Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta on Monday announced the members of President Trump’s task force on apprenticeships, which include top business lobbyists, union leaders, and actor John Ratzenberger, a major advocate of workforce training programs who is best known as Cliff Clavin from the TV series “Cheers.”
The administration has been pushing reinvigorating the practice of business apprenticeships as a way of reducing unemployment and boosting the economy. Acosta has said the U.S. has 6 million vacant job positions despite also having 7 million unemployed people. The disconnect, he said, is because many of the unemployed lacked the necessary backgrounds for the open jobs.
“The members of the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion will provide varied perspectives that will help guide the administration’s strategy on growing apprenticeship programs nationwide. I am grateful for their participation in this important effort,” Acosta said.
In addition to Ratzenberger, the announced members include, among others, Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue; National Restaurant Association President Dawn Sweeney; and National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons. Other members are United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America President Douglas McCarron; North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey; and International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers President Joseph Sellers.
