Building a green country requires building a skilled workforce. What does that look like in practice? Developing skills standards for green-collar jobs will benefit workers, employers and consumers alike. For workers, a credential provides mobility and bargaining power, and thus higher wages, in the labor market. For employers, it provides assurance that job applicants meet necessary skill standards. And for consumers, it provides critical information for contracting decisions. This panel addresses successes and challenges for certification and training in the emerging clean-energy economy, where most workers will need more than a high-school diploma, but less than a 4-year degree.

Workforce Training: Credentials, Pathways and Pipelines to the Green Economy

PANELISTS

Contact Information and Website Links

Tom Gannon

Field Specialist-Manufacturing

AFL-CIO Working For America Institute

3328 Carnegie Avenue

Cleveland, Ohio 44115

Phone: 216.391.0900 ext 12 Fax: 216.391.6959

Email: tgannon@workingforamerica.org

Jane Weissman

Executive Director

Interstate Renewable Energy Council

Phone: 781.461.8167 Email: jane@irecusa.org

IREC Website (The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) is the North American Licensee for the ISPQ Standard for Accreditation & Certification of renewable energy training programs)
IREC: Renewable Energy Training Catalog (an online listing of practioner training programs, sorted by state)
IREC's Best Practices & Recommended Guidelines (This document covers recommended guidelines and criteria, assessment tools, task analyses, credentialing programs, and other related resources to assist those offering or planning renewable energy training courses)
IREC Conference (November, 2009) New Ideas in Educating a Workforce in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency