 
No Time to Waste on Green Jobs Training Legislation
July 2008, Electrical Worker
 Developing more “green jobs” to reverse our nation’s industrial decline requires a healthy helping of federal policy to support the training of workers in solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies.
Thanks to the strong advocacy of labor, industry and environmental groups, a new $125 million program to provide research and training in renewable energy has been included in the 2007 energy bill passed by Congress. The pilot program will train up to 35,000 workers for jobs in a range of industries including energy-efficient building, construction and retrofits, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, biofuels and manufacturing that produces sustainable products.
But the bill’s worker training program still must be funded by Congress. And a section of the legislation that encourages participation by labor organizations is under attack from nonunion groups including Associated Builders and Contractors and the Independent Electrical Contractors.
“All members and leaders who care about the future of our union and our nation’s economy need to contact their legislators now to fund the renewable energy training program,” says President Edwin D. Hill, who has sent a letter to Congress. “We must not concede this important sector of growth to nonunion contractors.”
The worker training legislation authorizes spending for five related green jobs initiatives. Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, two programs will collect and analyze federal and state labor market data on green jobs. Others will award competitive grants to nonprofit partnerships to carry out training, improve green jobs advocacy by state employment and unemployment insurance services and steer training funds to low-income adults and youth.
Anti-union forces are opposing a section of the act that requires that labor organizations, including joint labor-management training programs, be consulted and invited to submit comments about how training money should be spent in their geographical area.
When members of Congress began to talk about federal support for green jobs, labor cautioned that—without proper oversight—federal assistance could be used to undermine joint labor-management apprenticeship and training programs, says Bruce Burton, International Representative, Political and Legislative Department. “The last thing we need is for taxpayer dollars to be used to train our nonunion competition.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the bill’s sponsors, has defended the language on union involvement by pointing to the effectiveness of union training programs in lifting the wages of graduates.
“At the end of the day, as we are working toward energy efficiency and sustainability, we also want to make sure that jobs pay people a living wage,” Sanders told The Hill newspaper.
The renewable energy training program was sponsored by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.). The House bill was endorsed by Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), with support from California Democrats George Miller and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The measure was supported by a diverse coalition, including the Apollo Alliance, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the AFL-CIO, along with business, industry and environmental groups.
To read more about the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program, including how to prepare for grant funding, visit www.ibew.org.
To urge members of Congress to appropriate funding and to encourage the Department of Labor to establish and implement the grant programs in a timely manner, visit: http://www.greenforall.org
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