On Monday, November 10, the Sierra Club teamed up with the White House, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 9th District, and UC Berkeley to announce a new report showing how strong federal and state clean energy policies together with high road construction practices have led to an explosion of family-sustaining clean energy jobs in California. At a time when corporate polluters are using continuing economic uncertainty to try to divide the progressive coalition, this event was a model for how we will shift the national narrative from “jobs vs. environment” to “clean energy = great careers and healthier communities.”
Backed by a dozen young IBEW apprentices in their hard hats and work boots, and a Sierra Club-IBEW-branded banner reading “Quality Careers, Cleaner Planet,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune joined Jason Walsh, Senior Policy Advisor to the President of the United States, and John O'Rourke, IBEW 9th District International Vice President, at the press event at IBEW’s cutting edge zero net energy center in Oakland. Participants celebrated the report’s findings that smart national and statewide clean energy policies and high-road construction practices have led to the creation of thousands of fulfilling, well-paying careers in California.
The IBEW and the Sierra Club’s partnership work in California has focused on building a strong clean energy industry that supports middle-class careers, reduces climate-altering pollutants, and builds a strong economy. This blue-green partnership work has, in part, influenced statewide energy policies that have positioned California as the nation’s leader in clean energy generation, middle-class jobs, and innovation. This progress and partnership inspired UC Berkeley to research the relationship between the state’s clean energy success and employment. The report concludes that strong federal and state clean energy policies coupled with high-road construction practices, like union apprenticeship programs, have led to the employment of thousands of Californians in good, green construction jobs. At the press event, the IBEW and the Sierra Club encouraged California to continue on this path and enlist the rest of the nation to adopt similarly ambitious clean energy goals.
California's experience, and the success of this event, show us that when the labor and environmental movements come together to support strong clean energy policies and high road, worker-friendly construction and manufacturing policies, everybody wins.
Sierra Club representatives accompanying Brune at the press event, a pre-event breakfast, and a tour of the zero net energy center were Sierra Club Beyond Coal Senior Campaign Director Bruce Nilles, Western Regional Campaign Director Bill Corcoran, Sierra Club California Director Kathryn Phillips, SF Bay Chapter Conservation Program manager Jess Dervin-Ackerman, and Beyond Coal Campaign SW Region Deputy Press Secretary Marta Stoepker, among others. Western Region Deputy Campaign Director Evan Gillespie also worked with Labor Program Director Dean Hubbard to organize the report and event.
From the IBEW side, Local 569 Business Manager Johnny Simpson was a key organizer for the event, which was emceed by Local 569 Environmental Organizer Micah Mitrosky. Attendees also heard from Dr. Peter Phillips (the report's author), Cesar Diaz (Legislative Director for the California State Building and Construction Trades Council), Greg Armstrong (Executive Director of the CA National Electrical Contractors Association), and Byron Benton, Training Director for the IBEW-NECA Zero Net Energy Center.
You can see more great photos of the event here.