NEW YORK, NY (SEPTEMBER 25, 2019) – At its inaugural gala last night, Climate Jobs New York honored President James Slevin with the Climate Jobs Hero Award. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Schuler presented President Slevin with the award recognizing his efforts as a leading voice for climate action within the labor movement.
“Thank you to Climate Jobs NY for honoring me with this award,” said President Slevin. “It’s never been more important for the labor and environmental communities to work together. We can do this by preparing members to respond to these crises and seize opportunities in growing energy sectors, like offshore wind, carbon capture and energy storage.”
President Slevin and the UWUA were part of a broad coalition advocating offshore wind industry companies, Orsted and Eversource, to build a facility that supports high-skilled, union jobs in the offshore wind industry. The companies were recently awarded the rights to build offshore wind capacity off the coast of Long Island. The project will be a model for training individuals to operate and maintain wind towers all along the East Coast.
UWUA and Climate Jobs New York recently took a trip to Denmark to learn from more about the renewable industry in Europe and continue to work with Governor Cuomo and utility companies on policies to support stranded workers impacted by the changing energy landscape.
“CJNY is thrilled to have such an all-star list of honorees and to highlight the need to combat both climate change and inequality by ushering in a clean energy economy here in New York built by workers earning family-sustaining wages,” said Michael Fishman, former secretary-treasurer of SEIU, and member of the CJNY Board of Directors. “Jim Slevin has been a strong advocate for clean economy of the future and for a just transition for workers in the current fossil fuel industry.”