One such program is the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. Many industry leaders predict a shortage of 2 million skilled techs in the next four years. CWA, GTE, Bell Atlantic, SBC, U S WEST and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have formed the National Advisory Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning. Our goal is to train thousands of new technicians for jobs in the industry. One of the more exciting partnerships is the one we have with Cisco Systems to certify technicians on Cisco manufactured equipment.
Cisco is the largest maker of routers and servers for the Internet.
What attracted Cisco to CWA was the work we were doing with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to train outgoing military personnel on information technology. The Association is an umbrella organization through which we will have the ability to coordinate activities. Technological change is forcing us to rethink our attitudes toward education in the United States. Led by American labor and other concerned political, academic and business leaders, there is a national movement building to make education a lifelong pursuit. We see the workplaces of the 21st Century as the new classrooms for the future.