Worksystems Announces New Structure
Warren Jimenez
Today, City Council approved the restructuring of Worksystems, Inc. Sam is one of three local elected officials who serve on the board. Below are Sam's comments about the changes.
"Over this past summer and fall, I wanted to work “100 hours” in Portland’s most common, lowest paying jobs.
What kind of jobs did I work? I worked as a receptionist/office clerk; courtesy clerk; waiter; prep cook; groundskeeper; street paver; retail salesperson; teacher's assistant; truck driver; sidewalk ambassador; hotel room cleaner; customer service representative; cashier and janitor.
Through working the “100 hours,” I’ve seen a little bit through the eyes of Portlanders while learning on the way. For example, my first “job” was trying to find one. I was unemployed for a day, looking for a job through our local and regional providers. I quickly learned some of the duplication of services between our local service providers and our regional providers. For example, the data systems are not integrated. As a result, I had to fill out a separate questionnaire form for each location. I know our regional workforce development providers are working hard to become more effective and efficient. I point this out as an opportunity to better deliver the service to our customers. I also realized how important public transportation is to working people. For a lot of us, it is the right thing to do but for working people, it is the only option.
After working these jobs, I began to realize a few conclusions: first, we need to create more living wage jobs and second, our workforce development systems need to be better positioned to address our community needs. This is how we can avoid becoming a polarized community of the wealthy and the working poor.
Based on my conclusions, through working in collaboration with my colleagues, Washington Commissioner John Leeper and Multnomah County Commissioner Lonnie Roberts a revamped structure was proposed to better address these workforce development needs.
These changes were brought on by the growing importance of the quality of the workforce as a driver of economic development and the need to align workforce efforts to promote regional competitiveness.
The changes also take full advantage of the broad public/private partnership represented by the Workforce Investment Board. The board remains business led, with the majority of seats on the board held by business members who work at companies with over 43,000 employees locally and 295,000 employees worldwide.
The new structure will result in greater ease of decision-making, greater accountability and will widen the focus of the Workforce Investment Board to ensure regional workforce issues are addressed, and will eliminate any direct or perceived conflict of interest.
It is my pleasure to introduce a few of my colleagues today who will talk about these structural reforms at Worksystems, Inc."
Posted by Warren Jimenez on February 22, 2006
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Filed Under Front Page, Jobs & Economy, Workforce
Comments by site visitors
The discussion on public transportation is an important one. This is a key issue for many people, not only because many jobs are not located close to the bus or train stops but also because many employers refuse to hire workers who use public transportation. The comment "must have reliable transportation" is so prevalent in job descriptions one has to wonder; is our public transportation really that bad?
Posted by: John Adams | Mar 1, 2006 1:26:08 PM
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As the manager of the Job Club program in East Portland, I am thrilled that Sam has taken the time to walk in the shoes of citizens and is now restructuring hte workforce system.
However, with the failure of workforce's status quo, about 10 significant private and primarily free job programs have emerged and have been providing effective services to the community without charging the system. It is imparative that Sam now bring these groups to the table so that we have a single system that maximizes our resources and provides the best services to our community.
Posted by: Emilie Boyles | Feb 25, 2006 7:28:16 AM