Popular Front of Judea
16th September 2013, 20:52
I wonder if they'll do a Publishers Clearinghouse type of award ceremony for the winners ...
At the corner of Houston and Hudson, six blocks from the Soho bakery where ladies in expensive sandals queued up before the crack of dawnall summer to taste the Cronut, a different kind of line was forming. At first it was just a couple of burly men planted in lawn chairs outside the New York City District Council of Carpenters. A week later more than 1,000 others—security guards, welders, construction workers, and baby-faced kids fresh out of high school—had pitched tents and unfurled sleeping bags next to them. A passerby surveyed the crowd and guessed it was some sort of mixed martial arts ticket giveaway.
It wasn't.
Welcome to post-recession New York, where a middle-class job is a lottery prize and folks will camp out on the street just for a chance to play.
The carpenters union apprenticeship lottery only comes around once every few years. Anyone can submit his or her name. You just have to show up, fill out a card, and drop it in a box.
For this year's mid-August call, 750 cards are available. Who gets picked depends on employer demand. There's no telling how many jobs there will be, or when they will open up. But those who are selected will have a shot at one of the last-of-their-kind jobs that virtually guarantee a place in the middle class.
The Carpenters Union Lottery Offers a Shot at the Middle Class | Village Voice
(http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-09-11/news/carpenters-union-lottery/)
At the corner of Houston and Hudson, six blocks from the Soho bakery where ladies in expensive sandals queued up before the crack of dawnall summer to taste the Cronut, a different kind of line was forming. At first it was just a couple of burly men planted in lawn chairs outside the New York City District Council of Carpenters. A week later more than 1,000 others—security guards, welders, construction workers, and baby-faced kids fresh out of high school—had pitched tents and unfurled sleeping bags next to them. A passerby surveyed the crowd and guessed it was some sort of mixed martial arts ticket giveaway.
It wasn't.
Welcome to post-recession New York, where a middle-class job is a lottery prize and folks will camp out on the street just for a chance to play.
The carpenters union apprenticeship lottery only comes around once every few years. Anyone can submit his or her name. You just have to show up, fill out a card, and drop it in a box.
For this year's mid-August call, 750 cards are available. Who gets picked depends on employer demand. There's no telling how many jobs there will be, or when they will open up. But those who are selected will have a shot at one of the last-of-their-kind jobs that virtually guarantee a place in the middle class.
The Carpenters Union Lottery Offers a Shot at the Middle Class | Village Voice
(http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-09-11/news/carpenters-union-lottery/)