Unions want share of green tech 'stimulus' jobs

[Omaha Steve]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20090206/tc_cnet/83011357831015784738

Posted on Thu Feb 5, 2009 7:15PM EST

WASHINGTON--The massive "stimulus" bill that's careening through the U.S. Congress spends billions of dollars in areas including green technology, energy research, and rural broadband.

Congressional leaders have made sure it comes with some strings attached. A "Buy American" requirement remains after the Senate failed to remove it by a 31-65 vote. Net neutrality rules for broadband spending is another condition that's been imposed.

But strikingly absent is one provision that unions would seem to naturally prefer: requirements that spending be directed at unionized firms, or at least focused on jobs with minimum hourly wages.

A report (PDF) released Thursday by labor groups called for any stimulus subsidies to include "wage requirements" and a "prevailing wage policy" as well as an end to the practice of giving contracts to the lowest bidder.

The report, commissioned by the the Sierra Club, Change to Win, the Laborers International Union of North America, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that new jobs created through spending on "green" technology wouldn't meet their standards. It argues that wages at some renewable energy facilities don't compare to those at other durable goods manufacturing facilities.

A representative of the United Steelworkers of America told CNET News: "The stimulus need not necessarily have any 'mandatory' labor requirements, per se. That said, we believe the Buy American provisions are the absolute cornerstone of revitalizing American manufacturing."

FULL story at link.