A Transformative Green New Deal Requires Inclusive Manufacturing

Without a new approach to manufacturing, we may protect the environment better but continue to reinforce racial and economic inequality. --CARL DAVIDSON, BILL FLETCHER JR. and NINA GREGG

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/gnd-inclusive-manufacturing/

A Transformative Green New Deal Requires Inclusive Manufacturing

Without a new approach to manufacturing, we may protect the

environment better but continue to reinforce racial and economic

inequality.

BY CARL DAVIDSON, BILL FLETCHER JR. and NINA GREGG

The Nation

Progressives who care about the climate, democracy, economic justice,

and sustainability need to incorporate a new economic vision into

their projects. The progressive movement needs a distinctive

industrial policy: a manufacturing renaissance in addition to a Green

New Deal (GND). We will not have a sustainable society without a

strong manufacturing foundation. Manufacturing is the only economic

sector that can generate new wealth for communities currently shut out

of access. Advanced manufacturing can build a broad-based working

class with much higher incomes and create social capital at work,

provide a decent standard of living, and be an engine for job growth.

The new HR 5124 introduced by Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)

speaks directly to this issue. The bill calls for massive investment

throughout the US manufacturing ecosystem and addresses the inadequacy

of many of our public schools (a result of decades of underfunding)

along with the currently prohibitive costs of post-secondary education

and advanced technical skills training. HR 5124 will foster a diverse

workforce with the advanced skills and knowledge to design,

manufacture, build, and maintain new energy systems and their

components and the lighter eco-footprint production and transportation

systems of the future. The bill creates the opportunity for dramatic

increases in the number of companies owned by their employees and by

Black and Latino entrepreneurs by funding programs and policies that

lead to greater inclusion of workers, women, and people of color in

all aspects of manufacturing, particularly in ownership. Cosponsors

include Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Michael Doyle (D-Penn.), Danny Davis

(D-Ill.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and Brendan Boyle

(D-Penn.).

A vital next step is getting 100 or more members of Congress to sign

on to the bill and a parallel process in the Senate. The designers of

the legislation—a core team of progressive electoral leaders; advanced

manufacturing advocates; trade union veterans; community, faith, and

education leaders; and solidarity economy thinkers—have launched the

Manufacturing Renaissance Campaign.

Without fundamental rethinking of how such a transformational GND will

work, however, the default potential outcome is a system that, while

it may be less damaging to the environment, reinforces racial and

economic inequality. Neoliberal assumptions and institutions would

remain in control of our future. Only a Green New Deal that demands a

different approach to power relations in the economy will create new

wealth for the working class and people of color, shift control of

production, and move toward a more equitable, inclusive, and

sustainable future.