Monorail will offer jobs to returning veterans

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The city of Seattle, outpost of anti-war sentiment, could emerge as one of the best places for veterans to find a job after their tours of duty in Iraq.

The Green Line monorail is among the nation's first transportation projects to join "Helmets to Hardhats," a partnership between unions and the military to help veterans break into the construction trades. The year-old national program is part of a monorail labor agreement signed yesterday.

Besides rewarding people who serve the country, the program is expected to help the monorail achieve work-force diversity, since the military itself is among the most racially integrated niches of American society.

It is so new that the first Puget Sound-area participant, a Navy machinist, signed up two weeks ago, said Bill McKenna, Helmets to Hardhats training director for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters.

Veterans will be approached weeks or months before discharge if they show an interest in Seattle or the monorail, he said. Qualified vets are eligible for tuition benefits.

More information is available at www.helmetstohardhats.com.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com

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