Pete Buttigieg: Keystone XL Pipeline Workers Need to Get Different Jobs
Richard Moorhead
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Imagine being told to ‘learn to code-‘ in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession.
Biden’s Department of Transportation nominee, Pete Buttigieg, did almost exactly that in Senate confirmation proceedings on Thursday, flatly stating that union workers employed in the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline need to get different jobs. President Biden terminated construction approval for the pipeline on his first day in office.
Senator Ted Cruz questioned Buttigieg about the administration’s plans for workers promptly swept out of a job.
“The answer is that we’re very eager to see those workers continue to be employed in good paying union jobs, even if they might be different ones.”
Liberal assertions that unionized, well-paying, blue collar jobs can be easily and swiftly replaced with employment in the alternative energy industry don’t tend to pan out. California’s government has struggled to deliver the so-called “green” jobs the state’s leaders promised upon implementing new fossil fuel regulations and restrictions, further eroding the state’s middle class. California stopped counting the creation of “green” jobs in 2013, with many suspecting that the state was inflating the total.
Biden’s crackdown on the fossil fuel industry comes as many who rely on face economic insecurity and damaged prospects as a result of the recession. Trucking industry experts expect President Biden to crush small trucking companies, with an impending spike in fuel prices harming truckers that work as independent contractors.
Expect much of the neoliberal “learn to code” callousness throughout the next four years. It’s easy to imagine simply making a bureaucrat-imposed career change when you’re connected to the levers of power of the Washington D.C. establishment.
Follow me on Gab @WildmanAZ, Twitter @Wildman_AZ, and on Parler @Moorhead.
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