Made in America Jobs Tour: Investing in Green Economy Creates Jobs
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Workers, union leaders and business executives joined Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson today to deliver the message that investing in clean energy not only is good for our environment but also would create millions of good green jobs to rejuvenate the economy and rebuild the nation’s middle class.
Jackson spoke at a rally in Gary, Ind., as part of the nationwide Made in America Jobs Tour sponsored by the Blue Green Alliance and the Alliance for Climate Protection’s Repower America campaign. The tour kicked off Aug. 20 in Cleveland and will involve more than 50 events in 22 states, including rallies in St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Gary.
Blue Green Alliance Reaches Historic Agreement on Climate Legislation
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The Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of four unions and two environmental organizations, today announced support for comprehensive climate change legislation. The legislation is an effective way to rapidly put millions of Americans back to work building a clean energy economy and to reduce global warming emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
The alliance called for a reduction of U.S. carbon emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 and is supporting a renewed U.S. effort to forge a global treaty to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 percent by that same date. To meet these goals, domestic climate change legislation should reduce U.S. emissions significantly below 2005 levels by 2020, with individual partners advocating targets ranging from 14 percent to 25 percent.
Green Jobs Must Also Be Good Jobs
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Creating green jobs must be a key part of our economic future, and it holds the key to solving the dual issues of global warming and economic growth. But the jobs will only boost the economy if there are guarantees to prevent employers from seeking to make profits on the backs of workers.
For three days last week, more than 2,600 union and environmental activists and lawmakers gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to create a new wave of green jobs that will both stimulate the economy and provide a clean future. Participants at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference focused on transforming the struggling economy through a range of environmental investments in green technology, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Conference organizers said the goal was to develop a “New Green Deal” that would create jobs, increase energy independence, reduce global warming and expand the clean energy and green technology markets.
In addition, the conference highlighted the potential of a green economy to build a new social agenda that lifts Americans out of poverty, improves public health and strengthens the middle class.
Workers, Environmentalists Unite Around Good Jobs, Green Jobs
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With a new president and Congress focusing on rebuilding our economy, more than 2,000 union, environmental, business and government activists and leaders visited Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers that creating green jobs must be a key part of our economic future and that it holds the key to solving the dual issues of global warming and economic growth.
The Green Jobs Advocacy Day yesterday kicked off the three-day Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference in Washington, D.C., where participants are mapping out strategies to create good jobs and clean up our environment.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka told conference participants today that he was sure some members of Congress were “disconcerted” to see union members and environmentalists lobbying side by side.
Employee Free Choice Gains Backing of Broad Range of Groups
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The momentum for the Employee Free Choice Act is growing and the legislation is gaining a broad spectrum of backers. The range of support shows how much the public understands that a strong union movement can benefit the economy and the nation.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, one of the largest environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council, announced its support of the bill, which would level the playing field by allowing workers to choose how to join a union. Also at the conference, the Sierra Club reiterated its support.
Poznan Perspectives and Aspirations
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Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, updates us on the 12-day United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) in Poznan, Poland. This ministerial meeting will build upon the framework negotiated in Bali, Indonesia, a year ago. Of the nearly 100 union delegates, more than 20 are from North America.
Thomas is a Poznan cab driver who speaks excellent English. As he drove us to our hotel in the outer suburbs, we had a fascinating conversation about the world economic crisis, his birth on a commune in 1982, the genesis of solidarity and democracy in Poland, and the fall of the Iron Curtain when he was a child. He spoke with eloquence and insight. He also told me about the degree in economics he had earned last year from one of the 14 universities located in this city.
When I asked about his being a cab driver, he said:
You take the best-paying job you can get.
U.N. Climate Change Conference: Union Activists Key to Greening the Globe
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David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance (BGA), sends us an update from the 12-day U.N. Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) in Poznan, Poland. Some 8,000 delegates and observers from around the world are meeting to build upon the framework negotiated last year in Bali, Indonesia. The Blue Green Alliance is a strategic partnership of U.S. labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the green economy. The BGA is composed of the United Steelworkers, Sierra Club, Communications Workers of America, Natural Resources Defense Council and SEIU.
Walking a gauntlet of young civil society delegates to the UNCCC meeting in this ancient city, I couldn’t help but feel a profound disconnect between the plunging expectations of working people around the world at the end of 2008 and the tepid rhetoric of government delegates at the official “Shared Vision” workshop. This workshop was designed specifically to provide a public opportunity to government representatives to inspire us to embrace change.
