Green jobs must mean good jobs that respect labor

GREEN jobs have been held as the panacea of the economic collapse. We continue to be told this is the industry that is going to save America's jobs and move us into the future. But a disturbing incident between Washington and Oregon over a "green" company that grows the crystals from which solar panels are made should wake us up to what can go wrong if we don't carefully monitor the growth of this industry and ensure that "green workers" are part of the next middle class.

In 2006, the German company SolarWorld, one of the world's largest solar energy companies, purchased Royal Shell's solar division and acquired a plant in Vancouver, Wash. That operation was a unionized facility providing good, middle-class wages to the Machinist Union members employed there. SolarWorld promised there would be no layoffs for the first year of their ownership of the facility

But then, in March 2007, SolarWorld purchased a facility in Hillsboro, Ore. The company was lured there in part by $43 million in tax breaks and public subsidies. SolarWorld jumped at this opportunity to move its operation to a new facility. But at the same time, they adamantly rejected requests by the Machinist Union to remain neutral in any efforts to unionize the Oregon work force. New employees at the Hillsboro facility were offered much lower pay than the unionized Washington workers, inferior benefits, no job protections and work shifts that varied between 12-hour graveyard and 12-hour day shifts.

As labor leaders representing union members in both states, we find this entire story reprehensible. You would think that a company from Germany, a place where unions represent almost 25 percent of the population, would respect the inherent value of a well-trained, organized work force. Instead, we see this company acting like so many of the American corporations do — scurrying over the border in search of a way to get cheaper labor while taking advantage of the taxpayers in the state, gobbling up tax breaks and lowering the standard of living at the same time.

This is not how we are going to rebuild a strong middle class through green technology. This scenario sets up the working men and women of this country for a further slide down the rung into poverty and bad working conditions. Further, the practice of states pitting themselves against each other by luring jobs across the border sets the stage for economic warfare. We can and must do better than this for American workers.

The rise of the middle class in the mid-20th century came through struggle. Working men and women had to fight for many years to be recognized and included in the prosperity of the growing nation. We need to remember that history, teach it to our children and recognize exactly how those struggles brought about protections for workers including higher pay, the eight-hour workday and a stronger voice in the workplace. Those who neglect to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

What is to be said for these workers at SolarWorld who were offered the opportunity to keep their jobs if they chose to drive almost 40 miles each way to the new office, work for $5 to $6 less an hour, lose benefits and seniority, be subjected to 12-hour swing shifts and at the same time lose their voice in the workplace? Do we chalk this up to progress?

Green jobs can never help rebuild our economy if the industry is not built with respect and dignity for the workers who will be doing the heavy lifting. We cannot allow taxpayer subsidies to lure jobs from one state to another and at the same time finance anti-union activities. Business, government and labor must work together to ensure that this new green economy works to provide family-wage jobs with real protections and a strong voice in the workplace. Those are the values that created the middle class in the first place — the values that made our country great.