Photo by Senate Democrats: Green New Deal Press Conference, Feb. 2, 2019. Used with permission through Creative Commons.
Jeremy Brecher of LNS writes:
Along with its broad provisions for protecting the climate and eliminating poverty and injustice, the Green New Deal resolution recently proposed by Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey has specific proposals to help organized labor.
The GND provides massive investment in U.S. infrastructure and industry, thereby creating millions of jobs in our most unionized sectors. It will direct investments to spur economic development, deepen and diversify local economies, and prioritize high-quality job creation.
The GND requires that projects create high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, hire local workers, and offer training and advancement opportunities. It will guarantee a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and disability leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to everyone who is willing to hold one.
The GND recognizes the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment. It will strengthen and enforce labor, workplace health and safety, and wage standards across all employers, industries and sectors. And it will enact and enforce trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and environmental protections to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas and grow our domestic manufacturing.
Look for Brecher’s full article in a special upcoming issue of In These Times