The new green jobs: 12 bucks an hour June 4, 2009
Posted by honestclimate in Discussions.Tags: climate change, global warming, green, renewable energy
trackback
The new ‘good’ job: 12 bucks an hour
CNN, June 4, 2009
In the Midwest, communities race to replace dwindling auto jobs with renewable energy ones, but workers will have to sacrifice on their pay.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Massive investment in renewable energy could ultimately create 4 million manufacturing jobs. But for the workers in the bottom rung of this movement, the shift to green jobs could very well mean a pay cut of nearly 60%, a trend spreading across the entire manufacturing sector.
Many of the entry-level jobs making green energy components start at $12 an hour, much less than the now extinct $28 an hour job that had allowed high school-educated workers in the auto sector to achieve middle class status.
“Particularly at the lower end, these are not very good jobs,” said Philip Mattera, research director at Good Jobs First, a labor-friendly research group, also acknowledging that the renewable energy sector paid wages that were “all over the map.”
Read the rest here
There is a lot of fraud in the “green” industry. If you look at RESNET/HERS, an organization funded by DOE, EPA and NASEO, other taxpayer funding source- through its training Energy Providers, RESNETHERS is to certify Energy Raters in the creation of new green jobs. However, the system is set up that it is impossible for Energy Raters to become certified. It is a monopoly that somehow scams people. If the economy is to rely on such organization to help create jobs, we’re in a long haul. At $12 an hour, many families will face extreme difficulty. It does not seem as anyone cares.These are working, working poor and often middle class people whove lost their jobs as a result of the recent economic downfall.
These jobs are supposed to be created, but as far as I can see, many of jobs that we depend on, will not exist. It’s a waste of taxpayer money and poor economic policy.
The “green” job industry needs oversight if it is to produce any jobs at all. It appears more of a scheme that promotes corruption.