NEWSROOM

ABC March 31 submitted a statement for the official record to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to be considered during a hearing to examine the role of green jobs in the nation’s economic recovery.  The hearing focused on the $50 billion in grants and tax incentives set aside by the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” (H.R. 1) to promote green jobs and the “Green Jobs Act of 2007,” a program that would train workers for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.   

In the letter, ABC thanked the committee for holding the hearing, but expressed concern about provisions in the stimulus package and the Green Jobs Act that would exclude a significant portion of the construction workforce from participating in green jobs.  

“ABC member companies have been at the forefront of green construction since before this terminology came into use,” the letter stated. “However, we are greatly concerned with recent statutory language which would prohibit over 84 percent of the construction industry from accessing federal dollars to train construction workers in green fields of works and strongly urge you to maintain open access to these important funds.”  

In the letter, ABC expressed concern over the “Green Jobs Act of 2007,” enacted as part of the “Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007” which was signed into law December 2007 and establishes National Energy Training Partnership Grants.  The bill funds training programs targeted at creating an efficient energy and renewable energy skilled workforce, but excludes open shop training programs from receiving this funding.  

“ABC chapters and member companies are actively engaged in training workers in a wide variety of skilled occupations and are constantly striving to keep pace with technology and innovation in order to make certain America has the skilled workforce it deserves, and that all American workers, regardless of union affiliation, enjoy equal-opportunity access to critical job training,” ABC stated. “Given the desire to see a continued increase in the use of green building and green technology, it seems that limiting the ability to participate in green training to such a small percentage of the construction industry would make this growth difficult.”  

In addition, ABC offered support for the “Green Jobs Improvement Act” soon to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) that would amend the Workforce Investment Act to allow both union and open shop training providers access to federal funds to help create an energy efficiency and renewable energy skilled workforce.