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US unions could prove inspiration for UK community work

31 August 2010

A strategic partnership of US unions could prove an inspiration for community working in the UK, help organisations go green and bring people into organising, according to PCS Green officer Anne Elliott-Day.

Green partnership sets an example for UK

Unions in the US have had to take a 'bottom-up' approach to working because there was no place for them to work at a national level.

The Apollo Alliance pilot - Clean Energy Works – is a partnership project in Portland, Oregon which centres on a community workforce agreement to insulate 500 homes and make them energy efficient. It is a coalition of unions, green groups and businesses wanting to see a “clean energy revolution” leading to the creation of green jobs.

Barbara Byrd, secretary/treasurer of the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) in the state of Oregon, spoke about the project during a visit to the PCS revenue customs branch in Newcastle this summer.

Householders save money on energy bills

Householders borrow money up front and pay it back through their utility bills. Some of the funding comes from union pension funds. The state of Oregon has recently got $20 million in federal stimulus money to expand the pilot programme to 6,000 homes in Portland and extend it to smaller cities around the state.

Describing the agreement as 'groundbreaking', Barbara who co-ordinates the Oregon chapter of the alliance, says that for the first time contractors, unions and community-based organisations have come together around a shared vision of energy efficiency and equitable employment opportunities.

Parallels between UK and US unions

There are some parallels between unions’ engagement on green issues in the UK and in the USA, but also important differences.

Here in the UK, where there is a forum for unions and government to engage on environmental issues - Trade Union Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (TUSDAC), we do not have a culture of local partnership action of the type the Apollo Alliance is involved in, though that may now change given the political climate we now find ourselves in.
Where the American union movement clearly differs from the UK on green issues is the involvement of white collar unions.

Grassroots, community-led projects have become the focus for unions and green organisations because of what Barbara describes as “the wilderness of the Bush years”.

Barbara, who co-ordinates the Apollo Alliance’s Oregon chapter, was on a five-week visit to the UK, is interested in the Green Workplaces projects the TUC started piloting in 2006. The US union movement has nothing comparable to these projects and Barbara has taken four key lessons back to the States:

 

  • without union involvement it is hard to see how organisations can 'go green'
  • these projects bring people, especially young members, into union activity
  • in the austerity culture of cuts anything that can help employers save money by cutting costs rather than jobs has to be a good thing
  • we need green reps and they need time to carry out their role effectively.

I think we would agree with Barbara’s analysis. Equally, the strategic partnership work that US unions are doing at community level is certainly something we can learn from them. 

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