Please join the Green Justice Coalition to release our new report, An Industry at the Crossroads: Home Energy Efficiency in Massachusetts. We are working to make the fast-growing home weatherization field a "high road industry" that invests in skills, pays good wages and hires local residents.

Speakers will include state officials, industry workers, job market expert Dr. Andrew Sum of Northeastern University and Ron Ruggiero, Field Director of the national Apollo Alliance. The report was written by Community Labor United and the national Apollo Alliance.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Starts at 10:30 a.m.
Room 437, State House
24 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02133

With the passage of the Green Communities Act in 2008, an unprecedented opportunity opened for Massachusetts. The investment of $1.4 billion in energy efficiency by our state utility companies will create some 6,000 weatherization jobs in our commonwealth over the next three years. Not only is this investment the most ambitious energy efficiency program in the country but, if we ensure these jobs are good jobs, they can help reverse the recession for some of the hardest hit communities in our state.

Currently, most jobs in home weatherization and residential construction are low-wage and many are off the books. As this report highlights, these “low-road” jobs are costing Massachusetts taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year in public subsidies and health care costs. Our report estimates that supporting a worker with two children who is paid $11 an hour can cost the state and federal government $30,000 a year in public support. Without state regulation, the home weatherization industry is likely to go down this “low road.”

In contrast, “high road” jobs can not only save the state millions of dollars in public subsidies and health care costs but, more importantly, they will generate millions in new income tax revenues and contribute millions more to the unemployment insurance fund.

For more information, contact Khalida or call 617.442.3343 x221.