Labor and Environmental Groups Launch a Green Jobs Campaign

April 16, 2008

The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council launched a national campaign on April 8 to promote renewable energy. The Green Jobs for America campaign will highlight the potential to create more than 820,000 new jobs throughout the United States through a greater commitment to renewable energy. In addition to encouraging renewable investments from the private sector, the campaign will emphasize the kinds of policies that are needed to fight global warming and expand clean energy production. The Blue Green Alliance, a strategic partnership formed by the USW and the Sierra Club in 2006, is also participating in the campaign.

The Green Jobs for America campaign will run through mid-September, focusing on twelve states—Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin—that stand to gain nearly 170,000 new jobs in wind turbine manufacturing as well as nearly 93,000 new manufacturing jobs making the parts for solar power equipment. Teams from the participating organizations will undertake grassroots organizing, conduct a series of public events, gather signatures on petitions, and release independent studies highlighting the potential for tens of thousands of new green jobs in each state. See the Sierra Club press release.

The Blue Green Alliance has also teamed up with the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization, in an effort to educate the 850,000 members of the USW about climate change. The program will be the first of its kind to build a blue-collar constituency for climate change solutions, highlighting the opportunities for high-paying domestic jobs in renewable energy, clean technology, and "green" manufacturing, while also explaining the environmental and economic risks associated with climate change. The effort is part of the "We Campaign," launched by the Alliance for Climate Protection to emphasize the potential for renewable energy and energy efficiency to help mitigate climate change. See the Blue Green Alliance press release (PDF 160 KB) and the We Campaign Web site. Download Adobe Reader.