WATCH: Five years of Texas Climate Jobs Project
A new video from Texas Climate Jobs Project celebrates the coalition’s fifth anniversary, showcasing five years of work creating union jobs, tackling climate change, and building a clean energy future for Texas.
“Texas Climate Jobs Project is special in the way that it’s been brought together, the way it’s been formed, and the way that it is working with industry partners across the state of Texas. And it’s giving opportunities to so many workers across the state that typically wouldn’t have that,” said Leonard Aguilar, President of the Texas AFL-CIO.
Watch the full video here. Follow Texas Climate Jobs Project for more.
“We’re proud of the work that we do out here”
The Guardian spoke to union workers from the recently-completed Vineyard Wind 1 and Revolution Wind projects about how the federal administration’s repeated attacks on offshore wind impacted their families.
“No one really knew what was going on. We didn’t know what it meant for us. We just knew that everything was up in the air. You plan your whole life around being gone for 28 days, and to come out here and have it thrown up in the air, worrying what does this mean for me, for my pay for the next four weeks, what’s going to happen?,” said Thomas Kilday, member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 99.READ MORE
Michigan unions are leading on green schools and good jobs
Michigan Climate Jobs, in partnership with Undaunted K-12, released a case study about how a rural school district installed geothermal to upgrade aging school buildings, improve conditions for students and teachers, and create high-quality union jobs. Using “elective pay” federal tax incentives, Ida Public Schools installed ground-source heat pumps across its middle and high schools, bringing reliable heating and cooling to the buildings while saving on energy costs. Thanks to elective pay, the district received a check for $3,577,160 from the federal government towards the cost of the project.
“This project created family-sustaining union jobs while delivering a reliable, high-quality system built to last. It shows the value of skilled, apprenticeship-trained workers in advancing clean energy solutions for our communities,” said Mike Jewell, Business Manager of UA Local 671 Monroe Plumbers & Pipefitters.
Michigan Climate Jobs is working with partners on a state-funded grant to support public schools in modernizing their buildings with geothermal ground source heat pumps and leveraging elective pay to offset up to 50% of project costs.
Read the full case study here.
Also worth your time: 🎧 Listen to a Public News Serviceinterview with Emily Pritzkow, President of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, about how unions are taking action on clean energy.