The "working poor" -- Americans working in low-wage jobs -- increasingly
have been the subject of study by America's labor experts. Most agree
that one key to helping the working poor raise their incomes is by improving
skills through a "career ladders" program. But experience indicates
that mobility for the low-wage work force does not lie only in government-sponsored
training accounts or vouchers for low-wage workers. Even among the workers
who gain additional skills, only a minority will command higher wages.
The great majority of low-wage workers will be unaffected.
Mobility for low-wage workers lies instead in skills -- upgrading projects
that are industry-based and influence the structure of jobs, not merely
the skills of workers. Such projects are developed primarily by industry
associations and labor unions. These projects institutionalize training
so that entry-level workers are seen as important parts of a profession -- not
as an unstable, transitory workforce. Not only are internal job ladders
strengthened, but more important, new, intermediate job categories -- with
increased responsibility and pay -- are created.
Over the past three and a half years, California's government, under
Gov. Gray Davis, has launched a network of skills-upgrading programs for
the low-wage workforce that has closely linked skills increases for low-wage
workers with job placements and new job ladders. The program includes
participation by community colleges and career ladders projects for the
health workforce. Its centerpiece is the $15 million Career Ladders for
the 21st Century project of the state's Employment Training Panel. Long-term
health care and hotel services are two of the participating industries.
In long-term health care (skilled nursing facilities and assisted living
facilities), the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), an
industry association of more than 1,500 nursing homes, has taken the lead
in skills training and job mobility for the industry's lower-wage certified
nurse assistants (CNA). The CNA is the industry's main direct-care position -- responsible
for the bathing, dressing, feeding, and personal care needs of patients.
In 2000, more than 72,000 CNAs were employed in California nursing homes,
earning an average hourly wage of slightly over $9.
Using the community college system in some locations and private training
providers in others, CAHF has launched a series of projects with its employer
members throughout California to train and place CNAs as licensed vocational
nurses (LVN) -- an advanced position, paying $16 to $18 per hour. The
projects involve different forms of employer participation -- including
the underwriting by employers of part of CNA wages during training. All
of the projects involve a mix of classroom and on-the-job training, instruction
coordinated with work time, and placement as an LVN upon completion of
training.
More important, CAHF and its member organizations have created several
new job ladders for the CNAs: senior nurse assistant, restorative nurse
assistant, and certified memory impairment specialist. These intermediate
job categories, between CNA and LVN, involve 40 hours to 80 hours of structured
training, with greater responsibility and immediate pay increases, starting
at 75 cents to $1.25 per hour. Additional job categories being developed,
such as geriatric nurse candidate, mean more training (200 hours) and
higher pay.
Cross-training. The long-term care industry is largely nonunion.
But in the more unionized acute care settings, the unions, particularly
Service Employees International Union Local 250 in Northern California,
have joined with large employers, such as Kaiser, on Career Ladders. The
first projects focus on lower-wage workers in laundry, housekeeping, and
food preparation and train these workers for the paraprofessional positions
of acute care nurse assistant, unit assistant, and medical assistant.
For the hospitality industry, employing around 200,000 workers, Career
Ladders has set out to increase mobility through several changes in low-wage
jobs: cross-training to increase hours and moves between divisions of
a hotel; new emphasis among hotel management to promote from within; and
preparation in customer service, communication skills, and some hotel
technical skills so a worker is ready when a job opens. The large hotels
are like little cities, with several major divisions: housekeeping, food
and beverage, front desk, and sales. There are many mobility paths up
a division and between divisions. At the same time, even the large hotels
rarely have job openings at predictable times, so mobility often means
being prepared for openings.
The California Association of Hotels and Motels, which represents around
2,000 properties (both union and nonunion), has launched a pilot mobility
project with the Rim Corp., an operator of 22 California properties. Ninety
Rim employees -- primarily dishwashers, prep cooks in food and beverage,
and front desk representatives -- are given paid time off to take up
to 64 hours of training. Courses include English as a second language,
specific hotel skills (guest services, working a shift at the desk), and
communications skills.
A more extensive Career Ladders program, involving hundreds of workers,
is sponsored by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) union
in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. In San Jose, HERE
Local 19 and the Fairmont Hotel are enrolling 200 front-line workers -- front
desk agents, restaurant servers, and laundry workers. Each worker will
receive 200 hours of training to be chosen from a menu of classes in language,
technical skills, and leadership skills. The Fairmont is invested in this
work force and is assuming the costs of wages during training and guaranteeing
at least a 5 percent pay raise within 90 days of training completion.
Additional Career Ladders efforts in California, aimed at influencing
the structure of low-wage jobs, are being undertaken in other fields,
ranging from child care to banking to restaurants. In some areas, such
as in-home health care and child care, Gov. Davis has directly increased
wages of low-wage workers by increasing the wage reimbursement levels
that state government pays to employers.
The theme throughout all of these efforts is the professionalization
of the low-wage work force. Though one aim is to improve the economic
position of this group, an equal goal is to improve the quality of service
provided in health care, hotels, banks, and other settings.
