has been under attack for the past decade as the Legislature curtailed funding growth for schools and we rank number 24. Now, public schools face fresh attacks by the Legislature, unless everyone who supports public education speaks up to say “Enough is enough!”

In 2021 and 2022, the governor’s voucher plan, providing “scholarships” to K-12 students to attend private institutions, failed to pass. Much of the opposition came from members of her own party who feared that vouchers would further degrade the K-12 schools in their rural districts. With about two-thirds of Iowa’s mostly rural counties losing population, more small towns have lost their schools.

Despite this well-founded concern, the governor chose to “primary” members of her own party with representatives who would support her voucher plan. The governor’s proposal provides $5,360 vouchers to each student leaving a public school for a private school. With a cap of 10,000 for the first year, about $55 million would be siphoned away from the public K-12 budgets, serving only 2 percent of our children.

Imagine the consequences for Keokuk County, which lost population in every Census since 1900 and now has only three districts with about 600 students each. There are no private schools. If state subsidies for education are reduced, Keokuk's districts may be required to combine, which means long bus rides for our students and higher costs for transportation. And as towns lose their schools, they lose population.

The Iowa Senate is about to fast track the governor’s voucher proposal to the Iowa House. If they succeed in pushing the governor’s scheme through the legislature, the limit of 10,000 students will be just the start. We can’t afford to allow this to happen. More money for private schools starves public schools.

Ohio started a similar program with a limit of only 3,000 vouchers. The most recent numbers show 69,000 vouchers awarded, with a total of $600 million taken from public school budgets. Likewise, we could see a voucher plan expand, causing public school funding to dwindle. With 42 of our counties lacking private school access, their students' options would be limited to the underfunded public schools or the online K-12 school. Parents, be advised: nothing is free. Public schools rely on public funding.

The LWV of BHB opposes vouchers. We believe public schools are underfunded and vouchers will make matters worse. If you agree that quality K-12 education is important, please contact your legislators and urge them to oppose the governor’s voucher plan. We can do better for our children and grandchildren

Cherie Dargan is president of the League of Women Voters Black Hawk/Bremer counties.

Courtyard by Marriott coming to Bettendorf next winter The Frontier Hospitality Group will be opening a Courtyard by Marriott at 907 Utica Ridge Road, which is the former site of Jumer's Castle Lodge.

2022 ELECTION ENDORSEMENT LIST
NOVEMBER 8, 2022
TRI-CITY BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL

FEDERAL ELECTIONS
U.S. Senate (IL) Tammy Duckworth
U.S. Senate (IA) Mike Franken
Congress 17th District (IL) Eric Sorensen
Congress 1st District (IA) Christina Bohannan
Congress 2nd District (IA) Liz Mathis

ILLINOIS STATE OFFICES
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza
Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs
Illinois Senate District 36 Mike Halpin
Illinois Senate District 47 Neil Anderson
Illinois House District 71 Chris Demink
Illinois House District 72 Gregg Johnson

IOWA STATE OFFICES
Iowa Governor Diedre Dejear
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller
Iowa Secretary of State Joel Miller
Iowa Auditor Rob Sands
Iowa Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture John Norwood
Iowa Senate District 35 Jed Ganzer
Iowa Senate District 41 Deb Vandergaast
Iowa Senate District 47 Mary Kathleen Figaro
Iowa Senate District 49 Cindy Winkler
Iowa House District 69 Jenny Hansen
Iowa House District 70 Kay Pence
Iowa House District 81 Craig Lynn Cooper
Iowa House District 94 Phyllis Thede
Iowa House District 97 Ken Croken
Iowa House District 98 Monica Kurth

ROCK ISLAND COUNTY OFFICES:
Rock Island County Sheriff Darren Hart
Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney
Rock Island County Treasurer Nick Camlin
Rock Island County Superintendent Tammy Muerhoff
County Board District 1 Rich Morthland
County Board District 2 Melissa Moreno
County Board District 3 Larry Burns
County Board District 4 Luis Moreno
County Board District 5 Brain Vyncke
County Board District 6 Porter McNeil
County Board District 7 Carla Enburg
County Board District 8 Drue Mielke
County Board District 9 David Adams
County Board District 10 Richard Brunk
County Board District 11 Tim Foster
County Board District 12 Edna Sowards
County Board District 13 Bob Perkins
County Board District 14 Enyo Dewith
County Board District 15 Kai Swanson
County Board District 16 Michael Luckey
County Board District 17 Johnnie Woods
County Board District 18 Chuck Layer
County Board District 19 Herb Schultz

ILLINOIS JUDGES
14th District Circuit Judge Norma Kaularich

SCOTT COUNTY IOWA
Scott County Board Supervisor Brinson Kinzer, Jazmin Newton , Joseph Miller
Scott County Attorney Caleb Copley
Scott County Auditor Ashley Schimanski
Scott County Recorder Rita Vargas

MUSCATINE COUNTY IOWA
Muscatine County Board Supervisor Diana Broderson
District #1

KNOX COUNTY
Knox County Sheriff James Robertson
Knox County Treasurer Robin Davis
Knox County Board Pamela Davidson

ILLINOIS JUDGES
9th District Circuit Judge David Hansen
Knox County