GRCCI supports initiatives that will develop the pool of skilled workers. Education standards that focus on accountability are key as is a focus on math, science, engineering, and secondary education. Reform of the current visa system to allow for greater global mobility of skilled employees is needed, with special consideration for foreign-born graduate students who come to U.S. universities for study.

Mar 9, 2010 Feds liquidate struggling credit union (New Castle News) Its cash assets dropped from $2.6 million to $151,000 from September to December. Its membership was made up of the employees and families of the county school districts, the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV and Westminster College. Membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or...    more...  

Mar 9, 2010 IR's announcement catches many unaware; credit union will not be affected by plant closing (The Daily Review (Towanda, Pa.)) All workers will be afforded the opportunity to seek employment at other Ingersoll Rand facilities or will receive outplacement support and severance packages. In it's heyday, the Athens plant provided employment to over 1,500 people in the Valley. But over the last 10 years, Whyte said,...    more...  

Mar 8, 2010 Lebanon rated among top areas by business publication (Lebanon Daily News) Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is second in the middle category, with Lancaster 10th.    more...  

Mar 7, 2010 Farmers confused about new transportation regulations (York Daily Record) Buser said he might have to help pay a doctor's fee. In many ways, farmers have operated under fewer transportation regulations than the general public, but more rules are coming. Teens may not be allowed to drive a pickup pulling a hay wagon to help out on the farm. Tractors and other farm...    more...  

Mar 7, 2010 Employers lash out over unemployment tax spike (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) ...percent increase in the rate it is taxed for the state's jobless benefits fund. "It's incredibly surprising. This hurts. It really hurts small businesses," said Azur, human resources manager at Questeq Inc., which provides services to public and private schools. Questeq, along with the...    more...  

Mar 7, 2010 Career, technical education broadens across Western Pennsylvania (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Students taking carpentry, cosmetology and culinary classes, for example, must have strong math and reading skills to complement their technical skills.    more...  

Mar 5, 2010 Union battle fuels complaint against Aramark (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Workers United split in March 2009 from Unite Here, a national union of hospitality workers. Before the divorce, that local had been managed by the Philadelphia Joint Board.    more...  

Mar 5, 2010 Course available in geothermal heating (The Times Leader) Development Council is looking to lower those hurdles. It has partnered with HeatSpring Learning Institute to offer the region's first accredited certification course for installing geothermal heating systems in April. "In our area, my opinion is that ground-source is the best alternative source...    more...  

Mar 5, 2010 Union battle fuels lawsuit against Aramark (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Workers United split in March 2009 from Unite Here, a national union of hospitality workers. Before the divorce, that local had been managed by the Philadelphia Joint Board.    more...  

Mar 5, 2010 Fare hikes, service cuts ahead for NJ Transit (The Philadelphia Inquirer) In a position like Weinstein's, Sheridan said, "you have a lot of balls to keep in the air. You've got the governor, the Legislature, and all the citizens of New Jersey. He doesn't get rattled," Sheridan said. "If anybody's up to the job, he is." Another ex-transportation commissioner, Kris...    more...  

Mar 4, 2010 General Electric to go tobacco-free in 2011 (Erie Times-News) How do we get employees to wean themselves off tobacco products?    more...  

Mar 4, 2010 Major cities share Philadelphia's budget woes (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Most departments are considering a 30 percent budget cut, while police, fire, and code compliance face a 5 percent cut. Most employees will be asked to take five furlough days. Houston: The city has a $3 million budget shortfall in its $3.4 billion budget. City employees are also being asked...    more...  

Mar 4, 2010 Joseph N. Colangelo, 92, labor leader (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Colangelo in the labor movement. Mr. Colangelo had helped develop an immunization program for laborers' children. Mr. Colangelo "the voice of Labor Day," Norcross said.    more...  

Mar 3, 2010 Pacific Coast Feather closing (Lebanon Daily News) ...-- Pacific Coast Feather has notified the state that it will cease operations by the end of June. Based in Seattle, Pacific Coast Feather announced in May it would close its North Lebanon Township manufacturing and distribution facility in about a year. On Tuesday, the company notified the...    more...  

Mar 3, 2010 Meeting with Kanjorski turned local dealership's fortunes (The Citizens' Voice) While credit union business lending grew by more than 11 percent in 2009, many credit unions are now bumping up against an arbitrary statutory cap. He recently added five more employees and plans to add 10 more. The Ertley dealership was one of 789 dealerships across the United States that...    more...  

Mar 3, 2010 Bi-county workforce board seeks administering agency (The Citizens' Voice) ...for proposals on administering Luzerne County's workforce programs could not be obtained Tuesday. Richard Ammon, the executive director of the Luzerne County Workforce Investment Development Agency and a member of the Hazleton City Authority, could not be reached for comment. Lucyann...    more...  

Mar 3, 2010 NJ Transit plans 200 layoffs, executive pay cuts (The Philadelphia Inquirer) That will be reduced to 2 percent. It was unclear how many of the job losses would come from union ranks.    more...  

Mar 2, 2010 Howard Deck, standout labor negotiator, dies at 70 (Philadelphia Daily News) His good works on behalf of working people will be long remembered and appreciated." State Sen. Once, he was with a group that spent 35 days in London, seeing a different play each night. He also took in operas at the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center, in New York, and the Royal Opera House,...    more...  

Feb 28, 2010 The big dig-out goes on (Standard-Speaker) It would take until spring before we got done with the northeast and northwest," Vito said. Nemeth said some streets had snow drifts so high that they completely blocked vehicle access.    more...  

Feb 28, 2010 Cameron Texter testified about election work (York Daily Record) Raynak said Texter and Stetler are both on a list of witnesses the defense would like to call. Stephen Stetler assigned a staffer, John Paul Jones, to work on Brenner's campaign. Corbett charged that Veon hired Ramaley and paid him a taxpayer-funded salary while allowing Ramaley to run his...    more...  

Feb 28, 2010 BUILT TO LAST (The Times Leader) Not far from the company's Forty Fort offices, a small brass marker was embedded in a sidewalk on Rose Street. It built the Poughkeepsie, N.Y. campus for IBM (NYSE:IBM) and constructed power lines as far away as New Jersey. Many of the projects predate the young Sordoni. His construction...    more...  

Feb 28, 2010 The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mark Guydish column (The Times Leader) Ultimately, this is arbitrary. Since Recovery.org does not give recipient data readily sorted by municipality, I sorted by ZIP code. For starters, I couldn't find populations for five zip codes on the U.S. Census Bureau Web site. I tallied population for 46 munis that would fit in the arbitrary...    more...  

Feb 28, 2010 A push for better workforce training (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Last month, it opened the STEM Center, 105,000 square feet of science, engineering, and math laboratories and classrooms.    more...  

Feb 27, 2010 Reining in sewer emissions in L'town (The Evening Sun) Borough of Littlestown is currently exceeding its limit on sewer nutrient emissions -- by a lot. The borough's 2009 Chapter 94 Report -- which details Littlestown's levels of waste nutrient emissions for the past year, and which was presented to the council this week by borough engineer Peggy...    more...  

Feb 27, 2010 Pa. to fund jobs with federal stimulus money (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Eligible are those on public assistance or food stamps. TANF money funds welfare programs. The stimulus money can be used for basic assistance, short-term emergency needs, and subsidized job programs such as the one Pennsylvania is setting up.    more...  

Feb 26, 2010 CCBC to be site for Meadows' table games training (Beaver County Times) CCBC could also be providing training in Beaver County for table games, Forrester said. CCBC, he said, would be a central location for training workers joining the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, the Meadows, Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Erie, or the Valley View Downs harness track and casino...    more...  

Feb 26, 2010 Alle-Kiski regionalization action plan in full swing (The Valley News-Dispatch) Ryan is owner and president of Pittsburgh-based Write Connections, a consulting firm for grant writing.    more...  

Feb 25, 2010 Union's new stadium sure to have electric atmosphere (Philadelphia Daily News) ...the SportsBusiness Journal, PPL Park will, according to the energy company, become the first stadium in Major League Soccer to run completely on renewable energy, which will derive from projects either owned or contracted in Pennsylvania by PPL and its primary subsidary, PPL EnergyPlus. The...    more...  

Feb 25, 2010 Candidates court unions even as influence wanes (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) He has clashed with Onorato during contract negotiations over issues such as binding arbitration and holiday pay. Though Democrats most often get union support, Shea said his council has supported Republicans, such as U.S. Rep.    more...  

Feb 23, 2010 Generational battle for limited resources (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Care about the career ladder and respect.Boomers: Post-World War II babies. Care about status, climbing the career ladder.Xers: Latchkey kids. Do care about getting results.Millennials: Boomers' kids now entering the workforce.    more...