Detroit Free Press Published 10:14 p.m. UTC Aug 4, 2018 Percy Johnson offered encouragement and advice to a steady stream of job seekers who stopped by his table Saturday morning at a job fair in Detroit. Some of the attendees wanted a new job that paid more money. Others had criminal convictions and said that has made it difficult to get hired. Johnson, a veteran UAW pipefitter and event organizer, told men and women about apprentice programs available even to people with felony records. They were encouraged to consider careers as electricians, plumbers, carpenters, iron workers, truck drivers and in information technology. “I’m a tradesman,” Johnson, 63, of Troy, told the Free Press. “It gave me a good lifestyle. That’s basically what everybody wants is just a chance to have a good lifestyle. I’ve just always been one if somebody needs information to help lift themselves up, I’m going to give it to them.” Lamont Gladney, 26, of Taylor, attended the event and is hopeful it will help him find work. “I’m really looking for a job because I need one,” he said, explaining that he’s applied for more than 20 jobs recently, but hasn’t been hired yet. He was convicted of furnishing a cell phone to a prisoner and said he is now trying to get his life back on track. “Once I did that I told myself I’m never doing nothing like that to put myself back in that situation,” Gladney said. Read more: Several other people were in similar situations at… [Read full story]
Leave a Reply