This is not just broad-back manual labor. These are companies that can make a lot of money and provide excellent jobs if they can find that talent. And if they don't, they could easily collapse.

In the last 20 years, the link between education and manufacturing has been left to rot on the vine.

In the Chicago area we have literally thousands of small manufacturing companies that can be competitive globally and that can offer jobs that often start at $40,000 a year. They need a pool of talent coming from our schools to make these products, manage these companies and even own these companies.

Labor was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things.

This is becoming the pre-eminent issue of labor negotiations. Sikorsky is certainly making good money, and if they want good workers they will have to pay good benefits.

A quarter of our claims that cost money come from 15 percent of the state's labor force. When you're younger, there's more of a sense of invincibility.