I’m now settling into the culture.  I’m starting to learn the local language—a little more complex than I thought.

• First of all—I’m in Austraaaaaalia, not Australia.
• A football game is really something like rugby and called a “footy” or Aussie Rules football.  We went to one last night.  Each team has 18 players on the field.  The score was 120 to 50 something.
• A meat pie with catsup (the national food) is a “dogs eye with dead horse.”
• A pocket is a “sky rocket”

And it goes on….  I’ve spent some time with Fred (Frederica Kaider) who was on CLCR staff for 10 years.  She’s been here 56 years and is still learning the language.  She’s doing great by the way—working at Victoria University.

I’ve now had the chance to learn about the state of manufacturing in Australia and the circumstances are very similar to what we face in the US and Chicago—hence the interest in what I have to say.   Larger companies are sending production off-shore.  Smaller companies are expanding and moving to high value-added work.  The image of manufacturing among young people and the broader population is not quite as bad as it is in the US but almost.  The current economy isn’t in recession—due to an expansion of mining and a huge market in China—but the manufacturing sector is stressed.

I’ve had a range of speaking engagements including:

• A gathering of manufacturers, business leaders educators, community leaders, and government officials at the headquarters of the Western Bulldogs—the west Melbourne Aussie Rules football team.  Very good response including from the CEO of the football team.

• Meetings with the assistant to the minister of innovation, the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University,  the Australian Fabian Society, and others;

• The leadership of the Commission on Competiveness and Efficiency that are writing the policy report for Victoria on manufacturing.  In the meeting they asked for a proposal from my hosts to get a CMRC type effort going;

• A presentation to over 80 people at an event hosted by the Grattan Institute of the University of Melbourne   and the Foundation for Sustainable Development;

• A presentation to about 40 people with the state Department of Innovation, Industry, and Regional Development; and

• The Manufacturing Skills and Training Taskforce assembled at the Department of Education.

Outside of a presentation to leaders in the labor movement, and some media events, my work in Melbourne is done.

Now I’m headed to the smaller industrial cities of Ballarat, Geelong, and Burnee (in Tasmania) for speaking engagements and workshops.  It will be an intense week, and then a week of a welcomed vacation—touring Tasmania.

I was invited to Australia by the Foundation for Sustainable Economic Development to speak to a mix of associations and organization about the vision, programs and experience of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council.  The Foundation’s Executive Director, Max Ogden, is a veteran trade union leader who has done pathbreaking work in redefining the opportunites and responsibilities of unions—both leaders and members—to be informed and active in the redesign of work within the firm, and to play an active role in increasing productivity in high performance and High Road companies.  Max was introduced to CLCR during a 6 month fellow-ship with the AFL-CIO in 1996.  He visited us at CLCR, and had watched the development of CLCR’s programs and the evolution of the Manufacturing Renaissance model since then.  The tour will include Sydney, various venues in Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, and Burnie, Tasmania; and then a few days of hiking/touring in Tasmania

My wife—Pam Cairns—and I arrived in Sydney early Wednesday morning after 20+ hours of flight from  a cold Chicago and were taken directly to the beach by our hosts Neil Watson and Sharon Moore. Neil has had a long career as a consultant in workplace design and workforce development, and Sharon teaches at the Business School at University of Sydney.   We had a day of sun, fresh air, swimming, jumping in the waves and walking along the beautiful New South Wales coast–a great transition into the new time zone, followed by dinner with and a rich discussion with Neil and Sharon’s friends—Phil Brew and Michael Johnston–on the possibilities of developing jointly managed pension funds as a source of capital for privately held firms moving towards high performance in advanced manufacturing.

On Friday, I had my first major presentation at the University of Technology Business School was hosted by the Australian Business Foundation.  It was advertised as a discussion about the possibility of an Australian Manufacturing Renaissance.  The audience of about 70 people with a good mix of both manufacturing and services companies, government officials responsible for industry, investment and innovation policies including senior advisers to the Australian Industry and Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr, business consultants and advisers, educationalists including those responsible for government vocational training policy and continuing education, venture capitalists, industry associations.

I gave a 35-40 minute presentation on the vision, history, and program of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council ending with a full description of Austin Polytech—showing the PBS segment video as the conclusion.  Narelle Kennedy, the Chief Executive of the Australian Business Foundation, and Roy Green, Dean of the Business School provided comments and there were a series of good questions—reflecting a high level of interest in the Chicago experience.

My second presentation was to a meeting of the General Council of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AGCI)—the top business organization in the country.  The Council had about 40 members gathered in the Intercontinental Hotel.  I had a half-hour of their agenda—providing a ten-minute overview of the vision and partnerships reflected in the CMRC and Austin Polytech.  There were a number of questions with particular interest in the evolution and richness of the partnership between business and labor, and our recognition of the social and societal importance of advanced manufacturing.

After a refreshing and decompressing boat ride through the various fingers of the Sydney Harbor, Pam and I had dinner at the outdoor Oyster Restaurant at water’s edge in the shadow of the Sydney Opera House.  We reviewed the day  with Narelle Kennedy, Dr. Suzy Goldsmith—our host from the Foundation, and Peter McMullin, the President of the New South Wales Industry Association and the former Mayor of Geelong—a medium-sized industrial center on my itinerary.  Peter is a member of the ACCI General Council and had been at the meeting that included my presentation.  There was a high level of enthusiasm about my presentation and the response by both audiences—particularly in the development and maintenance of our “unlikely” partnerships as well as our recognition that manufacturing isn’t simply a private matter but deeply integrated into the broad concerns and possibilities for society.

On Saturday morning, Sharon, Neil, Pam and I left Sydney to visit Peter Botsman and Kat Moore who live on a farm in the Kangaroo Valley, 2-3 hours south of Sydney.  Peter is an old friend.  In 1991, he was President of the Evatt Foundation—a policy think-tank associated with the Australian Labor Party.   He invited me to speak at a conference of the future of the Australian labor movement on my experiences in industrial retention.    In the mid-90s, Peter visited Chicago for a month, as part of his year-long fellowship in the United States where he focused on studying the relevance of the Australian health system to the American debate on health care systems and insurance.  He worked out of CLCR and got to better know our work in industrial retention on the West Side, and including the experience of the West Side Health Authority in his study on American health systems.  Today, Peter has developed two new focuses of his life.  He now has 150 acres of land in what is truly a “shangrila-type” valley—lush fields and forests surrounded by 2-300 foot cliffs.  He raises cattle—having 75 or so head of Scottish Highland cattle that generate very high quality beef.  His other career is working with the aboriginal community in Northeastern Australia.  In addition to his deep immersion in aboriginal culture and spiritualism, he’s developed a fascinating organization—the Indigenous Stock Exchange.  ISE seeks to be a springboard for economic and social development in an extraordinarily complex community by linking very conventional and very unconventional partners and practices together.

During a two-three hour walk in the hills and forests around his farm we saw our first kangaroos, we returned to the house and found that Pam had been bitten by a snake—a bite that had penetrated her shoe and left two punctures in her ankle.  The Black and Brown snakes in the fields are quite poisonous, but evidently Pam was lucky enough to have a “dry” bite when the venom isn’t released as the local emergency health technician.  Next trip to the sporting store will include the purchase of gaiters as for protection as we bush walk in the next couple of weeks.

Once the excitement and sense of emergency subsided, we turned to a discussion on the relevance of the Austin Polytech model for youth in Peter’s aboriginal community.  In aboriginal lands, there are huge mining initiatives—and the polytechnical education model seems an appropriate step.  In the next year, possibly we’ll see a delegation of aboriginal leaders in Chicago at Austin Polytech.

Now on to Melbourne, the state of Victoria, and Tasmania.

Trevon Dotson and Marla Sanders spent the day at American Grinding.

On March 16, 2011, 35 APA Juniors participated in a job shadow day.  Students had the opportunity to see what they learn in class in action while visiting some of APA’s dedicated partners.  Students began their day with a tour of the facilities and then spent the remainder shadowing employees in different areas of expertise.

Tyyanni Smith spent her job shadow at DeCardy Diecasting.

Students were able to see every aspect of manufacturing from design, marketing, production, and quality control. Kadedra Murph who attended Alion was excited to see a production process in motion, “The best part of my job shadow is that we were able to see the batching process, we got to see how the process came together. We got to see how they make liquid glass.” Thirty-three of the thirty five students that participated in the job shadow day already had NIMS credentials.  For these students it was an extra treat to already be familiar with some of machines on the production floor.

Mark Harris and Michelle Hudson sent the day at Freedman Seating.

Mark Harris, who attended Freedman Seating, enjoyed seeing how integral computers were to manufacturing,” We got to see how they were making seats with machines putting them together. I got the chance to design a part in the computer.” The job shadow day was an astounding success both for our students and partners. It was another demonstration of APA is preparing our students to be future leaders of industry.

Jafar James, Jeralmiah Garmon, Shantel Manning spent their day at Overton Gear.

Special thanks to: CPS’s Career and Technical Education Dept., Alion Science & Technology, Allied Metals, American Grinding, Bearse USA, C. Cretors Co., DeCardy Diecasting, Freedman Seating, Hudson Precision Co., Labelmaster, Laystrom Manufacturing, Overton Gear, Plymouth Tube Co., Temple Steel Co., WaterSaver Faucet, Winzeler Gear, Wrightwood Precision, Unique Active.

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“The manufacturing sector grew at a faster rate in January as the PMI registered 60.8 percent, which is its highest level since May 2004 when the index registered 61.4 percent. The continuing strong performance is highlighted as January is also the sixth consecutive month of month-over-month growth in the sector. New orders and production continue to be strong, and employment rose above 60 percent for the first time since May 2004. Global demand is driving commodity prices higher, particularly for energy, metals and chemicals.”

“America’s working families and business community stand united in applauding President Obama’s call to create jobs and grow our economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure,” Trumka and Donahue said. “Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy.

In an interview with CNN’s John King, Richard Trumka explained the decision behind this rare but important partnership with the Chamber of Commerce:

More about the joint statement in The Washington Post and AFL-CIO blog.

The president also visited GE in Schenectady, New York last week. Check it out on the January 28 edition of West Wing Week: “To Build Stuff and Invent Stuff”.