Workers' rights are key to clean energy
"Passing the Employee Free Choice Act is one of our most important legislative priorities," said Margrete Strand Ragnes, director of the Club's Labor, Workers' Rights and Trade Program and deputy director of the Blue Green Alliance. "President Obama has put forward plans that will revitalize our economy with millions of new green jobs. Passing the Employee Free Choice is not only the right thing to do, but it will give workers the tools they need to make sure that these green jobs are also good jobs."
Just as the Sierra Club is partnering with labor unions to advance workers'-rights legislation and other key initiatives, the labor movement is also an active partner in efforts to pass comprehensive clean-energy and climate legislation. Just last week, the Blue Green Alliance - an alliance between environmental groups and labor unions, including the Sierra Club, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) - announced joint principles for climate legislation. This shared agenda will revitalize our economy with millions of new good, green jobs.
"The labor and environmental movements together are a formidable force," said Andy Stern, president of SEIU. "We share the goals of developing a green economy that promotes workers' rights to unite on the job to create a new generation of good jobs. United, we can address climate change in a way that protects workers and their communities."
"By advancing the rights of workers, the U.S. can create real opportunities for American families that will promote a green economy and protect our environment. We share common concerns with the Sierra Club that runaway economic policies are preventing workers from organizing and bargaining collectively and fail to direct our economy to create quality, sustainable middle-class jobs," said CWA President Larry Cohen. "The Sierra Club has said that `companies that treat their workers right are much more likely to treat our environment right.' Through the Employee Free Choice Act, we're determined to restore our middle class and our commitment to a cleaner, greener nation."