Apollo Alliance

Can't Ship Out Those Green Jobs

Tula Connell — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:45:40 -0400

We're giving up Styrofoam cups here at our building in Washington, D.C. Also doing an energy audit and taking a few other steps as a start toward making our building a green one--just some of the actions the AFL-CIO announced this week, in time for Earth Day.

Back in 1999, there was surprise over the "Teamsters and Turtles" alliance during protests against the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle. For many people, that was the first sign that we are not your father's labor movement.

Since then, we've gone far further, allying with environmentalists not only against destructive trade agreements but joining forces over the need to ensure that newly created green jobs are not low-paying jobs but jobs that pay well and create and strengthen the U.S. middle class.

The Apollo Alliance was the first coalition to emerge from our early alliances with the environmental movement. The Apollo Alliance was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America and it includes union, environmental, business and community groups focused on building a new energy economy. Apollo just released Make It In America: the Apollo Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP), a series of policy recommendations aimed at revitalizing America's manufacturing sector by investing significant federal funding in the domestic manufacture of clean energy components.

The Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of four unions and two environmental organizations, was formed in 2006, and in its most recent effort, published principles for comprehensive climate change legislation. You can read the policy statement here.

In February, our affiliated Working for America Institute (WAI) announced $1 million in funding for a new Center for Green Jobs to ensure the green jobs created under the Obama economic recovery bill are family-supporting jobs. The Center for Green Jobs has created standards to help community-level unionists assess the quality of jobs created under the recovery act. Click here for more about the standards.

Unions with members in a variety of industries are helping create a greener future (h/t to James Parks at the AFL-CIO Now blog for compiling this list):

The Mine Workers (UMWA), Boilermakers (IBB), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (IUC) are aggressively promoting the use of coal-generated electricity to provide jobs and help clean up the environment. Along with the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the unions earlier this month released a study showing that using advanced clean coal technologies that capture and safely store carbon dioxide will create millions of high-skilled, high-wage jobs for U.S. workers. You can read the study here.
UAW members last year produced environmentally friendly vehicles or components in plants in 30 cities in 14 states.
Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) manufacture wind turbines at several plants in Pennsylvania. The proliferation of wind turbines is beginning to revive shuttered steel mills across the country. In Gary, Ind., two closed steel mills have been reopened to help meet the demand for steel plate to be used in wind turbines. The ore for these mills is mined by USW members and shipped on boats crewed by Steelworkers.
The Machinists (IAM) work in numerous industries critical to reducing energy consumption and pollution, from energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems and appliances to components for modernizing energy distribution systems in buildings.
Members of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department are building more green buildings that use renewable energy to run more efficiently. One example is the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, site of the AFL-CIO's upcoming 2009 convention and the August Netroots Nation convention. Built with union labor, it is the only entirely green convention center in the country.
Last year, the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters unveiled its Green Training Trailer that's now touring the country to introduce UA apprentices, journeyman-level workers and green building expo participants to renewable energy technologies and sustainable building concepts. Take a virtual tour of the trailer at the UA website, www.ua.org, and click on "The UA has Gone Green" icon.

As Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told a Senate committee this week, "We don't want [green] jobs that don't go anywhere. We want jobs with a career path."

These are jobs that will provide economic security for our middle-class families while reducing our nation's dependence on imported energy. These are also jobs that traditionally cannot be outsourced.

This is a crosspost from Firedoglake.

Obama & Telecom Immunity: The Importance of Pushing

Bill Scher — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:34:18 -0400

Yesterday, Isaiah urged Sen. Barack Obama to take the lead in fighting immunity for telecom companies that may have helped the Bush administration break surveillance laws.

I do not have high expectations.

It appears quite clear to me, from Obama's recent statement on the new surveillance bill, that he is not interested in letting this bill become a flashpoint of disagreement between himself and his presidential rival Sen. John McCain. So he is expressing reluctant support of the overall bill, he will likely vote for an amendment stripping telecom immunity, the amendment will likely fail, and the overall bill will become law.

It will be a disappointing outcome. But there are worthwhile lessons to take, as progressives prepare for a possible Obama presidency.

It's a reminder that Obama is a politician. Not in either a negative or positive sense. It's just a plain fact.

Which means that we cannot sit back and assume he, or anyone else that may become President, will simply do what we like all the time. We will always have to push.

On telecom immunity, prominent liberal bloggers joined civil libertarian organizations and pushed their hearts out. But the hard fact remains that the push did not succeed in turning intense opposition into broad opposition.

No one in the netroots deserves blame for that. It was extremely difficult to draw attention to an abuse of power issue, when most voters see economic issues more directly impacting their lives. (And the traditional media's dismissal of the telecom immunity issue didn't help.)

In turn, Obama and other Democrats don't have evidence that elevating this issue -- potentially crowding out differences on the economy, gas prices and Iraq -- is something that enough people want to make it politically worthwhile.

Is it reason to be disappointed? Yes. Is it reason to feel that those politicians cannot be presumed to always act on progressive principles? Yes.

But it's not a reason to believe grassroots voices won't be heard or can't have a major impact.

Obama -- along with former rivals John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Clinton -- were successfully pushed to adopt bolder positions on health care and global warming than Democratic politicians in the recent past. Why? Because progressives pushed, and pushed well.

When we push well, and show that there is broader public support for ideas too bold for narrow-minded Beltway elites to accept, that's when we move our nation forward.

And there is, and will be, a need to keep pushing.

For example, while Obama is calling for greater public investment in infrastructure, his proposal of $60 billion in infrastructure investment over 10 years pales in comparison to the challenge we face. My colleague Eric Lotke recently noted that our infrastructure needs $1.6 trillion to get up to snuff. Robert Borosage lamented that Obama's specific proposal "won't build many bridges, much less seed modern transit."

Obama calls for more in the area of clean energy and energy-efficiency: $150 billion over 10 years. But the Apollo Alliance reports says we need twice that amount to rapidly transition to a clean energy economy a decade from now.

There are five months left to build a crystal clear mandate that will set the table for progressive change no matter who gets elected. It's indisputable that the desire to change from eight years of failed conservatism is strong across America. But there is still more work to do to define what real change looks like.

So if there anything to take from Obama's telecom immunity move, it's that the need to push the parameters of acceptable debate is as critical and urgent as ever.

Progressive Solution

Chris Rasmussen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:51:02 -0500

We need a concerted national initiative to rapidly move us to a new energy economy, creating jobs, strengthening our security and helping resolve the climate crisis.

The Apollo Project for Good Jobs and Energy Independence calls for a public investment of $30 billion a year for 10 years, creating 3 million jobs that pave the way to energy independence. We can raise the revenue by scrapping the giveaways to Big Oil and by making private companies pay for polluting the public sky with greenhouse gases.

Targeted public investment will unleash billions in private capital and mobilize the imaginations of the young to build the next generation of energy-efficient appliances, batteries and advanced automotive technologies.

We can create millions of new jobs in renewable and low-carbon energy production, green building construction and retrofits and the manufacture of new energy-efficient products—good-paying jobs that can’t be easily outsourced. Rather than shipping billions abroad for oil, we’ll profit from taking the lead in the growing markets for green technology. We’ll provide sustainable and affordable fuel options for consumers and businesses. We’ll fortify our economy and our security.

What will the new energy economy look like? Imagine:

New factories and retooled plants producing wind turbines, solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells.
A revived American auto industry leading the world in developing the next generation of clean energy cars such as Flex-Fuel vehicles and hybrids.
Schools, offices and homes retrofitted to become more energy efficient with large savings for business and families.
A 21st-century public infrastructure with mass transit and high-speed rail systems and a modernized electrical grid.

Endorsed by a broad coalition of environmental, labor and business organizations, the Apollo Project provides a solution that resonates with the American “can-do” spirit. We need to get America’s energy policy out of the hands of oil companies and into the hands of the public.

New Energy For America: Apollo Jobs Report

Ian Mishalove — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:57:51 -0500

Green collar jobs

Clean Energy 101

Bill Scher — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:56:24 -0500

Apollo Challenge Launch

Bill Scher — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:00:00 -0400

See the highlights of the Apollo Challenge Launch.

Mayor Villaraigosa To Highlight Bold Plan For Clean Energy And Good Jobs In Los Angeles

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will join Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo, Councilmember Herb Wesson and members of the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance on Wednesday to announce the city's commitment to leading the fight for energy independence and job creation by promoting a green, sustainable and equitable economy.

Mayor Villaraigosa will also sign the "Apollo Challenge" and launch the Apollo Green Building Initiative, a bold plan to lay the foundation for an equitable and sustainable economy in Los Angeles by "greening" existing, deteriorating city-owned buildings while also creating good jobs that pay livable wages for low-income residents.

The Los Angeles Apollo Alliance is part of the broader nationwide Apollo Alliance that unites nearly 16 million union members and 11 million environmental organization members across the country to create new jobs, new energy and new independence for America by investing in the domestic clean energy sector.

-- Villaraigosa Announced Partnership With Apollo Alliance

WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006 at 5 p.m. PST

WHERE: Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif.

PARTICIPANTS: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles, Calif., Jerome Ringo, president, Apollo Alliance, Councilmember Herb Wesson, 10th District

Labor And Environmental Leaders Join Forces To Fight For Energey Independence

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400

WASHINGTON - In honor of the Fourth of July holiday, labor unions and environmental groups have come together to fight for energy independence through the Apollo Alliance by declaring this Independence Day, "Energy Independence Day."

"We all know America is facing a growing addiction to oil that is hurting our security, our economy and our environment," said Jerome Ringo, president of the Apollo Alliance. "It's time for the public to send a message to our leaders in Washington that we need a national commitment to energy independence and good American jobs. It's time to declare this Independence Day 'Energy Independence Day.' There's no better way to celebrate this July 4."

The Apollo Alliance has a 10-step national agenda to create energy independence by the year 2015. The alliance represents a coalition of national security, labor, environmental, civil rights and business leaders who are fighting for energy independence from foreign energy sources. It unites nearly 16 million union members and 11 million environmental organization members across the country.

Michigan labor and environmental leaders joined together last week to launch a new coalition - the Michigan Apollo Alliance - to urge state leaders and lawmakers to take the lead on clean energy by developing new technologies that can improve the environment while also creating good paying jobs.

On Saturday afternoon, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak donned a colonial-style coat and tri-cornered hat to sign a Declaration of Energy Independence. The ceremony was part of Energy Independence Day, organized by the Green Institute, a Minneapolis environmental organization.

Last month, actor and environmentalist Robert Redford joined Ringo at the Campaign for America's Future's annual "Take Back America" conference to launch the "Apollo Challenge," a national campaign to inspire citizens to rise up and encourage elected officials to end our nation's addiction to oil and create 3 million good jobs.

Thousands of Americans have already signed the "Apollo Challenge" pledging to challenge our country's leaders to empower America within the decade by kicking the oil habit, harnessing clean, homegrown energy sources, saving energy with high performance buildings and cities, and creating 3 million good, clean energy jobs.

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Jerome Ringo - Take Back America 2006

Anne Thompson — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:00:00 -0400

Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance, helps kick off the Apollo Challenge at Take Back America 2006. Inspired by the "can-do" spirit that enabled success for the Apollo moon mission, this campaign will challenge our nation's leaders to achieve American energy independence within 10 years.

Administration Report Highlights Critical Need For Energy Independence

Toby Chaudhuri — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

WASHINGTON – Apollo Alliance president Jerome Ringo today urged the nation to change its course on energy policy and called on President Bush and Congress to address the energy crisis facing Americans this winter as low-income families strain to meet record high costs for home heating. Oil prices are projected to remain well above $50 a barrel for years to come, according to an analysis released today by the Energy Department. The analysis reflected a sharp change from projections a year ago, when the Energy Department predicted oil prices would decline to $31 a barrel by 2025.

The Energy Information Administration report projects oil will cost an average $54 a barrel in 2025 and $57 a barrel in 2030. Crude oil prices have hovered around $60 a barrel this year, soaring as high as $70.

"America is held over an oil barrel. We need to work together to provide new energy to hope and think big again," said Ringo. "We are calling for a movement for energy independence from foreign energy sources. President Bush and Congress must invest in clean energy technology and new infrastructure that will create new jobs and make our country a leader in innovation again."

Ringo joined Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Governor Edward Rendell, D-Pa., in New York’s Times Square today to discuss the Apollo plan and the urgent need to take action to achieve energy independence.

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**NOTE: Media representatives interested in scheduling an interview with Apollo Alliance president Jerome Ringo should contact Jessica Mantooth at jmantooth@ourfuture.org. **