[Sosfbay-discuss] Who get the Green Jobs?

[Wes Rolley]

I listened in to a Green 4 All Conference Call regarding the Kerry/Boxer 
Climate Change Bill.

While I learned of some good things in this bill, the call really boiled 
down to a discussion of who will get what after if passes:  Will 
supported projects be required to hire union employees?  Will there be 
set asides for women? etc.

I almost laughed when the head of the AFL/CIO business trades council 
talked about the great things that they were doing for the 
environment... when the Carpenter's Union supported every "build as many 
homes in the flood plain as you can candidate".. like Richard Pombo, to 
whom they gave substantial contributions in several of his last races.

There is a sense that the support or lack of it for Kerry/Boxer comes 
down to who will get which jobs, and who might lose.  It will be hard to 
get Democratic Senators from Coal Mining states to vote for any 
significant reduction in coal, coal use or subsidies to the industry.  
That would include:

Richard Durbin - IL
Evan Bayh - IN
Byron Dorgan - ND
Kent Conrad - ND
Arlen Specter - PA
Robert Casey - PA
Jay Rockefeller - WV
Robert Byrd - WV

The real question is whether or not the Coal Miners union has a lot of 
clout... I guess they do since the current President of the AFL/CIO came 
from that union.

Even though the idea behind Green 4 All is so basic, that working in the 
building sector is an absolute requirement to curtail energy use, the 
future still seems as clouded as Pittsburgh in the hey day of big steel.



-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente

Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024