In a letter sent to Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, and Rep. Tom Price, the Subcommittee' Ranking Member, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ CEO Steve Sandherr made the point that construction jobs meet all the criteria of the loosely defined "green job."
This criteria includes:
- Improving the environment;
- Offering good-paying jobs;
- Offering opportunities for advancement;
- Are jobs that cannot be outsourced; and
- Encouraging participation by a diverse population.
The letter was sent to the subcommittee in response to a March 31 hearing it held to "examine green jobs and their role in our nation's economic recovery."
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s letter emphasized how large a role the construction industry plays in a green economy, how important it is to capture all of the green work that the industry does - including recycling at the highest levels of any industry - and the need to provide training for traditional crafts that may "benefit by, but do not need, training in green practices in order to work successfully on a green project."
Further, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ stressed the need for the federal government to avoid over-defining "green jobs" so that it excludes large segments of the industry and highlighted the many ways that ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, its members and Chapters promote training and construction in environmentally sound and "green" practices.
To read ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s letter, click .
For more information, contact Liz Elvin at (703) 837-5389 or elvinl@agc.org.
