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WORKERS INDEPENDENT NEWS SPECIAL REPORT FROM WASHINGTON D.C. - HISTORIC HELMETS TO HARDHATS AGREEMENT BETWEEN TRADE UNIONS AND THE U.S. ARMY

By Doug Cunningham

[Music]

Trade unions signed an historic agreement with the U.S. Army Reserve and the National Guard Thursday in a military ceremony at the Pentagon here in Washington, D.C, expanding the Helmets to Hardhats program. The program transitions military veterans into construction industry jobs. Mark Ayers is President of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department.

[Ayers 1]: “It’s gonna present an extraordinary opportunities for all the military folks. And it’s an opportunity for us because these are the kind of people that we are seeking. They’re the best of the best in America as far as we’re concerned.”

Darrell Roberts is National Director of Helmets To Hardhats.

[Roberts]: “The benefits to the unions is two-fold – you get a great employee, a great union member who already understands brotherhood and they’re willing to get out there and work toward a common goal.”

Army Reserve Lt. General Jack Stultz calls this joint effort the Employer Partnership Initiative – and it includes National Guard veterans.

[Lt.Gen. Stultz]: “Helmets To Hardhats, which represents all the trade unions and the managers out there – and now a soldier looking out and seeing this happening can say, hey I can have a career in the military and a career in civilian life.”

National Guard Major General Ray Carpenter…

[Maj.Gen. Carpenter]: “Helmets to Hardhats represents all the trade unions and the managers out there. And now a soldier looking out and seeing this happening can say, hey, I can have a career in the military and a career in civilian life.”

Plumbers and Pipefitters International union President Bill Hite says many veterans have come to the plumbers through Helmets to Hardhats.

[Hite]: “It’s been a great program. We’ve taken in thousands of members though the program. And it’s great. It’s the right thing to do. They’re over there and the soldiers are in Iraq and Afghanistan and all over the globe protecting our freedom and it’s the least we could do to give back to them.”

Teamsters Central Region Vice President Patrick Flynn says this program provides real help to veterans looking to get to work in the union trades.

[Flynn]: “We have job fairs where we’ll pull forty, fifty, sixty employers together at one time – and a veteran can actually apply at forty or fifty or sixty different jobs the same day.”

Mick Yauger is president of Teamsters Local 786 in Chicago.

[Yauger]: “The Helmets To Hardhats program – what it means to me – is that for the first time in history, in America’s history, our military is teaming up with our labor officials and our unions to try and find gainful employment positions for these young returning men and women. The unemployment rate for veterans right now is 17,4 percent. This is a good way for us to attack the issue and solve the problem.”

As the military band closed out the Helmets to Hardhats signing ceremony union leaders left knowing they’ve reach a new milestone in their efforts to help America’s veterans.