AFL-CIO Backs a Green Jobs Economy

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/05/afl-cio-backs-a-green-jobs-economy/

by Mike Hall, Mar 5, 2008

The AFL-CIO Executive Council yesterday outlined a strategic approach to combat global warming domestically and around the world—and at the same time create a “green economy” with good jobs.

In the council’s “Greening the Economy” statement approved during its March 4–6 meeting in San Diego, the council says:

The AFL-CIO believes we can have both a healthy economy and a cleaner planet….The greening of the economy means that every job that contributes to a low-carbon future is a green job.



The council’s blueprint follows December’s U.N. meeting on climate change in Bali, where the global union movement called for decisive action, especially global warming. As the council notes:

The world is looking to the United States for leadership because we are the most energy-intensive nation in the world and one of its leading emitters of greenhouse gas. Our nation can lead a new technological revolution in the way energy is generated and used—a revolution that will be of immense benefit to the world as a whole and which can be the foundation of a revival of the middle class in the United States. But to accomplish this, we need a strategic approach centered on domestic investment in new technologies and good jobs. And we need to lead in fostering a shared international response to this issue.

Some of the steps the council calls for in this country include:

* Diversity in the electric utility industry and the retention of all current generating options, including fossil fuels, nuclear, hydro and renewable energy.
* New investment in a sustainable energy infrastructure must be structured to create good jobs and ensure stable energy prices.
* An economy-wide cap-and-trade program that is transparent and requires all sectors to come to the table to reduce their carbon emissions.
* Energy incentives and investments by the federal government must be based on a set of economic development principles that clean the environment and create jobs but will not encourage offshoring of manufacturing jobs.

FULL story at link.