Tag: jobs

Democracy Forum 5/18/18

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine  
Engineer: Amy Browne

Program Topic: Immigration: Can We Live Without It?

Key Discussion Points:
Immigration and jobs
Federal policy
Effect on economic development and workforce in Maine

Guests:
Dany Bahar, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution www.brookings.edu/experts/dany-bahar/
Carla Dickstein, Senior Vice President for Research and Policy Development at the Coastal Enterprise Institute www.ceimaine.org/about/staff-directory/name/carla-dickstein/
Martha Searchfield, Executive Director of the Bar Harbor Chamber Commerce www.visitbarharbor.com/staff-board-of-directors

To learn more about this topic:
Immigrants’ Contribution to Maine’s Workforce and Economy, from the Coastal Enterprise Institute
Building Maine’s Economy: How Maine Can Embrace Immigrants and Strengthen the Workforce, more from CEI, 2016.
100 Years Ago, Maine’s Economy Was Powered by Immigrants reporting in the Bangor Daily News, September, 2017.
The Trump administration failed to study immigration vetting. So I did. David Bier from the Cato Institute in the Washington Post
Migrants and refugees: The unlikely key for economic development, Dany Bahar for Brookings.

The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes:
Starr Gilmartin
Maggie Harling
Linda Hoskins
Sheila Kirby
Ann Luther
Maryann Ogonowski
Pam Person
Leah Taylor
Linda Washburn

FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Democracy Forum 6/16/17

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine    
Engineer: Amy Browne

Jobs in Maine: What’s the Future?

Key Discussion Points:
a) global changes in employment and the nature of work
b) the shifting demographics of jobs
c) barriers to work
d) what it means for Maine

Guests:
James Breece, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Maine. http://umaine.edu/soe/faculty-and-staff/breece/
Rosalie Hughes, is an investigative journalist and writer at the Bangor Daily News and a contributor to the Maine Focus series. http://bangordailynews.com/staff/bdn-maine/content/rosalie-hughes/
Beth Stickney, Executive Director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition http://mainebic.org/about/

To learn more about this topic:
The State of American Jobs, Pew Research Center
Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017
Visualizing the Jobs Lost to Automation
An Overview of the Maine Economy: Per Capita Personal Income 2014, James Breece, 2016
Maine Job Outlook to 2024

The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes:
Starr Gilmartin
Maggie Harling
Linda Hoskins
Ann Luther
Maryann Ogonowski
Pam Person
Leah Taylor
Linda Washburn

FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Democracy Forum 5/19/17

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine    
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Participatory Democracy

Program Topic: Free Trade: Winners and Losers in Maine

Key Discussion Points:

We’ll talk about international trade policy
How does it work?
Who sets the rules?
What does it mean for Maine?

Guest: Kate DeLutio, economist, applied researcher, and trade expert. http://www.45northresearch.com/about/

To learn more about this topic:
a) Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017 freakonomics.com/podcast/china-eat-americas-jobs/
b) Maine History Online: Trade and Transport, from the Maine Historical Society. www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/885/page/1296/display
c) Maine Trade Assessment Report 2016, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, prepared for the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission. www.maine.gov/legis/opla/CTPC2016TradeAssessmentFinal.pdf
  

The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes:
Starr Gilmartin
Maggie Harling
Linda Hoskins
Ann Luther
Maryann Ogonowski
Pam Person
Leah Taylor
Linda Washburn

FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Maine Currents 2/10/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

It has been called “NAFTA on steroids” and “the largest corporate power grab you’ve never heard of”.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is the largest regional trade deal in history, encompassing 12 countries that control 40% of the world’s economy, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and several other Pacific Rim countries.

The TPP was negotiated in extreme secrecy for five years. Other than sections leaked by wikileaks, the public, the media and even elected officials were kept in the dark. President Obama had promised the public would have plenty of time to read it before he signed the agreement. The 6000+ pages long document was finally released in November, and Obama signed it last week. There is now a 2 year deadline by which the agreement must be ratified by the processes used in each country that signed on. In the US that means Congress needs to pass it. They voted last year to give the President fast track authority, which means they can now only vote “yes” or “no” on the agreement, having given up their power to make any amendments.

Obama says the TPP will open new markets and create new jobs. Similar arguments were made for the passage of NAFTA in the 90s and history has proven that to not be the case. Here in Maine the impact of so-called “free trade” agreements has been seen in the massive loss of manufacturing jobs. It was with those years of experience with NAFTA, CAFTA and other “free trade” agreements that Mainers came out to express concerns about the TPP

FMI:
Full text of the TPP: https://ustr.gov/tpp/#text
Maine’s Citizen Trade Policy Commission: http://www.maine.gov/legis/opla/citpol.htm
The Presidential Candidate’s positions on the TPP: https://ballotpedia.org/2016_presidential_candidates_on_the_Trans-Pacific_Partnership_trade_deal

Maine Currents 1/6/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Today we do a 2015 year in review with clips from stories about Divest UMaine, an investigation by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, Kim Ervin Tucker, scientists and lobstermen opposing the Searsport dredging project, the fight over mining regulations in Maine, the NRDC and Maine People’s Alliance’s federal lawsuit over the mercury pollution in the Penobscot River, Mainers opposing the TPP, and a story by Naomi Graychase , recording at “Bucksport, Then and Now”, and more — and we look ahead to 2016!

Maine Currents 12/30/15

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Today we’re bringing you to the season finale of the Queen City Cellar Tellers storytelling series, held at the Fork and Spoon in Bangor on December 18th. This month the theme was “family”. Chris Roberts emceed.

Maine Currents 12/23/15

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Segment 1: Today we bring you Part 2 of Mainers speaking out at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s Public Hearing on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), in Bangor on December 10th (more info re the TPP is below).

Segment 2: We shift gears for some local storytelling from the “True Stories” event held by the Midcoast Actors’ Studio in Belfast earlier this month.

If passed, the TPP would cover 12 countries with an estimated combined GDP totaling 40% of the world’s economy,
For several years, the TPP was negotiated in extreme secrecy. When the text was released last month, the advocacy group Public Citizen responded that “In chapter after chapter, the final text is worse than expected, with the demands of the 500 official U.S. trade advisers representing corporate interests satisfied to the detriment of the public interest. The text reveals that the pact replicates many of the most controversial terms of past pacts that promote job offshoring and push down U.S. wages.” Congress is expected to vote on the agreement in 2016.

The Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission was created by Maine law in 2003 to “assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions and the business environment; to provide a mechanism for citizens and Legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations; and to make policy recommendations designed to protect Maine’s jobs, business environment and laws from any negative impact of trade agreements.” The CTPC is composed of 6 legislators, 7 members from the private sector and 5 representatives of different state agencies.

TPP text: https://ustr.gov/tpp/#text

Maine Currents 12/16/15

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Mainers speak out at the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission’s Public Hearing on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), in Bangor on December 10th.

If passed, the TPP would cover 12 countries with an estimated combined GDP totaling 40% of the world’s economy,
For several years, the TPP was negotiated in extreme secrecy. When the text was released last month, the advocacy group Public Citizen responded that “In chapter after chapter, the final text is worse than expected, with the demands of the 500 official U.S. trade advisers representing corporate interests satisfied to the detriment of the public interest. The text reveals that the pact replicates many of the most controversial terms of past pacts that promote job offshoring and push down U.S. wages.” Congress is expected to vote on the agreement in 2016.

The Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission was created by Maine law in 2003 to “assess and monitor the legal and economic impacts of trade agreements on state and local laws, working conditions and the business environment; to provide a mechanism for citizens and Legislators to voice their concerns and recommendations; and to make policy recommendations designed to protect Maine’s jobs, business environment and laws from any negative impact of trade agreements.” The CTPC is composed of 6 legislators, 7 members from the private sector and 5 representatives of different state agencies.

TPP text: https://ustr.gov/tpp/#text