WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), issued the following statement in response to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) announcement that operations of the Job Corps program will be paused by June 30, 2025:
“As America’s largest transportation labor federation, we strongly urge the Trump Administration to reverse its decision to effectively shut down the Job Corps program. Across our 38 affiliated unions and the millions of members we represent, we see success stories every day of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs preparing workers for skilled trades careers.
“Job Corps offers more than 300 pre-apprenticeship programs by partnering with national training organizations, including labor unions. Commercial and industrial painters, drywall finishers, glazers, asphalt pavers, heavy equipment operators and mechanics, cement masons and plasterers, carpenters, passenger rail workers, airline ramp workers, airline ticket agents, and so on — these are but a handful of the many skilled careers that are possible through Job Corps education and training.
“For more than 50 years, the program has provided a successful pathway for young low-income Americans to hold good-paying, high-skilled careers in high-growth industries like transportation and construction. As the largest nationwide residential career training program, Job Corps has educated more than 2 million workers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
“The labor movement has always been dedicated to building a skilled, rigorously-trained workforce and to setting workers up for sustainable, lifelong careers. Termination of the Job Corps program is a detriment not only to its students, but also to the American workforce and the communities where Job Corps centers have become revenue generators.”
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