Washington

In partnership with

CONTACT

Patrick Neville
Worker Center Division
Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Phone: (206) 441-8510
Fax: (206) 441-7103
2800 1st Ave.
Ste. 252
Seattle, WA 98121

Rick Bender
President, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

MISSION: Since it formalized its structure in January 2005, Washington Apollo Alliance has worked to develop a “policy menu” of legislative, financing, and workforce and economic development strategies that will help the state of Washington realize the benefits of clean energy, reduce foreign energy dependence and encourage good jobs.

PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS

At the end of January 2009, Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle awarded permits to McKinstry Company to expand its Seattle facility (see pix left). In the process, the expansion will create 500 good union, green-collar jobs. McKinstry has partnered with the Washington Apollo Alliance on passing the 2007 Climate Action/Green Jobs bill and the Workforce Development Council’s skill panel on green construction and building.
The Seattle rollout event for The New Apollo Program was a success. It was held in October 2008 at the Green Jobs Expo, also organized by Washington State Apollo.
October’s Green Jobs Expo showcased the Seattle and Puget Sound region as a major hub for development, manufacturing, and trade of clean energy technologies. In addition, this Expo was innovative in that it effectively highlighted our region’s commitment to the training and education that incubates our green workforce. Washington showed that it is ready to solve environmental problems using skilled labor. The Expo was co-sponsored by Washington Apollo, the Manufacturing Industrial Council, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Seattle Community College District and was held at the Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center, South Seattle Community College.
The Washington Apollo Alliance brought environmental, business and labor voices together to support Governor Gregoire’s Climate Action and Green Jobs bill, passed in March 2008. This bill is the first statewide legislation to link global warming solutions with opportunities to invest in developing the state’s workforce in the growing clean energy sector. According to Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, “the bill [proves] that a ‘jobs vs. environment’ argument is a false argument because it will build pathways to prepare people for good, family-wage jobs in non-polluting employment, as well as promote sustainability of our natural resources and provide good value investment opportunities.” Click here for a press release.
The Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO was the first Building and Construction Trades Council in the U.S. to publish a position paper on climate change.
Washington Apollo Alliance recently brought environmental, business, labor, and community voices together to craft a “Climate Action and Green Jobs” policy framework, passed into state law as H.B.2815 in March 2008. We are now researching opportunities to fund the green industry skill panels and green jobs training account.
Participation on Seattle/King County Workforce Development Council Skill Panel on Green Construction and Green Design/Build. This Skill Panel works to identify gaps in industry skills and plan workforce strategies to close those gaps.
Participation on the Washington 2008 Climate Action Team (CAT), Implementation Working Group (IWG) for Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings. This IWG is charged with the development of policy recommendations to incentivize energy efficiency retrofits and building to green standards for the commercial, residential, public, and private built environment.
Worked with WA Blue-Green Alliance to help plan, organize, and present at the June 21, 2008 Good, Green Jobs Conference, co-sponsored by University of Washington, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Keynote speakers included King County Executive Ron Sims, Governor Chris Gregoire, and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee.

Participation with the Pacific Mountain Alliance for Innovation WIRED Initiative. The WIRED Initiative will utilize skill panels and other workforce and economic development tools to transform the Pacific Mountain region into a skills innovation and clean technology corridor in Washington, anchored by the potential for major expansion of the training capacity at the Satsop Development Park in Elma, WA. There is huge potential for a “green-collar skills university” at Satsop, a former nuclear power facility that ceased operations in the 1980s.

WHAT’S IN THE WORKS

Fund the Green Jobs Training Account. Last year, Washington passed a green jobs act, now we need to fund it and the Washington State Apollo Alliance is coordinating efforts to ensure the program has the funding it needs.
Efficiency First legislative campaign. Energy use in buildings is responsible for more than 30% of Washington’s global-warming emissions. Existing buildings are far and away the region’s greatest energy wasters. Many new buildings still aren’t designed with maximum energy savings in mind.Based on two years of work by the Governor’s Climate Action Team and one of the state environmental community’s four priority bills for 2009, the Efficiency First! package aims to cut existing buildings’ carbon emissions in half and steadily move us toward a new generation of super-efficient buildings that produce much of their own power.
We serve on Technical Advisory Committees for three of our community colleges, developing green job training programs/curricula.
We support and help coordinate the Green Industrial Business and Career Opportunity Program, spearheaded by the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle. The program supports teachers engaged in learning activities involving green technologies and will create new opportunities for K-12 students to explore green industrial career pathways. The program will focus on math, science and economics, and technologies for mechanical, electronic and informational systems. Career pathways will focus on manufacturing, transportation, construction, renewable energy generation, energy conservation and processes that reduce carbon emissions.