Senate HELP Committee Releases Witness List for April 21 "Green Jobs" Hearing
Yesterday, we noted the scheduling of an April 21, 2009 Senate HELP Committee Hearing entitled "Empowering Workers to Rebuild America's Economy and Longer-Term Competitiveness: Green Skills Training for Workers." The Committee has now released the list of witnesses who will participate:
Panel I
The Honorable Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, Washington, DC
Panel II
Lee D. Lambert, President, Shoreline Community College, Shoreline, WA
Phillip C.L. Lou, Former Student in the Shoreline Community College Solar Design and Installation Program, Vashon, WA
Dean Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McKinstry Company, Seattle, WA
Mark H. Ayers, President, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC
Joan Evans, Director, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Cheyenne, WY
It will be interesting to see to what extent EFCA, and other seemingly unrelated labor-supported regulatory proposals, make their way into the conversation on Tuesday. As we noted yesterday, there are those who believe that labor and the environmentalists can work together to help advance each others' agendas simultaneously. One might suspect some discussion of broader issues of interest to labor, like EFCA, as a nod to the Blue Green Alliance.
Obviously, Secretary Solis is an overt supporter of EFCA -- and has taken the position in the past that the proposed legislation would have much broader impact beyond facilitating organizing.
As indicated above, Mark Ayers is President of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department, and has been heavily involved in the labor coalition's Center for Green Jobs. In February, Mr. Ayers said of the Center's efforts:
A lot has been said recently about green jobs. But that conversation has been far too focused on the potential quantity of these jobs.
The core mission of the Center for Green Jobs will be to cultivate an equal focus on the quality of those jobs and to ensure that they are available to all Americans.
Of course, whenever a labor spokesperson starts talking about "quality" jobs that means "union jobs." So, it is fair to assume that Mr. Ayers may weigh in directly on how best to make sure all the new, "Green Jobs" created in the new economy will be union jobs -- whether by EFCA, by increased use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), or by some additional federal regulation.
We will post additional information and witness testimony as it becomes available.
