Keep Good Green Jobs in the United States

At the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, CWA President Cohen said millions of new, "green" jobs can be created, but our economy and American workers will only benefit if quality jobs are maintained here in the United States.

Millions of new, "green" jobs can be created, but our economy and American workers will only benefit if quality jobs are maintained here in the United States, CWA President Larry Cohen said at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs national conference of the Blue Green Alliance.

"When it comes to workers, we can't be just another commodity thrown in a landfill. We want good jobs, we want green jobs, we want union jobs and we're going to take a stand," he said.

Speaking to a diverse group of participants – from labor, business, environmental groups and government, Cohen urged Congress to support President Obama's plan for investment in science, research and technology to reverse the massive job losses caused by the current economic downturn and tackle the serious threat of irreversible climate change.

"We're facing the most serious economic and environmental challenges in a generation," said Cohen. "We need real leadership that answers President Obama's call for investment in needed science, research and technology so we can grow a cleaner green economy and put millions back to work."

A federal investment in green jobs could create two million jobs, and enable the nation's weakened and neglected manufacturing base to be rebuilt and utilize the very skills that scores of middle-class Americans already have – from engineers to carpenters, electricians to steelworkers and farmers to truck drivers.

CWA supports the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan now working its way through Congress and the measure's proposed investments in a green economy.

Such an investment could mean thousands of green, union jobs, Cohen said. IUE-CWA members now working at Cobasys, an American manufacturer of hybrid car batteries in Springboro, Ohio, show how companies can take the high road by keeping jobs and American innovation in the United States. The company is employing nearly 200 IUE-CWA workers building batteries for America's next generation of hybrid vehicles. 

All too often, however, jobs associated with new innovations are shipped overseas, as in the case of General Electric, which chose to take the low-road by moving production of its long-lasting, energy-saving florescent bulb, the CFL, to China. IUE-CWA workers who helped developed the new technology lost their jobs at their Youngstown, Ohio, plant, when GE decided not to upgrade its U.S. plants to produce the bulbs.

These examples spotlight the need for Employee Free Choice, Cohen said. "If we extinguish workers' rights, the chances for a green economy are nonexistent. We're people who believe in a sustainable economy. We can't just depend on markets, and if we do, we're likely to come up with answers that are at best incomplete," he said.