GreenLight Manufacturing Brief #7

Profiles:

BlueGreen Alliance
The BlueGreen Alliance is a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations working to expand the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. Launched in 2006 by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, the BlueGreen Alliance now unites 10 U.S. labor unions and four of Americas most influential environmental organizations and their 14 million members and supporters in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a 21st century economy.

Merger Will Boost Push for Green Jobs; Strengthening Manufacturing and Rebuilding Transit

The BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance announced a merger on May 24, 2011 to strengthen and unify the movement to build a clean The Apollo Alliance is a national coalition of energy, good jobs economy to fuel U.S. job creation. The newly environmental, labor, unified organization will call on the federal government to focus anew business and community on creating good jobs, securing Americas energy future and leaders committed to preserving the environment for future generations. Beginning July 1, building a clean energy, 2011, the two organizations will combine to become the BlueGreen good jobs economy. Launched in 2003, Apollos Alliance, which will be home to the Apollo Alliance project. United diverse coalition has offered Steelworkers President Leo Gerard and Sierra Club Chair Carl Pope a bold vision to catalyze a will continue as co-chairs, and David Foster will continue as clean energy economy to executive director. spur job growth by harkening back to President Kennedys visionary call to In our state, the Washington Apollo Alliance was a founding affiliate

Apollo Alliance

restore Americas technological leadership by landing the first man on the moon within the decade of the 1960s.

Recent Projects
Apollo Alliance Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (T-MAP) BlueGreenAlliance Jobs 21!

chapter the national organization. Since 2005, its efforts have been coordinated by the Worker Center division of the M.L. King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The Washington Apollo Alliance was instrumental in the development and garnering labor, environmental, and business support for I-937 (our renewable portfolio standard) and the Climate Action and Green Jobs Law of 2008. The BlueGreen Alliance/Apollo Alliance merger will expand Washingtons clean energy network, refocus efforts on creating good jobs in Washington, and boost partnerships in the Washington green jobs space with the addition of BlueGreen Alliances membership of 10 international unions and 4 environmental organizations. Currently, the Washington Apollo Alliance is developing a regional version of the Apollo Alliance Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan to expand transit investment and maximize local manufacturing for our transportation systems, work which feeds into the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King Countys GreenLight project. In early 2011, the national BlueGreen Alliance launched Jobs21!, a nine-state grassroots campaign calling for a national jobs plan to put America back to work building the industries of the 21st century here in the United States. This initiative will be strengthened through coordination with the Apollo Alliances strong network of state and local affiliates. It will also be enhanced by Apollos recently-launched Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (TMAP) project that calls for federal investment in clean transportation that will create 3.7 million direct and indirect jobs over six years and will save Americans up to $5,000 per family each year in commuting costs. In their first official act together, the new BlueGreen Alliance and the Apollo Alliance joined U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) for a telephone press conference to announce their support for his new legislation the Strengthening Manufacturing and Rebuilding Transit (SMART) Act that would invest in American-made transportation infrastructure. Browns legislation is aimed at enhancing domestic transportation supply chains while maximizing job creation in manufacturing. Brown told reporters: The buses, trolleys and trains that take Americans to every corner of our country should be Made in America. By strengthening the domestic supply chain for public transit, the

SMART Act will strengthen our public transit options and revitalize our manufacturing heritage. According to Gerard: Nearly three years after the bottom fell out of our economy, we are still facing a jobs crisis of historic proportions. We cant afford to sit on the sidelines while the U.S. misses the boat on the industries of the 21st century the biggest jobcreating opportunity in a generation. The SMART Act is a framework to bolster domestic manufacturing for transportation systems by: 1. Giving preference in awarding federal grants to projects that include the purchase of transit vehicle rolling stock, rail, and supporting equipment if the manufactured goods to be purchased have a domestic content percentage that exceeds federal domestic content standards. 2. Increasing the transparency of domestic content waivers and waiver requests, and strengthening limitations on waivers 3. Linking domestic manufacturers to transportation infrastructure and rolling stock opportunities by working with local manufacturing-related intermediaries to: identify United States manufacturers currently producing, or capable of producing, transit and rail vehicles, supporting equipment, component parts, or similarly performing products work with partners to identify and address gaps in domestic supply chains establish and carry out a program to award grants to eligible entities1

David Groves of The Stand and James Parks of AFL-CIO Now contributed to this report
1

SMART Act, S. 4034, 111 Cong., GovTrack (2010). Web.

Environmental Coalition Backs Sen. Sherrod Brown's New Green Jobs Bill LOBBYING: With an eye on jobs, BlueGreen and Apollo alliances merge Sen. Brown targets SMART Act at rebuilding transit infrastructure BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance Merge to Strengthen Green Economy U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Top Headlines

http://commerce.senate.gov/public/
BlueGreen Alliance

Select Organizations to Watch

http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/home
Infrastructure & Manufacturing Blogs Alliance for American Manufacturing

http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/blog/categ ory/88

The Worker Center, AFL-CIO is an equal opportunity employer and provider of employment and training services. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.