California: Unions Support Green Jobs
According to the California Progress Report:
As California moves toward a decision on how it will implement AB 32, the state’s landmark “Global Warming Solutions Act,” there is increasing interest in the legislation on the part of labor unions, who want to make sure that the AB 32 implementation plan not only benefits the environment but also benefits California’s economy and workers.
While labor unions in the United States have had a mixed record on global warming mitigation measures in the past (until this year the AFL-CIO opposed the Kyoto Protocol), today most US unions are starting to voice their support for policies to reduce global warming and the US dependence on oil. Just last month, the Teamsters reversed its support of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Teamsters President Jim Hoffa told a crowd of labor and environmental activists in Oakland that, “We must find a long-term approach [to our energy problems] that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power."
In California, building and construction trades unions have long promoted energy efficiency measures like retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency for their promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions AND create high quality jobs. Several of their apprenticeship programs offer training in cutting-edge green construction techniques. Like most of the labor community, the trades want to make sure that the green jobs created by climate mitigation legislation like AB 32 are high-quality jobs with family-supporting wages, benefits and a career pathway. They also want to make sure that workers in heavy-greenhouse-gas emitting industries who lose their jobs because of climate mitigation legislation receive financial support and retraining...click to continue.
