With more than $50 billion in federal stimulus money going to training and investment in the renewable energy sector, green-collar jobs look to be a bright spot of growth amidst stunningly high unemployment.
According to one study, green jobs are expected to grow at an annual rate of 1.3 million through 2030.
This could be great news for our economy and the American worker, but the reality is there's no guarantee that green jobs will automatically be good jobs.
Even before the current economic crisis, our country endured more than 20 years of the Wal-Mart model of job growth - low-wage, low-skill and no-future jobs that contributed to the mess we're in now, expanding the gap between the very rich and the rest of us.
A job in the new green energy economy can't just be another dead-end "McJob" that keeps our economy stuck in the past, especially in today's recession. We need to build careers that can expand opportunity, drive economic recovery and rebuild a middle class devastated by declining wages and plant shutdowns.
And we can't do it on the cheap. Whether we are talking about installing solar panels, wiring wind turbines or retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, green power requires a highly-trained electrical work force that can do the job professionally and safely.
Unfortunately there still exists a culture in both corporate America and on Capitol Hill that prioritizes short-term profits over paying their employees a decent wage or investing in educational and training opportunities that would increase productivity over the long run.
The financial support President Obama and Congress have thrown behind green-job training is an important first step in the right direction, but it's only the beginning.
If we want to lay the foundation for economic recovery and a renewed middle class, while positioning ourselves as leaders in the new energy economy, we need to make sure we are investing in the men and women who will make the green-collar revolution happen.
For nearly a decade, my union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has taken the lead on renewable energy, providing the curriculum, instructors and facilities necessary to train a generation of green-energy workers.
As the same time we provide the best training in the industry to our members, we are also making sure green-collar workers and their families can find a place in the middle class by guaranteeing good wages, benefits and retirement security in exchange for their hard work.
Green energy offers our country not only the opportunity to lower our carbon footprint, but a chance to resurrect the economic model of shared prosperity that built our middle class in the first place.
Political leaders from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have already seen up close what our training centers and union can offer the renewable energy sector and working families.
Our doors are open to anyone who wants to see it for themselves.