Making Our Union Stronger in Tough Times: Good Jobs, Green Jobs

CWAers Meet with Biden, Middle Class Task Force

CWA members and leaders, community residents and business leaders welcomed Vice President Joe Biden to the floor of the New Flyer bus manufacturing plant in St. Cloud, Minn.,  for the second meeting of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families.

New Flyer, whose employees are members of CWA Local 7304, is a leader in the production of hybrid, low-emission and alternative-fuel buses and other vehicles. 

Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and members of the administration's economic team, held a town hall meeting at the plant to showcase what can be achieved by President Obama's economic stimulus program — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — and by companies focusing on creating quality green jobs. 

The economy must generate "not just jobs, but good jobs," Biden said, noting that workers didn't share in the benefits of increased productivity during the last economic expansion.

Dan Rock, president of CWA Local 7304, told the task force that CWA members "were very proud to be a leader in the production of fuel-efficient buses" and proud of their union contract. He and other local leaders were on hand as  Biden took questions and listened to ideas on how to strengthen and support the middle class.

CWA President Larry Cohen said New Flyer "shows how investment in green technology can create thriving businesses and quality jobs."

He said further that "New Flyer is a leader in another way, by respecting workers' rights to majority signup for choosing union representation." That opportunity would be restored to all workers by passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Cohen noted. 

Building Quality Green Jobs In the Auto Industry

Cobasys is another quality green jobs story, where IUE-CWA members produce nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries for hybrid automobiles in Springboro, Ohio.

IUE-CWA Local 84755 member Shawn Grimes has been working at the company for 10 years, one of just six employees when operations started. Now Grimes and the other workers produce hybrid energy storage systems for several auto lines.

Cobasys has taken a hit in the economic downturn and recently was forced to cut back employment from 246 workers to 100.

But with hybrid technology the engine of the future for the auto industry, Grimes and his coworkers hope that companies like his will get the kind of government support needed to survive and further invest in green technology