Green-Collar Jobs Committee
The vast majority of Tennesseans do not need study results to know that there are economic hard times in the state. What is important to know (and that studies continue to show) is that Tennessee seems to be hit even harder than other states in the US. According to the US Census Bureau, other states have seen a small increase in average household income, but Tennessee residents earned less in real income in 2007 than they did in 2005 and 2001. At $41,195/year for average income, Tennessee is 9th in the nation for low-income levels, as compared to the national average of $50,000. Fifteen percent of the state lives below the federal poverty line, and the number of uninsured is on the rise.
SOCM is indeed no stranger to working on economic issues; here’s a brief reminder: The organization was founded on the principles that local economies should allow for healthy communities, made evident with the launch and passage of the first coal severance tax to provide millions of dollars for roads and schools in coal-producing counties. SOCM members continued to push for just compensation and revenues with several victories in the 1980’s. In the early nineties, the organization led a campaign on abuse of temporary workers with legislation to define temporary worker status.
Today, SOCM continues to be an active member of Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, a statewide coalition pushing for a more progressive state tax structure; the campaign on the state food sales tax saw the first ever reduction in 2007. In 2006, SOCM joined an effort with Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice (now Workers Interfaith Network) to work for a state minimum wage bill. That bill was withdrawn when the federal minimum wage was raised. And in the 2009 legislative session, SOCM members joined the Workers Interfaith Network, Jobs with Justice, and others to fight an anti-living wage bill, which was narrowly defeated.
With so much economic hardship concentrated in the state, the issue of “good jobs” naturally arose in SOCM in 2008 through conversations in chapters and committees about possible statewide work for 2009. The Good Jobs Working Group then formed to explore how SOCM might uniquely affect this issue in Tennessee.
Members reported in a survey that wages and benefits were the most important to them in a good jobs campaign. Many SOCM members said they envision green jobs in their community. “There’s never been an opportunity like this for us to change things before,” said David Beaty in reflecting on the national “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference in February 2009 and the Good Jobs discussions that SOCM was having. Several years ago, David joined SOCM because of strip mining in his hometown of Jamestown (Fentress County), and is happy to have become the Chair of what is now the Green-Collar Jobs Committee.
SOCM members in the Good Jobs Working Group were instrumental in envisioning the Green-Collar Jobs initiative for SOCM’s strategic plan. As a result, the working group became a SOCM Issue Committee: the Green-Collar Jobs Committee. They are asking: “Can green-collar jobs (GCJ)* be created in urban and rural Tennessee communities? What forms of green/clean production are currently being pursued? What resources can help shape these jobs from the grassroots up? What are the obstacles to success? How can uneven resources between urban and rural areas be addressed?”
These questions are critical because of the economic and environmental problems facing Tennessee. One third of the state’s counties are economically distressed or on the verge. Tennessee also has the most carbon-intensive metro areas of any state, and many of our rural areas have been devastated by resource extraction. Addressing these issues requires finding ways to create living-wage jobs without further destroying the planet.
*SOCM’s definition: Family-supporting jobs with workers’ rights, which strengthen communities and provide pathways out of poverty and an equitable, sustainable clean energy economy.
Interested in joining the Green-Collar Jobs Committee?
Call Green-Collar Jobs Organizer Katie Stokes Greer at 865.249.7488 or email her at
