Until pretty recently, many people had never heard of "green-collar jobs." Yet the phrase is suddenly everywhere--especially on policymakers' tongues. "You can think about a green-collar job as a blue-collar job that's been upgraded, or unskilled, to better respect the environment," says Van Jones, the newly-appointed special adviser to the White House on green jobs, enterprise and innovation.

In the greening of the economy, workers and low-income people are not a liability or a line item--they are a part of the solution. One union leading the way on green initiatives is SEIU Local 721. Local 721 is part of the LA Apollo Alliance, which helped LA make green history on April 8 when its City Council approved a first-in-the-nation plan to create jobs, cut carbon emissions, and create a way out of poverty for disadvantaged workers. The ordinance supports a green retrofit of city buildings that will provide "green training" to low-income workers and create hundreds of good jobs.

SEIU's largest property service local 32BJ has established an energy-efficiency training program for building superintendents and many other locals (including 721) are working to develop similar green custodial programs.

We know SEIU members and their local unions across the country are working to promote energy efficiency and quality green jobs--but we want to hear more. Please share with us what your union is doing, because we'd love to highlight it on SEIU.org.