Climate Jobs NY Labor leaders meet with Energy Sec. Granholm to discuss clean energy economy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Contact: Jennifer Johnson
jennifer.johnson@cjnrc.org
646-603-8532
Labor leaders meet with Energy Sec. Granholm to discuss clean energy economy
Labor leaders from Climate Jobs New York (CJNY) participated in Building America’s Future roundtable with Secretary Jennifer Granholm to discuss building a worker-centered clean energy economy
NEW YORK—Today, labor leaders and union members from the Climate Jobs New York (CJNY) coalition met with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm for a roundtable discussion about building a clean energy future to combat climate change while creating millions of good, union jobs.
Sec. Granholm opened the event with remarks about the importance of creating high-quality, high-paying union jobs through public investments in climate infrastructure, highlighting the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan. Participants in the roundtable talked about the value of having labor driving bold climate action while ensuring that the new clean energy economy is built with good union jobs, noting that New York is leading the way by investing in large-scale offshore wind infrastructure with high-road labor standards. They highlighted the opportunity to make schools carbon-free, healthier, and safer while creating good union jobs and saving schools millions in energy costs, one of CJNY’s active campaigns. And they emphasized the importance of a just transition for communities that currently rely on fossil fuel industries, as well as promoting access to good jobs and careers for frontline and disadvantaged communities.
“It was an honor and privilege to meet with Secretary Jennifer Granholm today at the Building America's Future Roundtable. The Secretary’s commitment to building a clean energy economy with good union jobs is evident and greatly appreciated. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build back better, and our work at Climate Jobs New York is about driving bold climate action while making sure that the trillions in economic development that can come from taking on climate change create good union jobs that will help rebuild the middle class,” said
Gary LaBarbera, President of New York State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.
“We were honored to meet with Sec. Jennifer Granholm today to discuss Climate Jobs New York’s vision for a worker-centered, renewable energy economy for our state and beyond. Climate breakdown, income inequality, and racial injustice are urgent issues, and the labor movement in New York is coming together to advance concrete plans to tackle these interrelated crises. Our roundtable discussion today demonstrates the transformational potential that working people and their unions wield when we lead on climate policy, and we look forward to the New York labor movement's participation with Sec. Granholm to build back better by creating millions of family-sustaining climate jobs with strong labor standards in communities that need them most,” said Vincent Alvarez, President of the NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Principal Officer of CJNY, and Board Member of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center.
“The path to building back better must start and end with organized labor,” said Henry Garrido, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME. “Union workers built this country and its union jobs we should be creating with the infrastructure bill. I want to thank Secretary Granholm for sitting down with us and having a productive conversation. I hope we continue to work together to prepare New York City and the nation for the impacts of climate change.”
Watch a recording of the discussion online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKtPOUR2ma4
Participants in today’s roundtable included:
● Gary LaBarbera, President, New York State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York
● Vinny Alvarez, President, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
● Henry Garrido, Executive Director, AFSCME District Council 37
● Jim Slevin, President, Utility Workers Union of America
● Lenore Friedlaender, Assistant to the President, 32BJ SEIU
● Richard Mantell, VP of Middle Schools, United Federation of Teachers
● Justin Savignano, Member, IBEW Local 3
● Bob Master, Political Director, Communication Workers of America District One
● Seanelle Leesang, Science Teacher and Sustainability Coordinator, IS 68 in Brooklyn
About Climate Jobs New York Climate Jobs New York (CJNY) is a growing 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. CJNY is a member of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center’s network of state-level, labor-led climate jobs coalitions.
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