The Labor Center welcomes new co-directors of the Green Economy Program

We are thrilled to announce and welcome our new co-directors of the Labor Center’s Green Economy Program: Dr. Jessie HF Hammerling and Francisco Arzu.

Jessie HF Hammerling has been a part of the Labor Center for more than a decade. When she was first hired, she spent several years working with Carol Zabin on research and policy related to job quality and training in the green economy, including co-authoring the California Workforce Education & Training Needs Assessment for Energy Efficiency, Distributed Generation, and Demand Response. After that, Jessie worked with Annette Bernhardt in the Labor Center’s Technology and Work program, where she led research on how employers are using new technologies in the workplace, and developed new training for unions on technological change. Recently, Jessie has been conducting research in support of labor and community partnerships focused on just transition planning for California’s oil industry, and helping develop job quality and job access strategies for emerging green industries. Jessie holds a Ph.D. in geography from UC Davis and a master’s degree in international public affairs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Along with Jessie, Francisco Arzu will lead the work of the Green Economy Program as its other co-director. Francisco comes to the Labor Center with over 15 years of experience organizing private- and public-sector workers across California. In addition to his union organizing experience, he has worked with non-profit organizations to educate and advocate for renter rights, to help develop a Community Organizing Academy with Los Angeles Trade Tech Community College, and as the Community Organizer with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), where he built a coalition that successfully transformed the commercial waste collection system for the City of Los Angeles in a way that benefited workers and the environment. Francisco has master’s degrees in both Urban Planning and Latin American Studies from UCLA.