Rep. Hilda Solis: The Carbon Neutral Economy Creates Union Jobs

by: Matt Stoller

Thu Aug 16, 2007 at 11:05:29 AM EDT

Moving to a non-fossil fuel economy is going to create unionized jobs, improve the economic prospects of low income Americans and working class minorities, and generate an entirely new growth sector of the economy.  Scratch that.  I shouldn't have used the future tense.  It is creating jobs and economic opportunities.  I got an email from Don Lyster, Congressman Solis's Chief of Staff, letting me know what Solis was up to during the recess.

The Congresswoman visited the East LA Skills Center today.  The Center is run by LA Unified School District and is the only educational facility in Southern California which provides solar panel installation training. The teacher of the class will be one of the featured speakers at Solis' forum this Thursday.

The Congresswoman met with the students in the solar installation training class, a group of mostly Latino males, but also African Americans and Anglos. After completing the training, they will be placed in a pipeline for solar installation jobs - mostly union (IBEW) and well-paying jobs.  Others will become contractors.  Some want to start their own solar installation contracting firms.  One trainee was a 56 year old Latino male who said he was inspired to return to the classroom because of the economic promise of the renewable energy industries.  He has spent his career working as a custodial worker in LA schools.  Others mentioned that they are excited to play their own role in conserving energy and reducing American dependence on foreign oil in their own way.

You can find out more about the forum here.  There's a new economy coming, and the leaders in bringing it to us are progressive Democrats like Solis, rural Democrat Tim Walz, and Governors like Eliot Spitzer, who just announced the completion of the first green affordable public housing project in New York state.

Get on board the new economy.