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At Mojave Electric, Hillary Clinton Pledges to Support Apprenticeships and Job Training


Las Vegas, Nevada–(ENEWSPF)–August 4, 2016.  At Mojave Electric in Las Vegas on Thursday, Hillary Clinton shared her plan to make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top, by investing in job training. Citing the fact that more than half of job openings will not require a four-year degree by 2020, Clinton renewed her pledge to give businesses a $1,500 tax credit for every apprentice they hire, with additional funds granted if those jobs go to young people. Mojave Electric partners with IBEW Local 357 in their apprenticeship program, which trains several thousand IBEW students each year.

Clinton also contrasted her record of support for job training with that of Donald Trump, whose Trump University scammed vulnerable Americans into emptying their savings and maxing out their credit cards. As Clinton said, “a president should help people realize their dreams.  Not to tell you what your dream should be. You decide on the dream, and then we try to come together to create the condition that will enable people to start businesses, to get the skills, to be in the trades, to do whatever you want, to really fulfill your own dreams and a better future. So there’s just a big difference between what I am proposing, what I want to see us do, and what Donald Trump is proposing.”

Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:

“Thank you so much.  I am really delighted to be here.  Dennis, thank you so much.  I know it was a surprise when I asked you to say a few words, but I think it’s important for everybody to see what it means to have the kind of partnership that you have here at Mojave with the IBEW.  What it means to those who work here, and what it means to the pride of all of you who are part of this very important effort.

I want to thank Don Campbell.  Don is the Southern Nevada Executive Director of the National Electrical Contractors Association, NECA.  And what Don does is to make the case for this partnership between contractors – union contractors and union workers through companies like Mojave.  And we were having a chance to talk about what that means – what it means for workers, as Dennis was saying, and what it means for good, high-quality work that provides a solid middle-class life.

I also want to thank Al Davis, the business manager and financial secretary of IBEW Local 357.  And I want to thank Jackson Renner, who is a prefab supervisor who just showed me around, and introduced me to a few of the apprentices who are here.  But I am delighted to be in a place where we really are seeing the best of American business and labor working together, where we are seeing people making a very good, solid, middle-class income that can help to deliver a secure life and future for families.  And so this company is truly living proof that businesses can succeed in America by investing in people, not shortchanging them.

And that’s what I want to see across our country.  I want to see our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.  And a key factor of how we’re going to do that is to transform how people are prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow.  And that’s what you’re seeing in real time here in Mojave.  Now, I’m going to fight to make college debt-free for everybody, but I want to make a very important point to me – and we made it at our convention last week – and I don’t think we say it enough.  I don’t think that any of us say it enough: A four-year college degree should not be the only path to a good job with a good middle-class income.

And therefore, we’re going to come up with other paths, like what we see here at Mojave, that lead to jobs that can support a family and be a source of pride and dignity.  Just listening to Jackson talk about the work he’s done for years, you could feel the pride and the dignity in what he was telling me.  And here’s what I really want everybody to understand, and I’m going to keep saying this – I’ll say it at the rally in a few minutes:  By 2020, which is not that far away, more than half of all job openings in America will not require a four-year degree.

So think about that.  More than half of all jobs will not require a four-year degree.  So my job as president is to help more people get the skills that you need to be able to get those jobs.  And the partnership between Mojave and IBEW is a great example.  As you’ve heard, apprentices join the company, they get their education paid for, they receive good wages and benefits while they train in the field.  We are going to give businesses a $1,500 tax credit for every apprentice they hire, and even more for hiring young people.  That may very well help to somewhat level the playing field with the non-union contractors.  Because right now, this comes out of your pocket, to NECA, to train, as it does out of IBEW.  But I want to incentivize more of that behavior.  I want more people being able to be trained by experts like Jackson.  So we’re going to give people a fair chance to develop their talents and their skills, and we’re going to go around the country holding up examples like Mojave.

Now, it’s fair to say that my Republican opponent has a very different vision for education.  All you have to do is look at Trump University – his so-called University – where he really tricked vulnerable Americans, veterans, widows of veterans, people who were trying to get ahead, and bought into his sales job.  They maxed out their credit cards, a lot of them emptied their life savings, all for empty promises.  And it’s heartbreaking.  And that’s why so many of them are suing Trump for fraud.

You see, I believe a president should help people realize their dreams.  Not to tell you what your dream should be.  You decide on the dream, and then we try to come together to create the condition that will enable people to start businesses, to get the skills, to be in the trades, to do whatever you want, to really fulfill your own dreams and a better future.  So there’s just a big difference between what I am proposing, what I want to see us do, and what Donald Trump is proposing.

So I believe in companies like Mojave, I believe in unions like the IBEW, I believe in associations like NECA.  We really are stronger together.  When people actually work together, we will go much further and bring more people along with us.  So again, I want to thank Mojave for hosting us, I want to thank the IBEW for being part of this, I want to thank NECA.  But most of all, if you don’t mind, I want to thank the people who work here, because these are the people who are proving every single day that good training, getting those skills, getting that job, being at a good company that takes care of your family and yourself, that’s the future that I want to see for America.  So thank you all very, very much.

QUESTION:  Secretary Clinton, […] I’m outsourcing a question […] Secretary Clinton – when Donald Trump says the reason that he makes so many products overseas is because of the market […] right now, but he could change that market as president –

HILLARY CLINTON:  You know, when you run for president, you need to be judged on what you have done.  And I think the evidence is pretty clear.  Everything he’s made, he’s made somewhere else.  He’s not put Americans to work.  He’s imported foreign workers instead of hiring Americans at his country clubs […], he has cheated contractors.  I take that personally.  My father was a small businessman.  And he got contracts.  And if he’d shown up after having done all the work, printed the fabrics for the draperies that were going to be made, and told, as Trump told countless small businesses, I’m not going to pay you, I don’t know what would have happened to our family.  But I’ve met people who were destroyed by Donald Trump.  So take a look at what he’s done, not what he says.  Thank you all.”


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