As he was promoting the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, President Barack Obama hailed the behemoth measure for transcending traditional adversarial lines. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and organized labor all pushed Congress to approve it.

The aligning of interests proved that there was something for everyone in the sprawling legislation, which Obama says will generate or save 3.5 million jobs over two years.

Business and labor agreed on a substantive point as well. They both said Congress should devote as much attention to whether the U.S. labor force is prepared for new jobs as it does to creating them.

Two people on the business-labor continuum made that point at separate events last week as the package was being rushed through Congress.

Harold “Terry” McGraw III, chairman and CEO of publishing firm McGraw-Hill, appeared at a National Press Club news conference February 11 to outline the goals of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives from big U.S. companies. McGraw is Business Roundtable chairman.

“Most of the recent discussion has centered on the size and shape of the stimulus projects,” McGraw said. “But even the best package risks failing if America doesn’t have skilled workers to fill the new jobs.”

The stimulus bill provides $3.95 billion for job training. But the total number could be larger than that because training funds are spread out in different areas. For instance, the bill expands help for workers who lost their jobs due to global competition. Under an enhanced Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, states would get $575 million more in training money each fiscal year for two years.

The Business Roundtable backs TAAP expansion. It is calling for “green job” training and a worker-training tax credit for employers. The group also is setting up what it calls the Springboard Project, which will draw together representatives from business, labor, education and government to develop recommendations for workforce preparation.

The next day, February 12, a House subcommittee held the first hearing in the process to revamp the Workforce Investment Act, the law that encompasses the nation’s worker training programs. The measure was due for an update in 2003, but reauthorization has been stalled since then.

Morton Bahr, president emeritus of the Communications Workers of America, testified at the hearing on behalf of the National Commission on Adult Literacy. That group released a report last year showing that up to 88 million Americans lack at least one educational credential that would give them upward mobility.

Bahr said the key to helping union members—and everyone in the labor market—to move on to better jobs is to change the way education is perceived. Americans have to embrace lifelong learning, not just K-12 or even kindergarten through college.

In an interview after the hearing, Bahr said training helped AT&T operators qualify for new jobs after their positions dwindled following the breakup of the phone monopoly in the mid-1980s. The union helped workers enter programs giving them skills needed to become technicians or move into other work.

AT&T and the CWA created the Alliance for Employee Growth and Development in New Jersey in 1986. The initiative provides training for AT&T workers. It’s revered by management and labor and is protected during bargaining disputes.

“It’s never held hostage,” Bahr said. It’s one example of the joint labor-management educational programs sponsored by 16 unions and 400 employers.

For the moment, labor and management are locked in a death match over a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear more about how the two sides can work together to advance employee skills—something both sides agree is crucial to economic growth?