Monday, June 9, 2014

Full Employment/Green Jobs

 
"Full Employment/Green Jobs" Statement

By Rev. Charles Williams, president of National Action Network – Michigan:

Detroit today is a Tale of Two Cities.

One city, located in Downtown and Midtown, is doing well. In fact, it's doing very well with an abundance of private investment and public subsidies. That city is thriving.

The Other City is where the rest of us live. We're not doing very well. We're still waiting for the private investment and public subsidies to come our way. Many of us are barely surviving. Some aren't doing that well.

The worst thing is so many young people appear to have given up. They don't believe they have a future. But I firmly believe a young person with a good-paying job is less likely to go out and commit a senseless act of violence.

Prevailing government policies in Detroit, Lansing and Washington D.C. don't offer our young people that hope of something better.

After 50 years of factories and businesses abandoning Detroit and taking good-paying jobs and much of our city's tax base with them, an austerity policy only makes things worse. Cutting public spending on schools, water and sewers, streets, and everything else people need while cutting taxes on the Top 1% are exactly the worst policies at the worst time.

Private capital only goes where it can make a profit. Government spending can go where people need it, if policy directs that.

Kevyn Orr's bankruptcy deal does nothing to help the Other City. Neither does Gov. Snyder's tax cuts to business with no strings attached to create even one single job. And Paul Ryan's federal budget tears the guts out of much needed social programs.


“We need a new policy in Detroit, Lansing and Washington D.C. A Full-Employment/Green Jobs policy will direct government to do its job to create employment in the Other City, rebuild our nation, stimulate the private economy and give hope to our youth.”
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The United Auto Workers Union (UAW)
Excerpts from “Sustainable Jobs to Sustain Our Planet”
From: UAW Resolutions, 36th Constitutional Convention
June 2-5, 2014

From extreme weather events that have devastated entire communities to dirty air, despoiled land and oil-slicked waters, we all have a stake in reducing America's use of fossil fuels. This environmental challenge is also an economic opportunity. Clean energy can be at the heart of a broader strategy to create thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs for American workers, while making the communities we live in cleaner and healthier.

To see how policies to reduce fossil fuel consumption can support good jobs, Americans can look to the auto industry … thousands of UAW members are working today making the vehicles of the future.

There is no reason this positive experience cannot be extended to other industries. Initiatives to improve energy efficiency, develop renewable energy sources, and eliminate harmful emissions and toxic waste can spur technological innovation, drive the growth of new industries and bring new employment opportunities. Our trading partners already see the economic potential of green energy ...”

The UAW's Action Agenda calls for:
  1. Federal and state investments in green infrastructure, mass transportation and energy-efficient buildings.
  2. Research into renewable energy and fuel-saving technologies.
  3. Assistance for workers and communities impacted by changing technologies and the transition to new, renewable energy sources.
  4. Special attention to the inclusion of women, people of color and residents of hard-hit urban communities in the new green economy.
  5. Work with our allies in the civil rights and environmental movements to protect and advance workers in the emerging green economy to organize and bargain collectively ... to ensure green jobs are, in fact, good jobs.
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"Move the Money” to “Full Employment/Green Jobs”
This Bulletin's Full Employment/Green Jobs Statement comes to us from Rev. Richard Peacock, chairperson of Peace Action of Michigan:
“The rough winter cost me $211 due to a pothole. Potholes may have cost you more, and you may have lost wages by missing work. That is just one reason to Move the Money from unnecessary Pentagon spending to fixing potholes, rebuilding roads, insulating houses and more.

"Move the Money" is a project of Peace Action in Michigan and across the country. Congress, presidents, lobbyists and corporations have skewed the budget priorities in favor of Pentagon spending and wars. The core Pentagon budget grew almost 50% over the last decade. In addition, making war on and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan is costing us trillions.

“Pentagon spending is a very poor job creator. For every $1 billion spent on the Pentagon, 11,200 jobs are created. That same $1 billion would create 16,800 jobs in clean energy or 26,700 jobs in education. Investing in Full Employment/Green Jobs is possible because the Pentagon can spend smarter and less.

“Diverse organizations such as the Progressive Democrats of America and the Republican Liberty Caucus have many ways to make Pentagon spending smarter and less. There are bills in Congress to reduce the amount of our taxes we pay for "modernizing" unnecessary nuclear bombs. We can lobby our elected officials to support wiser Pentagon spending. Plus, we must ask candidates for federal offices: (1) "Will you support auditing the Pentagon?" and (2) "Will you cut the unnecessary number of nuclear weapons of mass destruction?"

“Jobs with Justice and Peace Action can continue to use the vocabulary of: "Full Employment/Green Jobs," "Move the Money" and "Make Pentagon spending smarter and less."

Peace Action wants to share a “Move the Money” presentation with you and your friends. Which of your favorite groups could use suggestions for moving the money from the Pentagon to the People? Contact Rev. Rich Peacock, Peace Action of Michigan, 248-321-7480, rjpeacock@wowway.com”
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 Rally Green Jobs and Full Employment 2014

Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice thanks the 65-70 people who joined our Rally for Green Jobs and Full Employment on Friday June 29th at Nine Mile and Woodward. There was an impressive delegation of activists from Good Jobs Now, the group that is leading the campaign for a living wage at McDonald’s, Burger King and other low-wage retailers. Also, attending were individuals from Feed Da Streetz, DSA, Moratorium Now!, Occupy Detroit, People Before Banks, CWA, NALC, USW, Peace Action, Halt Fermi 3, SEIU, UAW, MNA, Anti-Fracking, UWUA. Did I miss anybody?
Green Jobs event
“We also want to thank our speakers: Craig Covey, former mayor of Ferndale, Douglas “G-Style” Myers, environmental justice activist from River Rouge, and Rep. John Conyers, author of the Full Employment bill, HR-1000.


And finally, JWJ wants to thank Al Benchich and Fred Vitale for use of their powerful sound system, The Rust Belt, for letting us their electricity to power the powerful sound system, and Affirmations and Peace Action for offering space to meet if the rains came during the Rally.