Climate Jobs NY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2023
Contact: Tory Kaso, tkaso@climatejobsny.org, (510) 590-669

COUNCILMEMBERS JOIN UNIONS FOR APPRENTICESHIP TOUR,CALL FOR CARBON-FREE & HEALTHY SCHOOLS

Speaker Adams and Councilmembers toured three union training centers with Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa and Climate Jobs NY, as the union-led coalition ramps up Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools campaign

 NEW YORK CITY—Today, a group of city council members attended a tour of three union training centers hosted by Civil Service & Labor Chair Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa and Climate Jobs NY, a coalition of unions representing over 2.6 million working New Yorkers.

Council members who attended included Speaker Adrienne Eadie Adams, Environmental Protection Committee Chair Jim Genarro, Health Chair Lynn Schulman, Contracts Chair Julie Won, Lincoln Restler, and Labor Committee Members Sandy Nurse, Tiffany Caban, and Julie Menin.

The tour made stops at the LiUNA Mason Tenders School, DC9 Painters & Allied Trades Finishing Institute of NY, and IBEW Electrical Industry Training Center, where the Councilmembers heard from building trades apprentices, labor leaders, and community members about the urgent need for New York City to deepen its commitment to worker-centered and equity-focused climate action, including by accelerating solar installation on NYC public school buildings and completing energy-efficiency retrofits for all city schools by 2030.

The City Council members involved in the tour made a commitment to support the Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools initiative including working to secure funding needed to scale the project up to be able to install solar panels on 150 schools per year followed by the deep building retrofits that would make the more than 1,000 public schools buildings energy efficient and reduce energy costs significantly over time.

The Climate Jobs NY coalition Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools campaign has been advocating for solar installation on NYC public schools to 150 schools per year with strong labor standards, taking advantage of historic federal funding available under the Inflation Reduction Act. The coalition estimates that making all NYC public schools carbon-free and healthy through solar installation and deep building retrofits by 2030 would:

● create almost 45,000 jobs for New York City residents; including high-quality career pathways for women, justice-involved individuals, and members of frontline communities;

● save the city’s schools $8.25 billion in energy expenditures over 30 years;

● and cut energy consumption by 50%, paving the way for the city to effectively decarbonize other public buildings and reach its goal of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

A 2022 report endorsed by Climate Jobs NY found that the City is not investing in climate action at the scale or speed needed to meet its climate targets, and identified a suite of opportunities for the City’s leaders to harness available federal funding to create good union jobs, tackle climate crisis, address racial and economic inequality in NYC.

New York City councilmembers said:

“Investing in green jobs is critical to promoting economic opportunities, reducing energy costs, and tackling the climate crisis,” said NYC City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (Queens - District 28). I had the honor of touring union apprenticeship facilities with my Council colleagues, Climate Jobs NY, and our partners in labor. We heard directly from apprentices and labor leaders about how these programs provide equitable pathways for sustainable careers, particularly for women, Black, brown, and immigrant communities. The Council is proud to support initiatives that help our city build for a more sustainable future that seriously addresses climate change, and I am grateful to union partners for the insightful tour.”

“Through supporting the Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools initiative, the City has a significant opportunity to make necessary infrastructural improvements to our school buildings and support the transition into a pro-worker green economy,” said Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa (Manhattan - District 10). “This work will employ 45,000 union workers from across the trades while supporting the City’s climate goals. The union apprentices and members we met today are ready to get to work on this initiative, and the Council is ready to get it done.”

"Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools is not just an investment for our students and teachers of today, it's an investment in a greener, healthier New York for future generations," said Councilmember Jim Gennaro (Queens - District 24). "Accelerating solar installations and performing deep energy efficiency retrofits on our public school buildings would significantly reduce harmful carbon emissions in our communities. The City finds itself in an opportune time to take advantage of historic federal funding made available through the Inflation Reduction Act, and the time to act is now. The Council is ready to support moving forward with this initiative with the urgency and at the scale that the climate crisis demands."

“I was honored to tour three, state-of-the-art union training facilities in my district in Long Island City, and meet apprentices who are ready to get to work conducting deep retrofits of our city’s public schools and installing solar on school rooftops. Investing in carbon-free and healthy schools could create pathways to tens of thousands of union careers for New Yorkers across the city while slashing emissions and supporting healthier learning and working environments for students and educators,” said Council Member Julie Won (Queens - District 26). The Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools initiative is a winning solution to the greatest crises our city faces, inequality and climate breakdown, and I look forward to moving it through Council this year.”

New York City labor leaders said:

“We were honored to welcome the Councilmembers and show them our training center and classrooms,” said IBEW Local 3 apprentices Maria Arthur-Smith, Adam Schneiderman, and Shaquille Owen. “It was an exciting opportunity to share our passion for our careers and the difference in our lives being in a union has made for each of us. And to know that the City Council is ready to support initiatives like Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools that would increase access for women and young people from Black and brown communities to have similar opportunities for direct-entry pre-apprenticeships and union apprenticeship.”

“Local 79 is playing a significant role in recruiting and training our members for careers in renewable energy,” said Mike Prohaska, Business Manager Laborers’ Local 79. The Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools initiative supports our pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, improves communities disproportionately burdened by environmental injustice, and will play an important role in combating climate change. With the support of our City Council Members, I look forward to the work ahead of us in this exciting initiative.”

“At the Mason Tenders Training School, we are developing this generation’s green energy workforce. Our state-of-the-art classroom instruction coupled with hands-on training gives our apprentices the necessary skills to perform energy-efficient upgrades,” continued Timothy Warrington, Training Director at Mason Tenders Training Fund. “Retrofitting our public schools will provide our skilled members, and apprentices an opportunity to work in their communities. Green infrastructure will create a healthier learning environment and deliver reliable, affordable energy.”

“Today, City Council leaders met apprentices and toured the District Council 9 Painters and Allied Trades training institute, where we look forward to training the next generation of New Yorkers to retrofit our public schools,” says Joseph Azzopardi, Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of District Council 9, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. "With the City Council's leadership on climate action, New York could become the first city in the country where every community is home to a union-built and carbon-free public school." 

"Today, our city's leaders heard from Local 3 IBEW apprentices about the power of a union career to transform lives and communities. By committing to solarizing and retrofitting all public schools in our city by 2030, Mayor Adams and City Council can create pathways to over 40,000 high-quality union careers, save our schools money on energy costs, and advance racial equity. It's a win-win-win that we look forward to implementing with our city's leadership,” says Chris Erikson, Business Manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3."

“We have a unique opportunity to create thousands of good paying jobs, reduce the racial wealth gap and take important action on climate change. That’s why the Climate Jobs NY coalition has put forward an ambitious, pro-worker action plan that will create millions of union careers, help New York City meet our clean energy goals and build a more equitable city for all,” says Gary LaBarbera, President of Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. “Committing to rooftop solar and deep energy efficiency retrofits for all New York City public schools by 2030 is a critical step that would support pathways to the middle class for New Yorkers in frontline communities, slash carbon emissions, and create a national blueprint for public building decarbonization. We look forward to working with Mayor Adams and the City Council to keep our city at the forefront of green infrastructure and make our schools healthy, carbon-free environments.”

Climate Jobs NY (CJNY) is a coalition of labor unions representing 2.6 million working people at the center of New York’s economy. We are united around a shared goal of combating climate change while reversing income inequality. CJNY’s mission is to advocate for a clean energy economy at the scale climate science demands, create good union jobs, and support more equitable communities and a more resilient New York. Learn more: ClimateJobsNY.org