IUOE Project Shows Union Workers Ready for Green Jobs
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Many of the green jobs of “the future” already exist and are performed by union members who make energy-efficient products and teach others how to conserve energy.
Take Operating Engineers Local 49, which represents workers in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Members of the local recently built a wind turbine farm in the small town of Chandler, Minn. Crane operators from the local union hoisted the turbines into place as other members dug trenches for the transmission lines and did the grading.
Glen Johnson, business manager for Local 49, tells the Operating Engineers (IUOE) magazine, International Operating Engineer:
We’re green. We’ve been green a long time. When our operators are building roads and bridges, key environmental factors must be met.
