On Thursday April 16th the Massachusetts AFL-CIO’s COPE Political Roundtable came together at the Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 12 Union Hall in Dorchester with the theme of “green jobs.” Members of the panel stressed the importance of such jobs not only in protecting the environment, but also stimulating the economy, providing lasting and family-sustaining employment for workers, and creating long-term savings for those who decide to invest in energy efficient homes and infrastructure. The roundtable discussed the nature of these jobs, their benefits, and also included updates on the political action of Massachusetts labor in the past month. Click here to see pictures.

The meeting began with moderator Robert Bower, Political Director of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. He acknowledged Kevin Flaherty, Secretary-Treasurer of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 34, who has just topped the ticket over two incumbents for a seat on the Dedham Parks and Recreation Commission. Other issues addressed in the opening remarks included a passionate statement from Dan Totten, President of the Boston Newspaper Guild regarding the current crisis facing the Boston Globe. Totten commented on the outrageous nature of the New York Times’ demands, and encouraged attendance at an April 24th rally to support the Globe and its employees.

Tim Sullivan, Legislative and Communications Director of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, also provided a brief update on the current legislative landscape in the Commonwealth. He highlighted the status of the current transportation reform bills in both the House and Senate, and stressed the need to ensure that collective bargaining is protected regardless of what the ultimate outcome is facing the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the MBTA. Sullivan also praised fellow union member State Senator Kenneth Donnelly, who has been instrumental in protecting the interests of workers in the both the transportation reform and pension reform bills. Sullivan also warned of the worst House budget the Massachusetts Labor Movement has ever seen, and of the strong fight ahead to protect jobs and crucial services, and to also create new direly needed revenues.

The discussion on our transition into the new “green economy” began with Rich Rogers, Principal Officer of the Greater Boston Labor Council and Chair of the Green Justice Coaltion, who introduced Darlene Lombos of Massachusetts Community Labor United (CLU). MassCLU is an organization seeking to strengthen the partnerships between labor and community groups to bring about grassroots mobilization and address issues vital to labor and the community. Lombos spoke about the Green Justice Coalition’s formation as a result of the environmental hazards and growing income disparity that has come from the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. Lombos commented on the fact that low income residents are being forced to forgo food, education, and medicine for their families in order to deal with rising energy costs, just as firms like Exxon Mobil were recording record profits following the rise in oil prices. Additionally, she noted that people of color and those in low income communities were significantly more likely to face the environmental burden of wasteful energy use within their own communities.  The solution, she said, was to come from retrofitting existing buildings, particularly those in low income areas, in order to make them more energy efficient. Beyond reducing energy needs of the residents and decreasing our environmental footprint, Lombos stated that these projects could create countless new jobs to enhance plumbing, insulation, wiring, and windows to make the homes more energy efficient. Such construction jobs, she argued, would also allow money to be kept within the local economy, and could allow for the creation of career jobs in a field that would be around for years to come. However, she did warn that labor must be ready for this new influx of jobs so that it can have a hand in making sure these new jobs are quality, family-sustaining union jobs, not low-quality jobs that keep people in poverty.

Kevin Cotter, Business Manager of Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 12, discussed a similar issue in his talk that introduced the idea of performance contracting. Under this model, cities and towns in the Commonwealth would hire contractors from an energy company to assess and analyze the efficiency of the municipalities and offer recommendations to mayors on how to run their city or town more energy efficiently. Cotter emphasized that while the capital improvements seem expensive at first, such capital investment more than pays for itself with the costs the that town would save on energy. Again, he noted the nature of the all around beneficial relationship, saving the town and taxpayers money, allowing the energy company to provide the assessment, reducing the amount of pollutants, and creating a series of new jobs to make buildings more energy efficient. Specifically, Cotter noted the investment in technologies to reuse recycled water, also called “graywater”, as has been done at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

Brian Brousseau, President of Roofers Local 33 stated how things like “green roofs” would allow for increased energy efficiency in homes, and in many cases allow for the planting of gardens on rooftops to give the most back to environment.

John Dumas, President of IBEW Local 103, touched on how Local 103 is making working with sustainable, renewable energy one of its highest priorities by making sure its members are trained in and embracing of these new “green” technologies. He mentioned some projects Local 103 has worked on surrounding harnessing wind and solar power. Click here to read more about IBEW Local 103’s efforts towards securing clean, renewable energy that creates quality union jobs.

Speakers also referenced the film The Greening of Southie, which gave a balanced and fascinating report on Boston’s first “green building”, an environmentally sustainable construction project in South Boston that incorporated many of the ideas brought up by those at the roundtable.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO’s Annual Gompers-Murray-Meany Conference will replace the May COPE Political Roundtable. The COPE Political Roundtable will next assemble on Thursday June 18th for its annual summer kick-off barbeque at the Massachusetts Archives Building. Stay tuned for more details. Click here to see pictures of April’s COPE Political Roundtable.