Billionaire Trump official says we can draw more factory workers with 'cocktails and hors d'oeuvres'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

In some parts of the country, there's a shortage of factory workers. Wilbur Ross suggests correcting that w/ booze:

Link to tweet

Billionaire Trump official thinks we can draw more factory workers with ‘cocktails and hors d’oeuvres’

By Danielle Paquette June 20 at 12:46 PM

Much of American manufacturing is caught in a cruel contrast: Workers looking for jobs in many areas can't find them. But in other parts of the country, factories with vacancies can't find people to fill them.

This economic quandary stems from a social shift. High school graduates these days aren't exactly lining up to work at factories, even though pay on modern assembly lines typically starts above $15 an hour. ... On Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross pitched a solution — fancy booze and snacks.

"What some of the companies have been doing is literally having an open session with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres for the high school students and their parents,” Ross said at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington. “So they can actually see that a factory is not a dank, dark, dangerous place where people do a lot of physical work — that the modern factory is actually a very attractive workforce environment.”

He added, “And then when they hear that, they've had a few drinks and they find out it's actually a much better paying job than they thought, it starts to change the attitude."
....

Danielle Paquette is a reporter covering the intersection of people and policy. She’s from Indianapolis and previously worked for the Tampa Bay Times. Follow @dpaqreport

Fortunately, OSHA is in the Department of Labor, not the Department of Commerce.

[Doreen]

1. Lets see, alcohol+work+no safety regulations

Draw your own conclusion.

[atreides1]

2. Let's give underage kids booze!!!

So, Mr. Ross thinks that giving high school kids a few drinks is the right thing to do? How about convincing adults to move to where the factories are? Maybe provide some kind of cash incentive, to get workers looking for factory jobs, to the places where the jobs are available?

[Girard442]

3. Assume every article about labor shortages is all lies.

You'll hardly ever be wrong.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Allways new this A-Hole was a few bricks short of a pallet.

Remember Interviews in the fifties and early sixties with HR talking this same crap. Hey some of us were lucky to have a New Employer pick up the moving expense or a portion there of. Very few will get those options in today's market.

Most people are stuck with a mortgage in some town where the Real Estate Market is a Ice Berg. And it takes some major balls to just walk away and do it all over again.

[C_U_L8R]

5. What? Can o' Peas??

I want my champagne popsicles!