CWA Joins Blue Green Alliance

by Mike Hall, Oct 23, 2008

A “green,” clean energy economy that reduces global warming could create millions of new jobs in the United States. This month, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) took its place in the green jobs movement when it joined the Blue Green Alliance.

The Blue Green Alliance began as strategic partnership between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club to address global warming and climate change through initiatives and solutions that would create millions of jobs and protect workers’ rights. With CWA and the National Resources Defense Council as the newest partners this month, the Blue Green Alliance is now 4 million members strong. Says CWA President Larry Cohen:

We are excited to join this effort to create sustainable, middle-class jobs for America. We share common concerns that runaway economic policies are preventing workers from organizing and bargaining collectively, and fail to direct our economy to create sustainable, middle-class jobs. The global climate crisis must be addressed and we must advance the rights of workers so that we can create exciting opportunities for American families in the green economy.

Last month, a study by the University if Massachusetts at Amherst and the Center for American Progress (CAP) estimated that an investment of $100 billion in developing a green economy could create some 2 million jobs.

Sen. Barack Obama has proposed investing $150 billion over 10 years in the green energy sector which could create as many as 5 million jobs.

Says USW President Leo W. Gerard:

The effects of globalization have wreaked havoc on our economy and our environment—middle-class jobs are disappearing, our reliance on oil is threatening our security, and global warming threatens our environment. A green economy creates good jobs…and is the best way to protect the environment for the next generation.

Among the alliance’s goals are:

• Educating the public about the need for solutions that: reduce global warming pollution on a scale and timetable to avoid dangerous global-warming effects, thereby creating millions of jobs and a clean energy economy;
• Restoring the rights of U.S. workers to form a union and bargain collectively;
• Including in a just trade policy enforceable labor, environmental and human-rights standards; and
• Curbing the use of toxic chemicals in order to enhance public health and promote safer alternatives.

Says Sierra Club President Carl Pope:

We know that what we do to solve our energy crisis today will have a tremendous impact on the economy of tomorrow, and we know that advancing the rights of workers around the globe is integral to protecting our environment.

Just this week, the Sierra Club joined with the AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America in a series of conference calls on green jobs that drew participation from a combined 36,000 people.

In March, the AFL-CIO Executive Council outlined a strategic approach to combat global warming domestically and around the world—and at the same time create a green economy with good jobs. In the statement “Greening the Economy,” the council says:

The AFL-CIO believes we can have both a healthy economy and a cleaner planet….The greening of the economy means that every job that contributes to a low-carbon future is a green job.

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