Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, September 15, 2021.
Gina Raimondo will today release guidelines on how applications for manufacturing subsidies under the $53 billion CHIPS and Science Act will be evaluated. These could include whether applicants will get extra points for provisions long sought by the labor movement, such as project labor agreements and prevailing-wage commitments, which pave the way for union contracts.
For a model of what should be done, we can look at the most transformative agreement to date combining goals for decarbonization, well-paid union jobs, and climate justice at the state level. This is the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), enacted in Illinois in September 2021, before the major federal climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act. In fact, it helped influence some details of President Biden’s program.
In the 2018 election, Democrat J.B. Pritzker won the governorship and Illinois became a trifecta state. Under the previous Republican governor, the state had enacted a law in 2016 with some decarbonization targets, but relying on low wages. Organized labor was not at the table, and Illinois began importing out-of-state non-union contractors who paid wages in the range of $15 an hour.
After 2018, the stars aligned, helped along by a new national labor-led group called Climate Jobs, which has...
The Green Party has suspended a London council candidate who shared social media posts blaming Israel for the arson attacks on Jewish volunteer ambulances in March. A repost on the social media pr...