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Forty-three Senate Democrats, as well as Independents Bernie Sanders and Angus King, wrote Monday that a Trump administration proposal to create a system of industry-recognized apprenticeships would undermine current protections involving workplace safety, wages and quality.
The senators wrote in a letter to acting labor secretary Patrick Pizzella that the proposal “would create a parallel system that outsources the secretary’s statutory role in overseeing the nation’s registered apprenticeship programs to unaccountable, nongovernmental entities.”
The administration proposed a new rule in June to establish the industry-recognized apprenticeships, which would function in parallel with the federally recognized apprenticeship program. A task force convened by then labor secretary Alex Acosta released a report last year that recommended eventually adopting the industry-recognized model.
The Democrats wrote that the Trump administration has presented no evidence that industry-recognized apprenticeships would be more effective than the existing registered apprenticeship program. They called for a 60-day extension of the public comment period for the rule.
Last week, Sanders, one of the candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted his support for unions opposing the rule.
The IRAP proposal being pushed by Mick Mulvaney is a disaster. I stand with @TheIronworkers, @IUBAC, @GoIUPAT & other @NABTU unions fighting for good, high-quality apprenticeships for workers. I encourage everyone to submit a comment opposing IRAP here: https://t.co/MfbqTyb90X
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 23, 2019
