Get informed straight from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the nations capitol to wherever you are, because the opinion that matters most is your own. This is what democracy looks likes, powered by cable. Acting labor secretary julie su signed memorandums of understanding with interior secretary deb, and chief of staff dan utech at the Labor Department in washington d. C. Focused on creating union jobs and a Clean Energy Economy. And well hear from Community Stake holders on their experiences in advancing the goals. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [applause] good afternoon, everyone. I want to start the program with a warm welcome to the department of labor, to witness our partnership across the federal government with the signing of two separate memorandums of understanding between the department of labor and with the department of the interior and Environmental Protection agency. I am the Deputy Director here, and good jobs help support of collaboration between the agencies as we realize the vision of President Biden and through the leadership of our respective leaders. This work and today would not be possible if it were not for the countless people in each of our agencies who believe that we can act on Climate Solutions and create good and equitable union jobs for office. [applause] i want to give a special shout out to our colleagues at interior and epa. You know who you are in the audience for your partnership and trust as we Work Together. Today you will be hearing from our Agency Leaders on their vision for creating good jobs in the clean economy, as well as a Panel Discussion with leaders making our goals real on the ground. Now, its my pleasure to introduce our esteemed leader at the department of labor. Acting secretary julie su. Acting secretary su is a nationally recognized expert on workers rights and civil rights who has dedicated her legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities. She previously served as the deputy secretary and secretary of the California Labor and work force agency. Every day, acting secretary su challenges us at the department to think of the best ways to enleash the full power of the department of labor and act on it. She is a sincere thought partner and true collaborator and is the first to recognize that it will take our collective action to see this moment, making today that much more important to us. So with that, i welcome acting secretary su to the stage. [applause] thank you teresa. Thank you so much. I want to echo her welcome to all of you for being here, but also thank her for her incredible efforts and her leadership inside of the department, along with the rest of my team at dol, the department of interior and the Environmental Protection agency. What we are talking about today is a Historic Collaboration between our departments and how our work is going to impact workers, our climate and tomorrows work force. That would not be possible without the incredible work thats represented by the people in this room. So our department of labor building is named for Francis Perkins who was the first woman cabinet secretary for any president and by all accounts, the most consequential labor secretary in history. Thats why im particularly excited to welcome secretary deb holland to our building today. The secretary of the interior who is also, shes the first native american to serve in any cabinet under any president. Yes, you can give that a hand. [applause]. She is a Laguna Pueblo citizen and the first woman to lead a state party in her home state of new mexico and one of the first native american women to serve in congress. So shes the living embodiment of something ive seen throughout my career and my life and experienced in everywhere i go, which is that exercisety and excellence go hand in hand, so, thank you very much secretary for being here. And that idea, the diversity acts go hand in hand is fundamental for President Bidens vision for what a strong and resilient economy looks like. He talks about and challenges us all to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up. And in order to do that, we have to be very cleareyed about who has for too long been at the bottom. Who are the communities . Who are the individuals . Who are the families where workers do not enjoy a just days pay for a hard days work. Where a worker gets up in the morning and isnt sure that he or she is going to come home safely at the end of the day. Where whole communities have been shut out of opportunities in the past and today and shut out of the opportunities to get good jobs due to discrimination, occupational segregation or marginalization. Its also not an accident that those same communities who suffer from poor jobs also suffer the worst effects of our Climate Crisis. So, were here today to talk about how we can address those harms together because we cannot build the economy that President Biden envisions unless we fix those things. So, we have a moment, we have a moment that were in now with historic investments in our nations infrastructure, in our nations manufacturing, in our nations clean energy and by the president s vision in our nations workers. So investing in america agenda, the president and the cabinet have been out across the country talking about what investing in america means and were here to do that right here at the Frances Perkins building at the department of labor because were trying to deliver on a once in a generation moment all of these at the same time including the good jobs and need to combat the Climate Crisis. Weve Regional Economic development and innovative Work Development and opportunities to answer the question, are we going to have the workers for all the jobs created. And the key to all of this, as the president and everyone across the cabinet does, too, the right to formally join a union is what it means to have a good job, Strong Community and a good life. [applause] so the work thats going to come out of the partnership that were talking about here today are part of the proof that we do not have to choose between workers and our climate. We dont have to choose between good jobs and the environment. So weve seen this in some of the progress made in bidenomics. And theres work to do and that will allow to have our roles together and get that work done. Were going to do it with great intentionality to make sure that the workers and communities left out in the past are not left out in the economy that we build going forward. The partnership has allowed us to will allow us to continue to embed job quality and equity criteria in the trillions of dollars in federal funding thats going out into communities. The mous that were going to find today are going to allow us to focus on expertise, not just the leadership, but our entire departments that make sure that were taking the correct action to lever the ability to move action on the ground to what needs to be done with federal dollars and also to listen to and build on expertise of communities doing place based work in communities on building equitable strong economies and Work Force Program so im excited about the program with secretary holland and the epa and with all of you here. We know that the successful work force in the community doing work to understand what the challenges and abilities and talents left out in the communities are. So, with that, i am going to actually ask our panelists to come up because were going to talk about some examples of people who are doing this work on the ground the right way, in a way that really reflects the president s vision how to build a strong economy. While they come up, im going to tell you who they are. Thank you so much for being here. We are joined today by frank howard iii. [applause] lee, and wayne. [applause] go ahead and have a seat. Frank has been treasurer of howard concrete pumping company, inc. , a family founded by his father since 2006. Hes been a fixture in the howard offices for his entire life. Howard concrete pumping, inc. Has been a specialty contractor, headquartered in pittsburgh, with the abandoned coal mines for ground sustenance, working with abandoned mines across the United States and including operating engineers, laborers and pile drivers, so, thank you for modeling, frank, what it means to build the economy that President Biden envisions. Lee is the Regional Program manager for the labor climate project in ohio and she is a member of the usw local 1046 in louisville, ohio and 24year maintenance employee with a bachelor which she completed while working fulltime in the shop. So [applause]. Doing the work and modeling and her parents were Steel Workers and her grandparents were also union members. And last but not least, commissioner president richardson, Wayne Richardson is a manager of streak partnerships for the labors Eastern Region as well as the executive director of pathways to apprenticeship in new jersey, a program that creates a pathway out of poverty by providing opportunities for training and union membership. So, thank you all for joining us. [applause]. Im going to start out and ask each of you to do a quick lightning round, 90 seconds of what you see as the opportunity now given your background in this space of both addressing our Climate Crisis and a crisis in this country. And ill start with you, if thats okay. Yeah, so, i think the important thing is that we have a time in history where we can come together and meet and theres a funding opportunity to do work na is very hard to do, that takes a lot of unique skill sets and expertise and that traditionally doesnt have the funding at the same time, we can invest in Work Force Development which is from a business perspective very difficult to do. And there is a long tale to doing that, thats to say that the investments in work force dont pay off right away. So it has to be an ongoing investment. So, i think the vision that we have here and the funding available is really a unique opportunity to get some of this work done and done well. Thanks. Well, first, thank you all for this opportunity, super excited youre doing this. And the blue Green Alliance, boots on the ground, gal. Blue Green Alliance is coalition of environmental and labor partners as you mentioned secretary su that we do not have to choose between good jobs and a clean environment. They go hand in hand. So weve been at this, bga has been at this for 17 years, for 10 in ohio, i started when i was 12. [laughter] and here is what i see from on the ground is education, trust building, internship r building, making sure the right people are at the table, and this opportunity that youre doing today will only broaden the folks that we can bring into the table and all speak from the same place. Wayne richardson, happy to be here, thanks for all of you for coming, thanks for putting this together. And one of the things that i see that we need to do, when we talk about this infrastructure dollars, and all of these things that are going to happen, theyre going to be so wonderful. Weve got to make sure that the people who, secretary su mention who have been marginalized get an opportunity and ive been a part of the good jobs in the past and one of the things that ive said and i hold to that right now, those who control the money make the rules. So youve got to make sure the rules are in place that will connect the jobs and all of the things that President Biden has attempted to could and hold these people accountable to folks who are going to receive the money. Its not just putting the money out there and we have to train the work force, which is one of the things that the laborers are doing now with our pathway to apprenticeship, to make sure that they have a real opportunity to get into the trades, get into the union, and thats one of the things that were doing thats going to be essential because we are going to need the work force. Theres going to be a lot of money, but we have to be ready and trained when that money hits the ground. So thank you. Wayne, thank you so much for that. Im going to ask you a question based on what you said about the need to to bring the pieces together. Can you say a little bit more about why its so important to bring climate, environmental folks together with labor as we implement the funding . Yes. So you know, it takes a long time to build trust between different organizations, right . And what this historic legislation has given us the opportunity to do on speed is to bring those folks together and explain to them that we have to Work Together and we have to trust one another, and i think, you know, throughout the country, this is going on, but i know for sure its going on in the state of ohio. Our abandoned mine land work with wells, we have the operators at the table. We have ohio valley river, environmental organizations at the table. Our utility skilled solar work, we have the developers, ibw at the table and talking to one another and singing from the same hymnal, its been amazing thing to see. Youre right, these apprenticeship programs and the folks left out, you know, we need to double down our efforts and bring them along as well. I love that. The way you put it, that when there are rules in place for how people are supposed to operate, we have a fair game and lee, im just going to follow up. Because your work on abandoned land mines, theres such an overlap between what the department of interiors funding opportunities create and the work youve been doing. And the partnership between the u. S. Department of labor and interior mean for you. How does it affect your work, when there are job and equity standards in funding at the front end . Can i call out a couple of people from dol and doi that have been instrumental in this . Winnie is in the front row, and from the department of labor, there she is back there. Can you stand up when she says your name . applause these gals, these gals have these gals have joined every other week call with 20, 25, 30 folks from respective states, mostly in appalachia, had the patients to explain this program, encourage us to bring folks along to this program. It has obviously not been codified until today, but it has been such a pleasure working with them and they have theyve made friends. Our labor in kentucky, lonnie, likes to call out winnie and say, now, winnie what do you think about this . And these folks are just salt of the earth folks that were going to bring these folks along. In august, in ohio, were having a round table, webinar discussion with significant tri contractors how to bid this work. I mean, this is historic. Theyve never they dont know this program. Theyre never been made aware of this program. And here we are going to tell them that this funding is going to come for at least the next 10 years. And its going to be your work. Its really something to be part of. Yeah, thank you, lee. So, what youre saying is when there are conditions at the beginning, increased opportunities for the work to be done the right way and to make sure that workers can do that work, come out of programs where and the right people are at the table, weve all heard this. If youre not at the table, youre on the menu. Weve got them at the table. Good, thank you so much. So, frank, on that point, i often say, too, that theres just, theres vast Common Ground between what is good for employers and what is good for workers. And you and the company in your family for generations, is a good example of that. You talk about the Business Case for Work Force Development. Can you tell us why your business sees the value in Union Partnership and the value in respecting your workers rights to join the union . Yeah, sure and i think its two very important elements. Clearly it is about providing quality Career Opportunities for individuals. I mean, the union work force, its good wages, its healthy benefits, its robust retirement. So its training opportunities. Its an opportunity to better yourself, its an opportunity to make a good life without necessarily having to need a college education. So, thats point one about the Union Tradesmen and the union work force. From a Business Owners perspective. I think its important to call out, especially in the construction realm and im generallylizing a little bit, but if youre looking at Union Tradesmen versus nonUnion Tradesmen, youre getting a more professional result by going with the Union Tradesmen. Were talking about safety, awareness of safety. More safety training. So thats good for everybody. Were talking about Quality Control and Quality Assurance so the projects are built faster and the an a better quality. And finally, its what were all talking about. Its about Work Force Development and really unions are set up to do that very well, where especially with contractor, that are smaller or medium sized, its difficult to do Work Force Development