New York Invests in Green-Collar Jobs

New York State took a bold step toward improving energy efficiency and creating quality green-collar jobs this October when Gov. David Paterson signed the Green Jobs/Green New York Act of 2009 into law. The product of active collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders, the bill represents an exciting new development in a state that has already shown a strong commitment to energy efficiency and innovation.

Green Jobs/Green New York sets a goal of retrofitting a million homes across the state, and establishes a revolving loan fund, administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to cover up-front costs of residential and commercial energy efficiency improvements. The bill encourages NYSERDA and the Public Service Commission to establish a mechanism to allow loan repayment over a number of years through an added charge on homeowners’ utility bills, but since it does not specifically mandate “on-bill recovery,” this will be the subject of additional legislation. The loan fund will be supported by an initial $112 million in proceeds from a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) auction. An additional $2-4 million in auction proceeds will go toward job training in weatherization.

“New York is on the way to becoming a global green leader,” said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party (WFP). “Using today’s technology, this program will save millions of homeowners on their utility bills, reduce New York’s carbon footprint, and create thousands of badly needed jobs.”

The bill is the product of two years of work by a coalition of multiple stakeholders, led by the Center for Working families (CWF) and the WFP, with active engagement by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), the New York Apollo Alliance, and many others.  The coalition worked in cooperation with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who authored the bill and carried it through unanimous passage in the Assembly.

“Thanks to the Green Jobs/Green New York legislation, homeowners, small business owners, and not-for-profit agencies are encouraged to undertake the energy efficiency projects that will reduce utility bills as well as greenhouse gas emissions,” said Silver. “As homes and facilities are retrofitted and green jobs are created, this program will become a much needed boost for struggling local economies throughout New York State.”

Getting the bill through the Senate was more difficult. The initial vote on the bill was stalled after a political upset, and then the state’s Republicans mounted a campaign against the bill. But the day before the final vote, Republican Senator Thomas Morahan co-authored an op-ed in support of the bill, which was critical to winning the votes needed for passage.

One of the true victories of the process was “getting everybody to the table and developing a true consensus approach,” said Emmaia Gelman, policy director at the Center for Working Families. Dave Palmer, legislative campaigns director for the Working Families Organization agreed: “This was a real business, labor, environmental, and community-based coalition.”

Another victory will be thousands of green-collar jobs created as a result of the bill, which specifically requires that participating contractors abide by “enforceable agreements to meet standards set by [NYSERDA], including standards for local hiring.” Details on job standards have yet to be fleshed out by the agency.  Over the next six months, as NYSERDA develops program regulations, the coalition that helped pass the bill will advocate for strong wage and benefit, local hire, and apprentice hire standards to be built into the program, primarily through contractor certification requirements.

One way to guarantee that the new jobs are high quality is to make sure weatherization jobs are union-represented. Laborers Local 10 is one union that represents weatherization workers. Like Local 55 in New Jersey, Local 10 is a LIUNA affiliate and was formed a year ago to represent New York City and Long Island workers in the residential construction and energy efficiency industries.  Local 10 sets a wage rate of $22.10 per hour including benefits – lower than the going rate for commercial construction but still sufficient to support a family.  Local 10 also provides four weeks of training that covers all the Department of Energy core competencies in weatherization, and will offer opportunities for advancement next year through supervisor and auditor training. Members of Local 10 are already doing weatherization work, including work funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Local 10 is particularly excited about Green Jobs/Green New York. “It’s tremendous,” said Local 10 Manager of Green Operations Myles Lennon. “This is our first opportunity to really bring the residential retrofit market to scale in a sustainable way that will lower the burden on workers and communities to get this work done.” 
“They’ve been interested in this from the start and are excited about it; we see them as an ideal partner,” said Gelman, speaking about Local 10. “Based on their model, laborers around the rest of the state have also been really engaged in Green Jobs/Green New York, sitting with contractors and community groups to develop shared ideas about program-wide wage and hiring standards.”

The New York City Apollo Alliance is “very supportive of local 10,” said Mijin Cha, director of campaign research at Urban Agenda and Apollo Alliance convener.  Both New York City and New York State Apollo were actively involved in the coalition supporting Green Jobs/Green New York and will continue to participate in its implementation.

“This is a great use of RGGI funds,” said Cha. “It means that they are being used to increase energy efficiency, create good jobs, and help low-income people access those jobs.”

Moving forward, implementation of Green Jobs/Green New York rests on a competitive process that emphasizes community collaboration.  The bill requires applicants to include local community groups working in collaboration with contractors, local utilities, and labor and training organizations.  Criteria for awards include preference for coalitions that include women and minority-based businesses, and groups in economically distressed communities.

The Center for Working Families is already actively organizing local collaborative stakeholder groups in anticipation of Requests for Proposals becoming available. “What’s great about it is that we have about 350 stakeholders around the state on the same page,” said Gelman.  Meanwhile, the statewide stakeholders group, which includes Local 10 and New York City Apollo, will meet in the coming months to develop and make recommendations to NYSERDA on how to incorporate job quality standards into Green Jobs/Green New York’s implementation.