Clean Energy Could Create 850,000 New Jobs
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With more than 2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost since the beginning of this recession in December 2007, a new report says developing a clean energy economy in the United States could create some 850,000 new manufacturing jobs.
The report, “Building the Clean Energy Assembly Line: How Renewable Energy Can Revitalize U.S. Manufacturing and the American Middle Class,” by the Blue Green Alliance, recommends major policy changes to build markets for clean energy and provide the financing and capacity building to create clean energy jobs.
Speaking at a telephone press conference today, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said federal policies gave a boost to the auto, medical and other industries, and they can do the same for clean energy.
Clean energy can revitalize U.S. manufacturing. Clean energy technology utilizes many of the same components manufactured for the auto industry. Done right, clean energy policy will create new demand for…manufacturing.
In the Field: High Momentum for Employee Free Choice Act
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Reports are piling in from around the country from union members and their allies in the faith, civil rights, small business and environmental communities who are helping advance the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
In Maine, the Sierra Club, along with Bill Murphy, director of the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education, held a press conference to announce that the environmental community is strongly in favor of Employee Free Choice, which they say will ensure workers have a voice in how businesses operate in their communities.
In Fort Collins, Colo., the Rev. Daniel Klawitter of Interfaith Worker Justice, led a community meeting in support of the Employee Free Choice Act that helped raise funds for an area food bank. Union members and members of Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, joined him in supporting the food bank and the freedom to form unions, which Klawitter said was “the most effective anti-poverty program” available to workers.
Environmental Movement, Unions Come Together for Healthy Planet, Workers’ Rights
In a great piece of the latest issue of Grist, Kate Sheppard looks at the ways the union and environmental movements are working together to make sure the emerging energy economy is sustainable and fair to everyone.
Sheppard focuses on the work of the Blue Green Alliance, a coalition of environmental and union groups, which is educating union members and their families about the need for green jobs to aid in the transition to a cleaner, greener economy. She also examines the rising role of environmental groups in the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthAction and Green America have joined the broad coalition for the Employee Free Choice Act, as has the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of union, environmental, business and community groups focused on building a new energy economy.
Unions, Allies: Once in a Lifetime Opportunity to Create Jobs of the Future
California Labor Federation communications organizer Rebecca Greenberg reports on the organization’s Building Workforce Partnerships conference.
Economic stimulus, green jobs, energy efficiency…these are terms workers have been hearing quite a bit about lately. This week in San Jose, Calif., unions, government, business and environmentalists joined leading economists at the California Labor Federation’s annual Building Workforce Partnerships conference to address the potential of jointly addressing economic security, energy independence and government stimulus to build a fundamentally stronger economy for America’s workers.
Thousands Join in Candlelight Vigils Across California
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| Union activists and allies held candlelight vigils for the Employee Free Choice Act across California. |
California Labor Federation Communications organizer Rebecca Greenberg reports on the recent statewide vigils in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
More than a thousand California workers, interfaith leaders, community allies and elected officials kicked the California campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act into overdrive in recent days by participating in statewide overnight vigils. The message was clear to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the only Democrat in California not currently signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill: Now is the time to reform labor law and rebuild the middle class.
In Los Angeles, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski joined Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo for a noontime kick-off rally on Wednesday with more than 100 workers and community allies. The vigil focused on building a better future for young workers and the next generation by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. Vigil participants also reflected on social justice campaigns of the past and how they relate to today’s struggle. Several other community groups, including the Sierra Club, came out to voice their support for Employee Free Choice.
Environmental Community Supports Employee Free Choice
Happy Earth Day! It’s a great time to celebrate the cooperation between the environmental movement and the union movement in building a stronger, greener economy. A big part of that collaboration is making sure that green jobs are good jobs, so workers can bargain for health care, pensions, job security and fair wages.
That’s why it’s encouraging that so many environmental groups have joined the coalition supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill is critical to protect workers’ freedom to form unions, and give them a voice in the workplace and the ability to have a say in how their jobs impact their community.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthAction and Green America have joined the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act, as has the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of union, environmental, business and community groups focused on building a new energy economy.
Union Leader at Republic Windows: ‘We Don’t Have to Wait Until the Boss Screws Us’
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The power of workers comes through with a union. That’s the message and lesson learned during the successful sit-in by nearly 300 workers at the Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago last December.
Workers at Republic made justice happen. After a six-day sit-in at the plant, the workers, members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1110, faced down the company and one of the nation’s biggest financial institutions. The company announced it was shutting down and that the workers would not receive the severance and accrued vacation pay they were owed (see video).
Bank of America, which received billions in taxpayer bailout funds, cut off the company’s line of credit. Outraged by the move, a coalition of workers, community groups, politicians and religious leaders shamed the bank and company into backing down.
Blue Green Alliance: House Committee Takes A First Step Toward A Clean Energy Bill
A week after issuing its own principles for climate change legislation, the Blue Green Alliance said the draft bill released yesterday by the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce takes the first step toward building a strong clean energy economy.
Last week, the alliance, a national partnership of four unions and two environmental organizations, outlined its goals for climate change legislation that would 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.
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.
Biden’s Middle Class Task Force Hears Need for Good Green Jobs
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Green jobs can be a pathway to middle class for millions of Americans, but only if we ensure they come with good wages and benefits, union and environmental leaders told a White House panel.
Speaking to the first meeting of Vice President Biden’s Middle Class Task Force in Philadelphia today, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard said any new green jobs also must be good jobs.
To rebuild our middle class, we must also be sure that the jobs created in this new, green economy are good jobs with family-supporting wages and benefits, that we maximize the number of jobs created in this economy, and that these jobs truly contribute to the protection of our environment for future generations of Americans.
