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Moving Forward!
Defining
Green
The current trend toward a green
economy in America has been long in coming. Many of our partners and allies have
been innovating green growth and jobs principles for years, frustrated
at the lack of leadership at the state and federal level. Now it is up to us to ensure that
this opportunity doesn't pass by the workers and communities who can
benefit from and guarantee the widespread success of a new
environmentally friendly growth agenda in our cities and states.
From the earliest campaigns
incorporating green building and smart growth principles in new
development, to the pending transformation of the polluting practices
of entire industries, our partners are innovating to build a just and
green economy one city at a time.
This is the work that will truly add up to raise expectations
and standards at the local level.
As the federal government scrambles to fund green technology and
the renovation of our cities and energy sources, Partnership affiliates
are poised to direct these efforts through organizing and a true vision
of sustainability that adds a layer of economic justice to climate and
economy friendly projects.
As our country focuses on the
expansion and maintenance of our national infrastructure, the
connection to job and environmental quality must be maintained. LAANE's groundbreaking CBA
surrounding the expansion of the LA Airport was a phenomenal effort to
reduce air pollution poisoning our communities and raising asthma rates
among children, while ensuring that job standards at the airport were
improved significantly. In Denver and Atlanta, our partners at FRESC and Georgia
STAND UP are working to ensure that new mass transit infrastructure
marries equity to the environment in the form of jobs and housing for
low and moderate income communities.
Both EBASE and LAANE are creating a new standard for America's Ports and trucking industries,
tackling true David and Goliath odds to build an economically and
environmentally healthy economy in neglected port communities.
Around the country communities have
been integral to building the grassroots pressure for sustainable
growth for decades. In turn, we
must be part of the implementation process to ensure equity and shared
prosperity as leaders in government work to operationalize a green
agenda. Below are stories -
mirrored across The Partnership and around the country - of communities
organizing for a green economy that lifts workers, community and
environmental standards in unison.
This is the vision that will carry us forward - one of inclusion
and hope for generations to come.
Partnership Executive Director
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WPUSA: Collaborating to Build Good Green Jobs
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Over
the past year, the enormous challenge posed by climate change has been
catapulted into the limelight.
Prominent leaders in all sectors are now calling for serious and
immediate efforts to fight global warming. As mainstream interest in the
"green economy" explodes, so too has the concept of green
jobs: the alluring idea that efforts to defend the environment can also
create new job opportunities that will enable millions of people to
climb out of poverty and restore the middle class.
Green
jobs present an enormous opportunity.
But we also see a growing threat: as investment capital pours
into the field, the concerns of marginalized communities and even the
underlying climate threat may be overridden by business concerns.
Job
quality is key. Will green jobs
be good jobs, accessible to all our communities? Or will the green economy be an
hourglass economy, with a handful of people making huge profits at the
top, propped up by a huge force of low-wage, disposable workers? More
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Landmark Victory at the Port of Los Angeles for Green Growth, Good Jobs
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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa and Councilwoman Janice Jahn address Port of Los Angeles truckers on their landmark victory
By Los Angeles Alliance for a
New Economy
In the month of
March, the Port of Los Angeles made history, enacting one of the most far-reaching
pollution-reduction plans in the country. The Clean Trucks Program approved by
the L.A. Port Commission not only will dramatically improve air quality
and cut diesel-related health problems, but will help lift 16,000 truck
drivers out of poverty.
This landmark achievement is the culmination of a two-year
effort by LAANE and a broad-based alliance of nearly 40 labor,
environmental, public health and community-based organizations. United in its determination to
address the severe economic, environmental and public health impacts of
the broken trucking system at the nation's largest port complex, the Coalition for Clean
& Safe Ports worked relentlessly to ensure the
adoption of a new model.
More
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In the Fast Lane: Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports
Campaign Activity at the Port of Oakland Accelerates to a Speedy Pace
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Hundreds of
Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports supporters march to the Port of
Oakland
By
Aditi Vaidya,
EBASE Port Program Director
What a
busy month it was for the Coalition for Clean & Safe
Ports! On Monday, March 17th,
the Coalition organized a large March and Truck Caravan to the Port of Oakland for Clean Air and Good Jobs. The following day, the Oakland Port
Commission took the first step in initiating a Comprehensive Truck
Management Program. The
California Air Resources Board issued a preliminary report on the
devastating impacts diesel air pollution is having on the health of West Oakland residents.
And on Thursday, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission made history
as the first port in the country to take action to significantly reduce
diesel pollution while making Port truck driving jobs living wage jobs.
Hundreds Rally in Oakland for Clean Air and Good
Jobs
On St. Patrick's Day, environmentalists, Oakland residents, clergy
leaders and Port truck drivers gathered at a rally at Oakland City
Hall to call for the greening
of the Port of Oakland and for good jobs
and employment opportunities for Oakland residents. A contingent including a driver, a
representative from the Alameda County Labor Council and ACORN community
activists paid a visit to Mayor Ron Dellums' office and delivered a
poster-size letter, signed by hundreds of Oakland residents, thanking
Mayor Dellums for his "vision of a green Port that provides good
jobs for our community." They offered the assistance of the
Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports in getting a
comprehensive Clean Trucks Program adopted by the Port. More
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FRESC: Creating Sustainable Jobs in the New Energy
Economy
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By
Carmen
Rhodes, FRESC Executive Director
Colorado, like several other states, has the potential to be
a national leader in the production, distribution and use of clean
power leading to a cleaner, more sustainable environment and access to
thousands of new jobs. Prominent
opinion leaders contend that to be successful in this new energy
economy we must have access to a large supply of cheap labor. We Disagree. What is needed is not cheap labor,
but a well trained workforce that will help us meet our sustainable
energy goals with a sustainable middle class workforce. As a convener of the Colorado Apollo
Alliance, FRESC is working together with
our labor and environmental partners to realize this vision.
The success of the New Energy Economy depends on a supply
of adequately trained, highly skilled labor. The looming labor shortage must be approached
with thought to the triple bottom line - the concept that businesses in
these industries are good for the environment, are profitable, and
build solid family supporting middle class jobs. Building sustainable middle class
jobs in the New Energy Economy won't just happen. It is our collective responsibility,
lead by our elected leaders, to create this sustainability. This can be done by identifying the
workforce needs; developing job training programs to meet these needs;
and, most important, to ensure that a well-trained workforce is
connected with well paying jobs. More
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CAUSE: Working for the Benefit of the Seventh Generation
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Ventura County youth attend CAUSE rally to stop liquified
natural gas terminal off the coast of Oxnard
By Marcos Vargas, CAUSE Executive Director
The
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy
(CAUSE) began its seventh year of operations in 2008
guided by its founding vision, that together the people of Ventura and
Santa Barbara Counties can create a community where we all contribute
to and benefit from a sustainable, just, and prosperous regional
economy. Building from such
accomplishments as the adoption of four city and county living wage
ordinances, expanded health coverage for 27,000 of Ventura County's
uninsured children, to the creation of a regional women's organizing
center, CAUSE has expanded its mission to include campaigns around
environmental justice and regional transit equity with a renewed
commitment to building grassroots power.
Through the
adoption of the Iroquois planning concept of "seven
generations" as our approach toward bringing about long-term
regional sustainability, CAUSE made a significant leap into the area of
environmental justice. In 2007,
CAUSE organized grassroots opposition to a proposed liquefied natural
gas (LNG) terminal off the coast of Oxnard. The LNG
terminal was estimated to generate over 180 tons of smog producing
contaminates into the regional environment each year. The proposed LNG terminal pipeline
was slated to go directly through the low-income communities of South Oxnard. The campaign, organized in large part out of Centro Mujer -- CAUSE's Women's
Organizing Center - culminated in the successful mobilization of over
2,500 residents of diverse backgrounds for an April 9th
California State Lands Commission hearing that provided the necessary
political support for California Lieutenant Governor, John Garamendi
and State Controller, John Chiang, in a 2-1 vote, to deny certification
of the LNG project. CAUSE, in
collaboration with the California Coastal Protection Network, continues
to remain vigilant, as another LNG project is being proposed off the
coast of Ventura. More
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12 Days in the Life of CPI
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Residents
rally in support of Economic Prosperity Element for San Diego's General
Plan
By Donald Cohen, CPI Executive
Director
We're
used to a fast pace at CPI. But
we outdid ourselves during a recent 12-day stretch: We published new
research, won new policy at City Hall, involved hundreds of people in a
complex policy campaign, and maintained almost daily presence in local
media. The following chronology
provides a picture of the work of CPI's fantastic eight-person staff
and demonstrates the media, policy and organizing impact we are having
in San Diego.
On Thursday, Feb
28th, CPI released an industry analysis of campaign contributions in
upcoming city elections, showing the real estate and development
industry greatly outspending all others. The analysis is based on our Follow the Money searchable database of
contributions to local candidates, which has been recently updated to
include all current campaign filings.
Voters need to know where candidates get their money and how
this might influence their positions on the creation of quality jobs,
accountable development, and equitable economies. This service makes it easy to search
and sort through the reported contributions. More
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Pittsburgh UNITED Wins the Opportunity to Negotiate a CBA for
Northshore Hotel Development
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Mary
Jo Connelly of Community Labor United speaks to the board of the
Stadium Authority about community benefits agreements
By Natalie Greene,
Pittsburgh UNITED Researcher
Two
significant events coincided on March 14th on the 3rd
Floor of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown
Pittsburgh. At one end of the
Convention Center union members, environmentalists, policy-makers,
community members, and Partnership for Working Families activists came
together in Pittsburgh for the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, a
historic joint effort by the United Steelworkers of America and the
Sierra Club. At the other end of
the Convention Center, the Stadium Authority of the City of Pittsburgh
scheduled a meeting to discuss selling a parcel of land for the
development of a new $27.5 million Hyatt Place Hotel.
This presented a
golden opportunity to Pittsburgh UNITED.
Pittsburgh UNITED coalition partners, joined by national allies,
testified at the hearing about the need for a Community Benefits
Agreement around the new hotel to the five-member board of the Stadium
Authority. More
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What the New York State Budget Means for Upstate
Families
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On Thursday,
March 27th, the Syracuse Alliance for a New
Economy (SANE) co-sponsored a hearing on
the New York state budget with the Greater Syracuse Labor Council,
AFL-CIO and the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS) -
Gamaliel Foundation affiliate. The goal of the meeting was to
advocate for a state budget that addresses the needs of working families
of upstate New York rather than that of wealthy New Yorkers.
During the
hearing, representatives from the Fiscal Policy Institute, New Yorkers
for Fiscal Fairness and the Hunger Action Network of New York State
presented facts and figures on the $124 billion, 2008-09 executive
budget and its implications on working families of upstate New
York. Instead of cutting taxes which increases the negative
impact on health care, education, and infrastructure, Ron Deutsche of
New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness proposed a modest increase in the
income tax for families with incomes over $1 million dollars. More
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*SAVE THE DATE*
Good Jobs First National
Conference May 7-8
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Registration is now open for Good Jobs First's national
conference, "Reclaiming Economic Development III" on May 7
and 8 near BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, located between Baltimore and
Washington, DC. Come meet the nation's top campaigners,
researchers and experts on economic development accountability and
smart growth for working families!
As part of the
conference, the Partnership for Working Families will lead a track
on "Community Benefits and Beyond." The workshop will explore
power-building strategies challenging "business as usual"
approaches to economic development at the local and regional level,
development of comprehensive campaigns around community benefits
agreements and policies, and much more.
Click
here for more information
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