Union Members, Environmentalists Continue Cross-Country Bus Tour to Demand Senate Action on Clean Energy Jobs

Lansing, MI – A bus tour that highlights the potential to create good American jobs by passing comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate stopped in Lansing today urging Senators Stabenow and Levin to support action on comprehensive legislation that will create and save millions of American, clean energy jobs, including up to 42,000 jobs in Michigan.

“Nearly 1 out of 10 Americans, and almost one million here in Michigan, are still out of work. We need action now to create and preserve millions of jobs across the country,” said Brian Fredline, President of UAW Local 602. “We have a solution right at our fingertips — we can create good jobs here in Michigan with clean energy.”

The Job’s Not Done tour will travel to 17 states — with more than 30 stops along the way — and feature clean energy workers, union members and environmentalists urging Senate action on important job-creating clean energy legislation. Workers on The Job’s Not Done Tour worry that China will take the millions of potential jobs that will result from the transition to a clean energy economy.

“Instead of importing clean energy technologies, we should develop and manufacture the technology to harness American energy here at home,” said Mark Mullholand, a member of USW Local 1915 in Fremont, Ohio. “We can’t afford to let China take the millions of jobs that could be created in America by transitioning to clean energy.”

“Comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation will put America back on the path to economic success — revitalizing current industries and creating new ones, establishing the United States as the undisputed leader in clean energy technologies, and creating good American clean energy jobs now,” said Gayle Miller, Legislative Director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

The tour will continue to Grand Rapids and wraps up on September 3 in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit www.bluegreenalliance.org.

“This tour is a reminder that millions of people are out of work, and clean energy is the best way to jumpstart the American economy. We need the Senate to get back to work and get the job done — for our families, the economy, our environment, and the future,” said Luke Canfora, Political Director of the SEIU Michigan State Council.