How to “Build Back Better”

By staff - Labor Network for Sustainability, March 2021

Anyone interested in how to address the concerns of both labor and environmentalists in upcoming legislation should take a look at the new Sierra Club report “How to Build Back Better: A 10-year Plan for Economic Renewal.” Although the Sierra Club is an environmental organization – in fact, the country’s largest–this “blueprint for economic renewal” has been designed with the needs of workers and discriminated-against groups front and center.

The plan is based on the THRIVE Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, American Federation of Teachers, American Postal Workers Union, Amalgamated Transit Union, Communications Workers of America, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America and Service Employees International Union.

• By investing $1 trillion per year, an economic renewal plan based on the THRIVE Agenda would create over 15 million good jobs–enough to end the unemployment crisis–while countering systemic racism, supporting public health, and cutting climate pollution nearly in half by 2030.

• These investments must come with ironclad labor and equity standards to curb racial, economic, and gender inequity instead of reinforcing the unjust status quo.

Here are some additional materials that illuminate the report’s findings:

• Report Website: sc.org/economicrenewal (PDF version here)
• Summary: A short synopsis of the findings
• Media Materials: Press release with quotes from partners, talking points, unbranded graphics, and a social media toolkit
• Jobs Calculator: See how many jobs your ideal economic renewal plan would create
• Economic Analysis: 70 pages of open-source data from the Political Economy Research Institute on the quantity, quality, and demographic distribution of jobs created

Finally, here are factsheets with tangible examples of the types of jobs that would be created:

• Economy-wide Investments: Over 15 Million Good Jobs
• Cross-cutting Standards: Labor, Equity, and Environment
• Why Standards Matter: Breakdown of the Jobs Created by Race, Gender, Wages, Benefits, Union Density, and Sector
• Jobs from Specific Programs in 8 Sectors: Energy, Transportation, Buildings, Manufacturing, Water, Lands, Agriculture, Care

And for a video on the report and the THRIVE Agenda, watch it here.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author.