Three different speakers presented various scenarios to the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO Executive Board that could benefit workers and help their individual unions.
Michael Stotz, president of the AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation (ITC), returned on February 18 to update the board on the progress union investments have made in providing jobs while providing better returns to pension funds than can be found in many mutual funds or banks. He noted the ITC has more than $10 billion in total assets.
“My goal is to ensure that union dollars, when invested, create union jobs,” he said to applause.
The next day, Jane McDonald (assistant to the AFL-CIO president) and Daniel Marshall (executive director of the Working for America Institute) informed the board of various federal programs and grants to assist apprenticeship programs.
“The bottom line is, we want to make sure the Department of Labor understands that apprenticeship programs work best when they are carried out through labor-management partnerships and are directly linked to a job,” McDonald told the gathering.
Many MTD affiliates work with the ITC and have apprenticeship programs across the country.