UAW Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy

CMGE Strategic Organizing & Policy Fellow

Based in Imperial County, CA

 

One-Year Limited Term Position, Full Time, Exempt
Position Begins July 24, 2025

About CMGE: 
The green energy transition is already in motion, and CMGE is committed to building a training model that empowers workers with green technology expertise and connects them with union jobs. This type of workforce development is desperately needed—at the state level and across the country. With the state of California’s commitment to its climate transition, and the Governor’s agenda singularly focused on growing manufacturing jobs in the state, there is an opportunity to build a coherent, worker-centered vision of green industry that can drive the buildout of critical battery and electric vehicle (EV) sectors. 

This vision is also necessary to the economic and political consensus needed for sustainable climate investments, as the new administration threatens to reverse progress and return us to fossil-driven, low-road policies which threaten our communities, our economy, and global progress towards mitigating the climate crisis. Beyond that, and perhaps what is more compelling—this vision offers a future where workers prosper from manufacturing jobs and climate investments. While climate policies are being attacked systematically, renewed enthusiasm for American manufacturing presents an opportunity to implement a vision of a climate transition that centers economic issues and builds consensus from the bottom up. 

This moment is ripe for action by Labor to build that vision—showing that investing in green workers is essential to building a resilient economy. That a union is a value-add to business, and necessary from the infancy of an industry buildout. That these industries are critical to a liveable planet—and as such it’s in everyone’s best interest to ensure the workers building these products are empowered and provided opportunities for prosperity. CMGE sits in a unique position to drive this agenda by leveraging the UAW's expertise in manufacturing and health and safety; our in-house technical expertise on climate and batteries; the variety of projects in policy, training, permitting regulation, and public funding incentives; as well as our suite of resources from the state of California and private philanthropy. 

The Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy (CMGE) is bringing a new standard of training to the green economy—empowering workers with knowledge of green manufacturing technologies, ensuring that their voices are amplified, and building a just transition towards new, diverse climate industries where workers and communities can thrive. We believe that an investment in the workers driving the energy transition is an investment in the American climate economy.

CMGE offers a first-of-its-kind workforce training model: building a robust recruitment pipeline; providing foundational job skills training supported by wraparound services and stipends; and creating a skill-based apprenticeship for production workers. The Center’s initial training model is focused on the battery manufacturing workforce, with programs developing in Sacramento, the Imperial Valley, and the Inland Empire—regions recognized by the Governor as key locations for the development of this critical supply chain to meet state climate goals. While the pilot programs are all in California, CMGE has a national profile and is a registered Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Training and Expansion Center (ITAC), with plans to expand to Nevada, Arizona, and in other parts of the country—as well as in other critical green manufacturing sectors including solar panels, zero-emission light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as building decarbonization components.

The Opportunity:
The Strategic Organizing & Policy Fellow will play a key role in building a powerful coalition that can win community benefits agreements and bring high road geothermal, lithium extraction, and battery EV supply chain jobs to Imperial County. This work is essential to UAW and CMGE’s goal to build high-quality union-backed workforce development programs with energy, battery, and EV supply chain employers in Imperial County. 

The goal of this position is to provide on-the-ground organizing support to help develop a campaign that can bring together large numbers of Imperial County residents to collectively make demands of companies, elected officials, and public agencies. The organizing and policy fellow will also help to develop the campaign strategy and to track relevant policy conversations at the local, regional, and state level.

This is a one-year, term-limited position. 

Job Duties:

• Increasing the number of Imperial County residents who participate in the campaign for community benefits agreements through a combination of 1-1 conversations, door knocking, phone banking, and other forms of organizing.
• Conducting 1:1 conversations to move partners into action by recognizing self-interest and overlapping goals
• Working closely with coalition partners, including the UAW lead of Valle Unido and others 
• Identifying target people and groups to engage in supporting the campaign 
• Developing campaign supporters into community leaders
• Supports discrete opportunities around community training programs on climate and green and technology with the UAW-CMGE Workforce Development Director. 
• Developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, including other coalition partners, elected officials, and public agency staff
• Using existing or new research to develop raps, talking points, asks, power mapping, and shared commitments to build a coalition around supporting discrete campaigns
• Helping cultivate relationships with public agency staff, attending regular board and committee meetings, reviewing meeting materials, and synthesizing this information in a useful manner
• Tracking local and state policy conversations related to the geothermal, EV / battery supply chain, and lithium industries as needed
• Developing and adhering to a work plan that involves setting goals for weekly community contacts
• Troubleshooting and improving plans as problems arise

Preferred Experience & Skills: 

• Strong listening, verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate with the public and to a wide variety of stakeholders (e.g., coalition and union partners, elected officials and government employees, workers, community stakeholders). Comfort with factual and persuasive writing and planning organizing discussions
• Demonstrated ability to take a collaborative approach in ensuring that organizing needs of a campaign are met (i.e., willing to consult with communications, legal, research, policy, and other teams and be flexible to changes)
• Ability to maintain flexibility and be ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities and adapt quickly to change
• Must be highly organized, able to multitask, self start, and manage competing priorities
• Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines while maintaining a positive attitude
• Demonstrate ability to work independently and carry out assignments to completion
• Must have reliable transportation and ability to attend in-person events and conventions in Southern California
• Must be willing and interested in studying and improving political skills, including power analysis, campaign strategy, and 1-1 organizing skills
• Motivated by a the mission of a just and worker-centered climate transition
• Ability to work weekends and evenings as needed

Location:
As a remote team with staff across California, we recognize the importance of being present where it matters most. This role will be based in Imperial County and is designed to build lasting relationships and drive impact on the ground through local engagement and community presence. 

Timeline:
The Strategic Organizing and Policy Fellow is a one-year, term-limited opportunity that will kick off with attendance at the UAW Region 6’s Annual Summer School conference, July 24-27. This is a great opportunity to meet other coalition partners, dig in on shared strategy, and learn from other organizers in the region. 

This position is full-time and exempt, working an average of 40 hours a week. At times, evening and/or weekend work may be needed to complete tasks. 

Compensation and Benefits:
The annual salary for this position is $80,000. CMGE offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes fully employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k), paid holidays, 20 vacation days, paid parental leave, and sick time. We review our benefits package annually to ensure it provides strong value and stays competitive with our peers. 

How to Apply: 
Please submit a résumé and brief cover letter to hiring@uawcmge.org. We’re eager to fill this role promptly! Please submit your materials as soon as possible, and we will begin reviewing applications on Monday, 7/14. Contact Marissa Ochsner (Operations Director) with questions about the position: marissa.ochsner@uawcmge.org

Equal Employment Opportunity:
We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. We encourage and will consider employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants with Disabilities:
Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you are seeking accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.