We received this call for action from the Long Island Federation Of Labor and thought you would want to help out:
Your help is needed to save the Workforce Development Institute (WDI), New York labor’s primary vehicle for coordinating job training and workforce intelligence.
The WDI budget re-appropriation has been repealed from Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget. What this action means is this: as of March 31, 2011, WDI and all its staff and programming will be eliminated. This will mean that the valuable assistance we have received from Barbara McDonald in the Long Island office will come to an end.
Our understanding is that WDI’s funding was repealed by lower level Division of Budget staff as part of a larger move to save money without them knowing what WDI does, how effective our work is and that we support the Governor’s efforts to strengthen New York’s economy. We believe that alerting the Governor to our good work will allow him to make an educated and positive decision regarding WDI’s continued funding.
The Governor has until February 21, 2011 to amend his own budget and re-appropriate WDI funding.
We are asking that you send this letter, or your own version of a WDI support letter, to the Governor and the Director of the Division of Budget immediately.
We have a very small window of opportunity to show the Governor the value of WDI to our state. For a list of WDI programs conducted on Long Island click on the link below:
If you have any questions, please contact Roger Clayman at the Long Island Federation of Labor or Barbara McDonald at (O): 631-232-3240 or (Cell): 631-235-2956.