Samantha Hom
It’s no secret that construction work has long been a male-dominated industry. Erik Antokal is striving to change that.
“You have 50% of the population that has essentially been historically excluded from that incredible opportunity – what an untapped resource,” Antokal says.
After graduating from Tufts University in 2012, Antokal completed a fellowship with the Coro New York Leadership Center, where he was able to work with the United Federation of Teachers and 32BJ SEIU, the politically powerful property service workers union. Prior to joining Nontraditional Employment for Women, Antokal also worked for the New York City Department of Small Business Services, where he helped coordinate the city’s business improvement districts.
In the last week of March 2020, 1,486 people in Tompkins County filed for unemployment. The same week in 2019 had seen just 25 people file for unemployment, for a 5,844% increase year-over-year. The state came to a screeching halt (or a âpauseâ) on March 20, and with that, the job market plummeted.Â
As the pandemic gears up to celebrate its first birthday (in the United States, at least), thereâs been a lot of change. Businesses have closed and reopened â though some have shuttered forever â and people continue to work from home while trying to juggle the new normal. Compared to last spring, you could say the job market in Tompkins County has stabilized. Though, in the first week of February 2021, there were still 183 new unemployment claims, up from 48 during the same week in the year prior, for an increase of 281% year-over-year. So yes, better than the nearly 6,000% increase from March, but still not great news.
Reviving the value of career development
3SHARES
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people work.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that 83% of employers are adjusting their business practices in light of the pandemic. Now more than ever, companies are providing employees with flexible work environments, innovating employee benefits, and constantly building employee morale.
Up until now, we have kept our eyes on cutting costs, streamlining business operations, and keeping people on payroll, which is understandable. But as the shock of the global pandemic subsides, we must create a sustainable vision for the future. A future that recognizes the dynamic shift in the relationship between organizations and their employees.
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business If you ve shopped at Walmart recently, you may have noticed more employees snaking through aisles, carrying blue tote bins and picking items off.
Updated
Feb 04, 2021
Congressional Democrats Are Pushing For The Biggest Labor Reform In Generations
The PRO Act could help boost unions on the decline, but only if Democrats can get around that filibuster.
Senate and House Democrats renewed their effort to enact sweeping reform to U.S. labor laws on Thursday, reintroducing a broad bill that would expand collective bargaining rights and help rejuvenate labor unions.
The package of measures, known as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, is a priority for progressive Democrats and organized labor. If it becomes law, it would be the most significant labor legislation enacted in the post-war period, and the most beneficial to unions in nearly 90 years.