Council Senior Fellow Amy Kaslow Speaks at National Labor and Management Conference

Council Senior Fellow and national workforce expert Amy Kaslow addressed public and private sector leaders from the labor, business, and education communities today at the National Labor and Management Conference in Miami, Florida.

Kaslow outlined the principal challenges the United States must overcome to significantly broaden and deepen its manufacturing base. "Talent is at the core of that capability," Kaslow said. "We need to look at career and technical education from a local perspective."

Both private and public sector employers should do environmental scans of their respective employees to determine their demographics, their skills and education bases, and their absorptive capacities to re-tool given the changing demands of the workplace. Anticipating what they need to be top performers, these leaders must work with local middle schools and high schools, community colleges, and universities as well as with workforce investment/economic development agencies, unions, and training organizations with successful track records (especially unions) to cultivate interest, design experiential curricula, and draw in a pipeline of talent.

Kaslow later shared a panel with The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Treasurer Mark McManus, who scoped out opportunities to grow manufacturing and highlighted the Union's highly effective training programs – which are the largest of their type nationwide.

United Association President and Council Labor Vice Chair William Hite hosted the first of many on-the-ground, cross-country visits for leaders of the Council's U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative at the Union's training facility in Mokena, Illinois.

To learn more about the conference, please click here.