Union and community based training inititatives for green economy jobs: A comparision of two training projects

The United Steelworkers Tony Mazzocchi Center (TMC) provides a broad spectrum of health, safety and environmental training to members of the United Steelworkers union and community groups. Courses from the TMC meet the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.120, address environmental justice and health disparities, and provide for worker development and education. Much of this training is provided as part of the Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program (HWWTP) with the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). In 2009, the TMC received a supplement to its HWWTP from NIEHS and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). One of the goals of ARRA was to create jobs. A focus of job creation under the Act was building the country's infrastructure through green jobs in construction and weatherization. To further the goals of the Recovery Act, the TMC used its resources to develop and deliver two models of pre-employment health and safety training to workers entering green jobs. The first was working with the Pittsburgh A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Pittsburgh Housing Authority to train residents of public housing to enter jobs in construction, maintenance, and weatherization. The second was working with the United Utility Workers of America and G-Force Power in Michigan to train laid-off United Steelworkers members to enter weatherization jobs in the utility industry. This session will describe the two models, their successes and challenges, the lessons learned, and how these lessons can be incorporated into other pre-employment health, safety and environmental training programs.