WPKN’s Francesca Rheannon spoke with Mariah Dignan of CJNY to find out more about the coalition’s work

WPKN’s Francesca Rheannon spoke with Mariah Dignan of Climate Jobs NY to find out more about the coalition’s work: https://soundcloud.com/user-501345111/mariah-dignan 

Here’s the transcript from the interview:

Next on the WPKN. Evening Report, 150,000 new good-paying jobs. That's the forecast for what New York's groundbreaking climate law the CLCPA is likely to create in the next decade as the state begins its transition to a 100% renewable economy. The labor coalition Climate Jobs New York (CJNY) is stepping up to help make that transition happen and to ensure that many of those good jobs will go to low and moderate-income communities. WP's Francesco Rhiannon spoke with Mariah Dignan of CJNY to find out more about the coalition's work.

Francesca Rheannon
Welcome to WPKN. You are the Long Island organizer for CJNY. First, tell us about Climate Jobs. When and why did it form?

Mariah Dignan
Thank you, Francesca and WPKN, for having me. CJNY is a growing coalition of labor unions representing 2.6 million working New Yorkers advancing a pro-worker and pro-climate agenda. We're committed to building a clean energy economy at the scale that climate science demands while creating good union jobs and supporting equitable communities. CJNY really formed out of a response to Hurricane Sandy. We saw our workers, our fellow community members really hit hard by that storm in particular, and it was kind of a wake-up call for the labor movement to become more involved in this environmental justice and climate action movement. So, following a report from the Workers Institute of Cornell, our labor leaders took action by forming CJNY. And here I am, boots on the ground, trying to galvanize the support of our local rank and file members to become labor climate activists. And we're really hitting the ground running so I’m excited to get started here.

Francesca Rheannon
You know, in a video that you sent me about CJNY, it's not only centered around the issue of climate but also essentially around the issue of income inequality. Talk about these two issues; Why is the labor movement making a link between them, and in what way is CJNY working on both these issues.

Mariah Dignan
So, we have a unique set of circumstances before us. We have a climate crisis and we have an inequality crisis. More often than not communities that are hit hardest by climate change are those who are low-income, black, brown, and indigenous communities. Our labor movement recognizes these inequalities and how we need to come together and act on this, I would say that CJNY in particular, is working with environmental justice advocates. We're working with our rank and file members to really hear and listen, I think the key is listening to what these communities have had to say on how the status quo has been for so long. And we have a unique opportunity here to create a whole new industry, a once in a generation opportunity to put Long Island at the center of a green economic recovery. And the right way to do that is to make sure that all communities and all voices are being heard, especially those who have been impacted by climate change the most.

Francesca Rheannon
So, let's unpack that a little bit. You know, the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, CLCPA, is talking about a Just Transition. And part of that trust transition? Well, it seems to go into two major areas: One is helping people who are in the fossil fuel industry transition to a clean energy economy and the other is providing good jobs, as you say to people who have been on the front lines of experiencing the impacts of climate, poor and lower-income communities. So, take the first one first, what is CJNY? How did they see making a Just Transition for workers who are already in the fossil fuel industry?

Mariah Dignan
We have our great activists and academic extraordinaire, Lara Skinner, on the state's Just Transition Working Group so, we're actively working with folks in these fossil fuel and gas organizations. And those locals are really showing a great interest in and realizing that we need to transition away from fossil fuels, but we need to make sure that our members are protected. And they can retain these great jobs that are coming to fruition in the renewable energy industry. So, having honest conversations with our members, with our community leaders, with our elected officials, and other stakeholders in that Just Transition working group is really going to be key to making this a reality. And the conversations are happening right now. And I can tell you, there is great momentum and great positive movement forward happening at the moment. It's very exciting.

Francesca Rheannon
And so now what about the Just Transition aspect of a green recovery from this pandemic? How is this aspect of CJNY working to bring jobs to poor and lower-income communities and often communities of color?

Mariah Dignan
It's all about grassroots organizing, right? And the labor movement is historically great at really bringing people together and rallying the troops for the common cause of social-economic justice. And what we're really focusing for the past upwards of 5- 10 years is recruiting and training folks to get them into our apprenticeship programs, and to do the work of getting into each community. You know, just as well as I that, on Long Island, we tend to have our siloed neighborhoods, our siloed communities. And it's difficult sometimes to get into those communities, but that's something we've done a great job in, and we continue to learn and grow while we do this is getting into the communities that are often and have often been left behind. So retaining and training, and getting folks into an apprenticeship program where you earn while you learn, you become part of a movement, that's all about family-sustaining wages, and creating good opportunities for communities because you're not only part of the labor movement, you know, our rank and file members, their community members, their residents. And we want to make sure that we're doing the due diligence of civics of getting involved in your community, because this is what we're all here together for in solidarity is what we always say, in the labor movement. And we mean it.

Francesca Rheannon
What kinds of jobs are you really talking about first and second, explain the idea of prevailing wage. I know, we often hear about that, but I'm not sure a whole lot of people are sure what that means. So, the kinds of jobs that we're talking about?

Mariah Dignan
So, the kinds of jobs we're talking about a whole new career as offshore turbine technicians that exist in Europe but aren’t really existing here in the United States, because we don't have the industry at the moment. But we're working hard on changing that. We're going to need electricians; we're going to need painters; we're going to need Operating Engineers. These are the types of locals and trades that we're going to need to be a part of this industry. And that's just on the construction building trade side of it. We also need, engineers, surveyors and meteorological studies. There's a wide range of real true opportunity to create a career pipeline opportunity, where we can start really engaging kids, and showing them, hey, look, these are the kinds of opportunities that are going to come online in the next four or five years right here on Long Island.

And we see people my age, leave, and they don't come back from school, or they find another opportunity across the country. And here's a really unique opportunity that we can really put Long Island at the center of that. So those are the types of jobs we're talking about. And when we talk about prevailing wage, this is really an average wage paid to a particular employer for a specific occupation. So, you know, if you're working on a state project, or if you're working in a construction project, you have to meet this minimum definely hourly wage to your workers. And the prevailing wage is the minimum of what we need to give to folks to have a meaningful family-sustaining wage. What the labor movement does, is, you know, we advocate. That's our starting point. We want to make sure that these are good, family-sustaining union jobs. And, thanks to Governor Cuomo's leadership, we got that into the commitments for the state projects for offshore wind. We're working on getting the next phase of operations and maintenance, the long-term 25-year career opportunities that are going to come from offshore wind, and making sure that those are good union jobs as well.

Francesca Rheannon
Now, it's more than just offshore wind. So, talk a little bit about solar, but then also talk about the South Fork Wind Farm. This is a project that is, you know, been in the works now for a couple of years, and has been experiencing a lot of pushback by some deep-pocketed people in a very Tony, part of East Hampton, New York called Wainscott, which has really slowed down the work and really kind of push it off for a while. So, tell us about the South Fork Wind Farm and what CJNY is doing about that?

Mariah Dignan
To meet the nation-leading CLCPA standard, it's not only going to take offshore wind, it's going to take the goal of six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025 and three gigawatts of battery storage by 2030. So, it really is a holistic approach of what a whole clean energy economy really looks like. Now to talk about our first offshore wind project in New York State. We have the South Fork Wind Project, that is 15 turbines that will power 70,000 homes and was the result of a 2015 LIPA RFP or request for a proposal to really address the energy constraints of the East End. We have done great grassroots organizing and mobilization of folks in the East End, whether it's our teachers or people in the community, Win With Wind is a great source of knowledge and talks about the facts. And with our Wind Works Long Island Coalition that we launched this past Earth Day, we're really seeing the shift in the conversation about the importance and the resounding, you know, upwards towards the high 70% of the support that Eastern residents have for offshore wind power off Long Island shores.

To get to your nitty-gritty point about our opposition over in Wainscott. We are facing a lot of wealthy folks who are upset about the cable landing in particular. But here's
the thing, when we talk about bringing and creating a whole new industry, there's going to be some and necessarily you got to bring that power onshore, right. And we got to make sure that we're thoughtful and we do the surveys, we look at the beach, we look at the path to getting that power, that zero carbon emission energy into our Long Island grid. And the Wainscott route is the way to do that. And I have to say, you know, through this entire process, it's been about a 10-month negotiation between the parties in the matter. There have been great mitigation efforts, including when construction can take place, and really listening to the concerns of the community and adjusting project plans based on that. And as long as there's honest and forthcoming communication and facts being delivered. I don't know what more we can talk about here other than let's work together and really get it done right. Let's all really show our commitment to clean, renewable energy. And that's what this project brings for us here.

Francesca Rheannon
Well, on that note, Mariah Dignan I want to thank you so much for talking with us here on the evening report for WPKN. It's been great speaking with you.

Mariah Dignan
Likewise and thank you again for having me.