The Hill Opinion: The link between innovation and job creation, by Eric Dean
This post originally appeared in The Hill on January 21, 2016
As the general president of the Ironworkers union, representing 130,000 skilled craft workers in North America, one of my most important responsibilities is to help protect the jobs of highly skilled workers.
The men and women who are members of my union, Ironworkers International, have undergone rigorous apprenticeship training. They have dedicated long nights, days and weekends to hone their craft and earn the right to return to the job site the next day. The building trades are committed to equipping their members with cutting-edge skill sets to be the best. They have over 1600 training facilities located in every state in the U.S. and train thousands of members a year, using zero taxpayer dollars.