Made in America: Green Jobs
August 28, 2009
The message was clear: We’re facing two crises at once- an economic recession with record job losses, and an ever-accelerating climate crisis.
Who holds the solution?
“American workers,” said Katie Gulley, Regional Program Manager for the Blue Green Alliance, a coalition of labor groups and environmental organizations working together to create the clean energy economy.
Katie’s presentation, “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” was part of a statewide tour held this week in Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City. Watch the video coverage here.
Representatives from the United Steelworkers, Communication Workers of America, Laborers’ Union, AFL-CIO, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Machinists, and many other unions came to hear Katie’s green jobs message.
These union workers, though accustomed to seeing each other at meetings, may have been surprised by who they were sitting next to. Environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, Kansas Natural Resource Council, and the Land Institute were in attendance, also interested in Katie’s message.
This unlikely alliance- between environmental and labor organizations – is born of a common purpose: Bringing good, green jobs to Kansas.
“Green jobs are blue collar jobs with a ‘green’ purpose,” explained Gulley. These are steelworkers forming steel for a wind turbine tower, laborers constructing wind projects, communications workers laying broadband, and electricians running line for solar panels.
And, as Katie explained, these green jobs must also be good jobs – jobs that pay good family-supporting wages and that protect workers.
With over 120 attendees at these events – interest and enthusiasm for Katie’s message was high.
One recent report from the Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) finds that Kansas stands to gain more than 11,000 manufacturing jobs in the renewable energy industry, pumping more than $1.97 billion into the state’s economy.
Labor unions, farm organizations, environmentalists, representatives from community colleges and environmental education centers – all agreed: The time has come for green jobs in Kansas.
August 28, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The more I research the topic of how we gain momentum on green jobs the more I am convinced that it will take partnerships with and coordination by the various stakeholders including labor unions, small business, environmental groups, community colleges, and all levels of government.
No one can afford to wait for the next guy to step up to the plate. Each element must show leadership in training people for green jobs and putting people to work in jobs that will provide a living wage and a green career ladder that will last.
Elizabeth Nichols
August 29, 2009 at 3:17 pm
[...] Made in America: Green Jobs « Climate and energy – Representatives from the United Steelworkers, Communication Workers of America, Laborers’ Union, AFL-CIO, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Machinists, and many other unions came to hear Katie’s green jobs message. … [...]
August 30, 2009 at 12:18 pm
We’re hoping all the recovery and reinvestment funds Obama’s administration is putting through will cerate enough green jobs. We’re probably still in the infancy of the green job market however.