A Labor Leader for Good Jobs and a Clean Environment
An interview with new Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
Editor’s Note: Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, a rising star in
the labor movement, is stepping in to head Green For All. As executive
officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Ellis- Lamkins expanded
health care access in San Jose and worked to raise the minimum wage for
low-income families. She spoke with NAM editor Ngoc Nguyen about what’s
needed to bridge the sometimes wide gap between the labor and
environmental movements.
How does it feel to be stepping into your new role as the head of Green for All?
I’m very excited. A little overwhelmed today. I’m still at the South Bay Labor Council, so it’s exciting and sad.
How did your new appointment come about?
I spent three months working in Washington, D.C., figuring out how to
create opportunities for working people and people of color. This is a
unique moment. There’s a huge federal investment. We can turn that
investment into quality jobs for people who need them the most. Van
decided to go to D.C. He said to me, ‘Why don’t you come to Green For
All.’
The labor and environmental movements have often been pitted against
each other. It’s either jobs or the environment, but not both.
Do you think that opposition is breaking down?
There’s a new generation of movement leaders who can see that there
shouldn’t be a rift between the environment and labor movements. No one
knows this like a coal miner how destructive the industry is. No one
wants their child to do that work, but [the miners] do it because they
want their family to thrive. They don’t want the place where they live
to go through a destructive process and watch their own body be harmed.
The whole family has to make hard choices. It’s the same for the
workers in Silicon Valley where people are using chemicals to clean
chips, not the kind of choices people should have to make to support
their family.
The communities suffering the most from toxic pollution are the same
ones that don’t have grocery stores and don’t have quality jobs. I grew
up near a Shell refinery and I had asthma. I remember my doctor telling
my mom, ‘You have to move to Arizona because the air quality is
better.’ Families have to make those tough choices.
How would you define a green job?
These are new jobs created as a result of changes in the economy. It
can be around construction, such as weatherization or jobs installing
solar panels. There are opportunities for green jobs even in the way
industry does things, for instance, going paperless, like in the
medical industry. In all of these different sectors, there will be new
net jobs being created.
Green jobs have a minimal impact on the environment, and are done better than the traditional way.
Will Silicon Valley play a role in providing green jobs, perhaps in the clean tech sector?
Silicon Valley will be at the forefront of the economy, as a center of
innovation, diversity and inspiration. Silicon Valley creates a space
to be entrepreneurial. In my 13 years there, I was amazed by the work
that gets done. People come here to make their families’ lives better.
What is next for your new organization, Green for All?
For Green for All to play a role in national policy. The Green Jobs Act
of 2007 provides $500 million. We need to make sure that in the budget
process, there’s investment in low-income communities and opportunities
for new jobs. We need to do research and show that the policies work at
the local and state level.
Green For All needs to map out the landscape of new jobs. There’s an
opportunity for green jobs in infrastructure and construction. There’s
30 percent unemployment rate in construction, we’re talking about
putting people back to work where the new jobs are.
What is the current state of the labor movement nationally?
The labor movement is positioned to do well, nationally. The emergence
of the Employee Free Choice Act, allowing workers to more easily
organize into union is good. But will the labor movement be able to
make the most of this opportunity? The greatest challenge is not
fighting one another in the midst of opportunity when the labor
movement has had to be defensive for the last eight years. It’s
important for us to not fight over small things, but focus on big
change on behalf of members.
What is the biggest change your members what to see?
Stability in the economy. People measure the success of unions by how
their families live. People want their homes to not get foreclosed on,
for their kids to get an education, and for their community to be safe
and healthy.
We as a country need to be clear in our priorities. I think we are on
the right track, the worst part about this moment is that there’s no
quick answer. I wish I could say the answer is simply green tech. We’re
in a real tough spot, and when people are in crisis, can we think
longer term and smarter?
What’s needed most to pull the country out of this recession?
The most important investment is the one that gets people back to work
in a way that makes our community sustainable. We want to be able to
build transportation that lets people get to jobs and grocery stores.
Did we do projects that make sense? For example, weatherization. The
place people spend the most money on utilities is in hot places for
cooling their homes. There are seniors out there who suffer because
they can’t afford to pay utilities. That can’t be the country we are.