Making Sure Green Jobs are Good Jobs

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.

Comments

[phoenix60]

As a member of the IBEW, I feel compelled to comment on this blog. With all due respect Mr. Hill, much change is needed at this organization in order for us to even think about playing an active role in the future of green job growth.
I agree that there will be many opportunities open to highly trained and skilled workers. I believe the study you cited about green job growth. I agree that we need to build careers that expand opportunity for rebuilding the middle class.
Though I agree on these points, I am not sure that unions are the answer and this blog seems to be just another piece of union propaganda. I can say this Mr. Hill because I have been an IBEW member for 16 years. I believed in the promises of union member benefits. The promise of a journeyman’s wage, a trade, and training was ALL that I got.
For the last 16 years, though I earn more per hour, I work less per year. I cannot solicit my work and am bound by the conditions (work through the hall) of my local. The few classes held at the JATC are based on the interest of our contractors, not members. Our retirement is in shambles. I am no longer physically able to keep up with the demands of the job; our disability pays $150/wk.
Generous? Maybe, but not what I expected from union membership. (Continued below)

[phoenix60]

The truth is, in my area, the workers that stay on the job are younger, cut corners on safety and quality, and compromise everything I believed this great union to be. I see it first hand. I will admit I am slower to produce because 16 years ago quality is what counted. I served my apprenticeship with honor and thinking I was making an investment in my career and legacy of the IBEW. When I am working, it is with the customer in mind. It is according to specifications, code compliant and done safely. Sad to say this takes longer, and in today’s highly competitive market this work ethic puts me first on the lay-off list. Today, it is about making a buck.
I would love the opportunity to see these IBEW training centers offering instruction on renewable energy. Though I have given up on continuing education from the IBEW, I have never given up on improving my skills and knowledge of the electrical industry. As a mater of fact every time I am laid off I spend the time taking classes on my own.

[phoenix60]

Currently I hold a BA from the National Labor College, and am certified as an Electrical Inspector. I attend monthly meetings given by another organization in order to keep current on code issues. My next plan is to become certified as an Energy Inspector, which seems a bit far from the focus of the IBEW, but then again I cannot sit and wait for opportunities, which the leaders of the IBEW decide, to trickle down to me. I am too old and it is taking too long.
As our leader, Mr. Hill, I am asking you that before you go selling the benefits of the IBEW to Capital Hill, please check in with Main Street. You know as well as anyone that we are only as strong as our weakest link. If our members are looking elsewhere for opportunities (not just for work, but for purpose and participation) our foundation will collapse. If our contractor’s primary concern is making a fast easy buck, we all lose. I understand that we need to remain competitive, but not at the cost of our reputation. Our contractors and members need to be on the same page as far as safety, quality, and integrity. It is your job as our leader Mr. Hill to re-align our objectives, and commit to re-establishing our focus. Let's return to the principles upon which we were founded; then we can step into the future.

[SonofLiberty1]

Installing Solar Panels? Hmmm...

Wiring perhaps? Hmmm...

Wind Turbines? Hmmm...

Sorry but I don't know how these are going to put America back to work.

Not everyone is a construction worker or an Electrician.

It's going to take a combined effort and those outsourced jobs MUST COME BACK or new ones need to be created to replace them...the same types of jobs.

[Javani]

There will be a lot of new high paying jobs,

At the Goldman Sachs Climate Derivatives Desk.

Which is what this bill is really about, and who is paying the lobbyists writing the bill, who is funding the public relations, who is funding the NGO front groups, who is creating the front groups (NPR's favorite, "Pew Center for Climate Change" Lehmann, not Goldman though).

Al Gore called it a "mass persuasion campaign."