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TESTIMONY
OF ESPIRIDION
(AL) BORREGO ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT
AND TRAINING U.
S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Before
the SUBCOMMITTEE
ON BENEFITS COMMITTEE
ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS U.S.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September
27, 2000 Chairman
Quinn, Ranking Member Filner, and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank
you for the opportunity to again come before you to discuss the
Veterans’ Employment and Training Services’ (VETS) efforts related
to “Veterans’ Employment: Credentialing (Licensure, Certification,
Accreditation, and Apprenticeship) Requirements.” Technology
is changing every job in every sector of our economy. Within five years, half the workers in the United States will
be employed in industries that produce or extensively use high
technology. Consequently,
there will be a real need for workers having the skills and training
necessary to compete in the 21st century labor market.
As Secretary of Labor Herman often says,
with 13 million Americans in our untapped labor pool, we
don’t have a worker shortage; we have a skills shortage. Employers
increasingly require workers to demonstrate their skills through
certificate programs, licensing
requirements, and other less formal methods of evaluating
qualifications. Employment and training programs must ensure that
workers, including veterans and separating military personnel, get
credit for the skills they have obtained through their diligent work.
Moreover, these same workers should receive training to augment
their existing skills so that they can compete in the digital-age
economy. As
I reported to you last September, VETS is working on the Federal and
State levels and with both business and labor to eliminate barriers
that credentialing poses to separating military personnel and
veterans. I am pleased to
report that VETS continues to build on the progress made last year, as
evidenced by the following examples of our activities. Federal
Efforts VETS’
credentialing and licensing website, “Using your Military Experience
and Training” or Mr.
Chairman, as you know, in 1998 the Department of Labor, in partnership
with the Department of Veterans Affairs, created the Interagency Task
Force on Certification and Licensing of Transitioning Military
Personnel (Interagency Task Force).
As a direct result of the Interagency Task Force, the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) completed a study of its requirements
for Airframe and Power Plant licenses for aircraft mechanics and
compared this to the military services’ requirements.
A course is being created by a joint FAA/military team to fill
in the gaps of knowledge needed to acquire the FAA licenses, which are
required by most civilian airline and delivery companies prior to
employment. This course
will be made available at certain military bases, and is being
accepted for college credit by Emory Riddle University so that active
duty personnel will be able to apply for tuition assistance to defray
the cost. VETS
recently began a workgroup with the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) with a goal of making wider use of the apprenticeship and
on-the-job training components of the Montgomery G. I. Bill.
Thousands of men and women leave military service with
apprenticeship certifications issued by the Department of Labor (or
they leave at some stage of the apprenticeship program).
VETS and VA staff met with the Labor Department’s Office of
Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services (formerly the
Bureau of Apprenticeship Training) and members of the Interagency Task
Force, representing the apprenticeship programs in the military, to
determine how best to work with the construction industry, including
both union and non-union trade groups, so that transitioning military
personnel and veterans are able to take full advantage of their
apprenticeship training. We
envision future programs that will ensure that civilian employers and
unions give veterans credit for their apprenticeship training received
while in the service. We
also are examining how best to work with the private sector so that
they will participate in the Montgomery GI Bill benefits program.
Approval of training under that program will allow veterans to
complete unfinished apprenticeship or on-the-job training with monthly
Montgomery GI Bill allowances that will help provide financial
security for the veteran and his or her family while the veteran is in
training. State
Level Activities On
the State level, VETS salutes the fine work done by the VETS funded
staff in Ohio. They
created a program with a trucking company that allows veterans to
obtain their commercial drivers licenses in less time and at a lower
cost than previously available. They
have also entered into a partnership with a delivery company that
provides jobs to veteran aircraft mechanics while the veterans study
to obtain their FAA licenses, the acquisition of which leads to
promotions and higher salaries. VETS’
Providing Reemployment Opportunities for Veterans (ProVet) program
remains a success in Tennessee, where veterans with expertise in
electronics and information technology are being hired by employers
who need their skills. FedEx
recently sought out the ProVet program to supply its Memphis hub with
experts in electronics and computers.
The ProVet staff is currently assessing the best way to fulfill
FedEx’s staffing needs. I
have taken the liberty of attaching to my written testimony an email
from a veteran pleased with the services of the Tennessee ProVet
staff. Just
last month, my staff met with Texas veterans’ representatives to
start their own ProVet program in Texas soon, in partnership with
several trucking companies, that will provide employment for veterans
while they obtain their commercial drivers licenses. The ProVet staff
in Tennessee will work with the staff in Texas so that Tennessee’s
best practices can be incorporated into Texas’ program. Private
Sector Activities VETS’
work with the private sector continues, as well. VETS has funded a grant to CompTIA, an association of more
than 7,500 computer technology companies.
Separating military personnel attending Transition Assistance
Program workshops who have an aptitude for information technology are
given the opportunity to receive free computer training and then are
employed by member companies of CompTIA.
This program is running in San Diego, California and San
Antonio, Texas, and is beginning in Florida and Virginia. The
highly successful Military to Work program of the Communications
Workers of America (CWA) , funded through a VETS grant, is going
strong. Hundreds of
veterans with experience and training in the communications fields
have landed good jobs at some of the country’s major
telecommunications companies. Cisco
Systems continues to work with CWA, providing a fully automated
assessment component on the program’s website.
Cisco Systems has also included an on-line distance learning
component in collaboration with Stanly Community College in North
Carolina. The courses at
Stanly Community College are approved for VA training, so the benefits
of the Montgomery GI Bill are available to the veterans taking
Computer Literacy Assessment and Training, A+ Computer Technology
Assessment and Training, and Cisco Certified Network Associate
Assessment and Training. Information
technology is not the only source of growing employment opportunities.
Among other fields seeking qualified workers are the health
care and transportation industries. With that in mind, VETS has been
working to develop a health care pilot program that can serve as the
first step towards an upwardly mobile health care career. In partnership with a high technology company involved in
providing training and testing on line, the Association of Medical
Technologists, and the Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse in Boston, VETS
is developing an on-line course of study leading to certification in
phlebotomy, an entry level position in the health care field. VA hospital staff will provide the hands-on learning section
and test portion of the program. My
staff and I also met several times with the American Trucking
Association (ATA) in connection with a possible pilot program that
will involve three or four trucking companies throughout the country
hiring newly separated veterans with military truck driving experience
and including in the company-specific training the instruction needed
for these men and women to acquire commercial drivers licenses.
With the consent of the Department of Defense, we have given
the ATA permission to have members of the American Road Team,
professional drivers who speak to business groups and drivers
education classes, speak at Transition Assistance Program Workshops
about the employment opportunities in the trucking industry. CONCLUSION Mr.
Chairman, I am very grateful for your consistent and persistent
support regarding the issue of credentialing as it affects
transitioning military personnel and veterans.
Millions of veterans in the workforce and the 200,000 men and
women who join them every year have received some of the most advanced
training available anywhere in the world, and experience in leadership
and teamwork that is unmatched. We
must do everything possible to see that these special men and women
are not left behind in the 21st century labor market. Thank
you for the opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee today.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
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