Yesterday, at a press conference in New York City, Michael J Murphy, a Next Generation Coordinator with the United Steelworkers in District 4, urged Governor Cuomo to take a leadership role in green energy development and production in Western New York.
Below is a transcript of his remarks.
My name is Michael Murphy. I have a wonderful, supportive wife and two beautiful children. I work as a Research Chemical Technician at Honeywell’s Buffalo Research Lab in the city where we primarily work on the development of low global warming potential refrigerants and foam blowing agents. We are a unionized workforce, part of USW Local 8823 where I am the unit grievance chairperson. I am also the Buffalo Sub-district Coordinator for the Steelworkers Next Generation program which is a program aimed at getting more young people to step up as community and union activists. I was lucky enough to attend this year’s Good Jobs Green Jobs Convention in Washington, DC for the second straight year where, once again, I was reminded of the importance of political involvement.
As both a father and a union activist, I have realized that we as a society have an obligation to ourselves and our future generations to provide good paying jobs and a clean environment. This can, and must, be simultaneously achieved. The transition to a green economy is already creating great economic opportunities, but these opportunities must include both workers and their communities. This is why we must shed the old rhetoric of “we can have either good jobs or a clean environment.” We will accept no tradeoff between the two, it has to be both.
Income inequality continues to widen and is directly related to the loss of our manufacturing capacity. This is why we are calling on Governor Cuomo to not just make this wind commitment, but to also ensure this commitment has strong Made in America provisions. This commitment, coupled with initiatives such as Advance Buffalo, a program which includes training for skilled trades, will help to ensure that good, middle class, family sustaining jobs are created in Western New York.
We must be leaders in green energy development and production, just as we have been with so many other technologies in the past. Unfortunately, with our large scale losses in manufacturing, we are not currently in a position to take the lead. Innovation is a direct effect of manufacturing and investment; it happens on the factory floor and, as such, it is impossible for us to be leaders in development without also being leaders in production and investment. Western New York is poised to emerge as a leader in wind development because we are home to some of the richest wind resources in the state and also because of our region’s history of manufacturing.
The strong support of Governor Cuomo in this initiative will push Western New York to the forefront of wind development where we can be a beacon of the promise of the green economy. As dedicated voters and residents of Western New York, we urge him to support this initiative as soon as possible.