Issue Position: Jobs and the Economy

Issue Position

Mary Caferro knows small businesses are the heart of Helena and state employees are its strength. Caferro's legislative efforts to keep jobs in Montana recognize the need to support workers in their current employment and the need for increased access to job retraining.

"When the economy recovers, it will be a new economy and we need to prepare our workers to meet the challenge." - Mary Caferro

* Mary was instrumental in bringing the "Transitional Jobs Program" to Montana creating hundreds of jobs. The jobs program is a win-win solution providing main street businesses with workers while not affecting their bottom line. For workers, the jobs program allows them access to job training and the wage to feed their children and keep their homes.
* The workforce has changed dramatically while unemployment laws have not that is why Mary laid the foundation for strengthening and updating unemployment laws.
* Mary sponsored a "Safe Days, Sick Days" bill that would have established paid sick leave for Montana workers so that no one would lose their job when they had to leave work to care for an injured child or to keep a child safe from an abusive parent.
* Mary's Green Jobs Training bill was the jumping off point for Montana's new job training program which links displaced workers with the training necessary for finding jobs in the new economy. Workers will now have access to training in energy efficiency, energy conservation, renewable energy, recycling and reclamation.

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