no longer a public charge. Thousands of companies have made sweeping changes in employment policies and attitudes which will have a permanent effect, and which have already resulted in the hiring of several hundred thousand disadvantaged workers in addition to those trained under contract. In as broad a program as this, where innovation, speed, and new techniques are the keys to success, there may be individual cases where hindsight may have dictated a different approach. However, the entire program has had and is having such a broad impact that the net result is positive and successful beyond expectations. Another measure of its success and acceptability is that, despite the economic downturn, the rate of new hires under the program has been averaging about 25,000 per month in the first quarter of this year; and in spite of some layoffs due to the low seniority of people training under contract, the prospects for early recall seem to be improving. In Chrysler Corporation, for example, we expect to have recalled nearly everyone trained under the program by mid-summer. Sincerely, L. A. TOWNSEND, Chairman, National Alliance of Businessmen Senator GAYLORD NELSON, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. LUCKY STORES, INC., San Leandro, Calif., March 20, 1970. DEAR SIR: We are pleased to respond to your letter of March 12, 1970 concerning the participation of this company in the JOBS Program, under the National Alliance of Businessmen and the Department of Labor. Inasmuch as your letter has specific questions we will restate your question with our answers ; 1. Where have you obtained most of your JOBS trainees; Basically most of our JOBS trainees have been obtained through the State Employment Service, although we have obtained other trainees through cooperation with the Concentrated Employment Program, with the various offices of the Opportunities Industrial Commission, and in certain areas with the Urban League. In one area, for example Sacramento, we dealt with the Sacramento Area Economic Opportunity Council. 2 What kinds of assistance have been furnished to you by the National Alliance of Businessmen ; We have been working very closely with the National Alliance of Businessmen from the standpoint of obtaining proposal know-how for the submission of our proposals to the Department of Labor. We have also been given guidance from time to time by the National Alliance of Businessmen with respect to program operation. 3. What kinds of contacts you have had with the Department of Labor; In all candor our relationship with the Department of Labor has been a pleasant surprise. The manner of invoicing on our contracts, both MA/3 and MA/5, has not been difficult to follow and repayment has also been prompt. We have had audits by both the GAO and the Department of Labor, but we do not see anything unusual about that, the government is certainly entitled to see that, we as a contractor are doing what we said we are going to do under the NAB JOBS program, that being to hire and train disadvantaged individuals to the best of our ability. We have felt that the contractor has had freedom in the day-to-day decisions in promulgating his contractual performance without any sort of 'red-tape' actions. In fact, we feel that the Department of Labor has shown remarkable restraint in what certainly must be a conscious effort not to burden the contractor in any so-called 'red-tape'. 4. What your general evaluation of the program is particularly its strongest and weakest points; In response to the question of its strongest points, we are taking the liberty of enclosing NAB JOBS pamphlets from the Metropolitan Oakland area and the Sacramento Metropolitan area. We feel that both of these pamphlets give a good estimate of our opinion of the program. We have given considerable thought in respect to the weakest points and really some of these points have already been solved. Under the MA/3 funding proposal we were allowed to recruit trainees through various local community action groups individually. Under the MA/5 program we were restricted in a manner to recruit through the State Employment Service and Concentrated Employment Program, in fact we feel that this type of restriction placed a burden on us, inasmuch as we should be responsive to local groups who are going to hear of the program. We felt that to say to someone who walks in off the street in an effort to obtain training that we can not deal with that individual until he has gone to the State Employment Service for certification is some-what self defeating. Many hardcore/disadvantaged individuals have probably already been to the State Employment Service and obtained nothing, and to say to that person to return to SES is not really comprehended by the individual. Any employer who is located within various communities must be responsible in an affirmative way to the people in that community. We understand that under the project JOBS 70 program that the employer can now go to other sources. However, the point we want to make is that the responsiblity to the community must always be recognized. 5. What effect the present downturn in the economy has had on your participation in JOBS, and what likely effect further cooling of the economy would have on your participation; Our company intends to continue with the JOBS program in selective areas of operation, however, we certainly must recognize the fact that the so called cooling of the economy reduces to a degree the turnover of jobs. This is due to the fact that most people do not change a job where they have seniority, to another job where they would not have seniority, as the seniority factor gives the individual a protection against layoff. The effect of this would obviously mean that in future JOBS programs we would be extremely careful as to the number of jobs within our commitment. We feel that the responsibilities of a JOBS program entails the permanence of employment to the trainee who would not have super-seniority and must take his or her place on the seniority roll. We feel that the above information along with the pamphlets we have enclosed accurately expresses the feeling of this company to the NAB JOBS program. MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND MONDAY, MAY 11, 1970 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT, MANPOWER AND POVERTY, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:15 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 4232, New Senate Office Building, Senator Gaylord Nelson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Nelson (presiding), Cranston, and Javits. Staff members present: Robert O. Harris, staff director, and William R. Bechtel, professional staff member. Senator NELSON. The committee welcomes this morning the distinguished Secretary of Labor, Mr. Shultz, and Assistant Secretary, Weber. I apologize for having been 5 minutes late, Mr. Secretary. I know how busy you are. I do have a brief opening statement and I wish to print that in the record. If there is something that the Secretary wants to respond to in it, fine. I just wanted to make sure we had the record accurate. STATEMENT BY HON. GAYLORD NELSON, A U.S. SENATOR We are pleased to have an opportunity today to hear the testimony of the Secretary of Labor on the program known as JOBSJob Opportunities in the Business Sector. This program, begun just 2 years ago, has made a tremendous contribution in enlisting private American business firms in the difficult and challenging task of providing jobs for the hard-core disadvantaged. I am confident that committee members from both parties want to work conscientiously with the Labor Department and the National Alliance of Businessmen to make the program more successful in the future. Certainly there is no longer any question that problems have been encountered in the JOBS program, problems comparable to those encountered in every other program which has sought to deal with the handicaps of the hard-core disadvantaged citizen. Certainly we can face up to these problems, and seek constructive solutions, without raising the issue of partisanship. This program was established under President Johnson and continued and expanded by President Nixon. It appears that there are some good JOBS programs-and some bad programs-which were inaugurated |