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On August 24, more than 100 million Americans were facing extreme weather alerts.

Meanwhile, the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, which drives climate change, is still rising. A study by the Energy Institute found that worldwide the climate-destroying greenhouse gases produced by the burning of coal, oil, and gas continued to grow in 2022.

Is the US labor movement simply sleeping through this unfolding catastrophe? The evidence presented in this newsletter indicates that the answer is no. 

•  More than a dozen labor organizations are joining the September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels.
• Workers in Erie, PA who build locomotives and striking to demand their employer switch to building green locomotives.
• Hundreds of workers at Amazon held a walkout to demand the company fulfill its commitments to climate protection.
• 340,000 UPS Workers won air conditioning and fans in their trucks – but only after they threatened to strike.
• Amazon delivery drivers in southern California are striking to change working conditions that at times reach 135F in their trucks.
• Workers from Texas and elsewhere held a “vigil and thirst strike” at the Capitol in Washington, DC to demand heat protections for workers. 

These actions reveal a growing willingness on the part of American workers to act on climate. But time is short and climate catastrophe is already at hand. While some in the labor movement have maintained that “any job is a good job,” we are increasingly realizing that “there are no jobs on a dead planet.” Those workers and unions already taking action on climate are showing how the rest of us can play our part in turning this thing around.

By Maria Brescia-Weiler, LNS Staff 

On September 17 thousands of people will march in New York City calling on President Biden to make good on his promises to deliver a just transition for workers and our communities, to provide solutions to the economic and climate injustices we face, and to end fossil fuels. Five hundred organizations have endorsed the march. For more information on the March including list of endorsers visit www.endfossilfuels.us.

The Labor Network for Sustainability is coordinating a labor hub for the march, because it is essential that working class environmentalism is at the forefront of any true transition to a more sustainable economy. We welcome workers and union members who will be in New York on September 17th to come march with us! Sign up here. 

Labor organizations that have endorsed the march include:

• United Federation of Teachers 
• AFSCME DC 37
• Teamsters Local 1150 Pride Caucus
• District Council 9 Painter and Allied Trades 
• Rutgers AAUP-AFT
• Professional Staff Congress - CUNY, AFT #2334
• Columbia University AAUP Chapter 
• Third Act Union 
• Labor Network for Sustainability
• New Jersey State Industrial Union Council
• NYC Labor Chorus 
• Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
• Fordham Faculty United
• The Architecture Lobby

• Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs

• CWA District 1

• National Day Laborer Organizing Network

• Progressive Workers Union

• Workers United NY NJ Regional Joint Board

• Boston Teachers Union

For labor organizations that want to endorse and participate in the march:

logistics@labor4sustainability.org

For general information about the march:

www.labor4sustainability.org/9-17-march/ 

By Bakari Height, LNS Transportation Organizer

Ever wonder why train tickets are so high but service is so low? What is the cause of all these derailments? What can the public do?  Railroad Workers United has created a campaign to transfer this ownership of the Class 1 railroads to the public, but they need your support! Please join us for a webinar series where we will hear from: railroad labor members, environmental and climate justice partners, and transportation academics. They will uncover what the public doesn’t see and offer solutions for the future in a series known as - Public TransFormation.

The first webinar will focus on freight rail and will feature leaders in the labor, environmental justice, and climate organizing spaces!. Please join us on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 8 PM EST. We invite you to share this event with your audiences, and please show your support for public ownership of railroads by endorsing the Railroad Workers United endorsement page.

To register for the webinar:  https://bit.ly/public-transformation

The Labor Network for Sustainability is spearheading a climate movement solidarity initiative for United Auto Workers (UAW) currently bargaining a union contract with Big 3 Auto companies (General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis). The initiative launched on August 14 with a Climate Movement open letter to Big 3 Auto CEOs, urging them to ensure that the auto industry’s clean energy transition is a just transition by accepting UAW’s contract demands. So far, the letter has been signed by over 70 organizations, including Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace USA, 350.org, Sierra Club, and Climate Justice Alliance.

The letter states:

Within the next few years — the span of this next contract — lies humanity’s last chance to navigate a transition away from fossil fuels, including away from combustion engines. With that shift comes an opportunity for workers in the United States to benefit from a revival of new manufacturing, including electric vehicles (EVs) and collective transportation like buses and trains, as a part of the renewable energy revolution. 

The EV transition cannot be a “race to the bottom” that further exploits workers. We call on you to honor the demands of the UAW.

The letter launch was followed by an August 17 UAW Solidarity Call cosponsored by over a dozen climate organizations. The webinar, which featured Third Act Founder Bill McKibben and UAW special guests, laid out the climate movement’s stake in the UAW contract fight and how climate activists could take action in support of workers building the clean energy future.

“UAW’s contract fight for good benefits, a just transition, union EV jobs with equal pay for equal work, and a clean energy transition that benefits workers and communities is the climate movement’s fight as well.” said LNS Staffer Sydney Ghazarian, during her opening remarks on the call.

During the call, Greenpeace USA Senior Campaigner Ben Smith led hundreds of audience members in leaving voicemails for Big 3 Auto CEOs, in solidarity with auto workers (leave your own voicemail by calling 318-300-1249. You can find talking points and more ways to take action in the UAW Solidarity Call Quick Action Guide here). 

“I am so proud and excited to see all of this support, because this a make or break moment for ensuring the clean energy transition is a just transition, and we need all hands on deck– tonight, in the next few weeks, and until we win a fair contract,” said Sydney.

UAW’s contract with Big 3 Auto expires on September 14, and a strike has been authorized by 97% of Big 3 workers voting in favor. Climate and social justice organizations have joined with LNS to continue organizing in solidarity with UAW, in pursuit of a fair contract.

By Oren Kadosh, LNS staff

 Over July 21st and 22nd, the Labor Network for Sustainability hosted a two-day convening in Denver, Colorado entitled: “The State of Transition: Lessons from Colorado and Beyond!” LNS convened labor, climate, environmental justice, and social movement allies to broaden and deepen an understanding of existing just transition efforts and to gain insights on how we can better support labor-climate organizing on the ground. 

Native nations, women in construction, scientists, teachers, Black parents advocating for clean air, ski patrollers, and many others attendees from a range of unions, sectors, and communities came to share their experiences, learn from each other, and educate LNS on critical topics such as: how different types of labor are being affected by the transition; the legacy and continued struggle of Indigenous and frontline organizing for environmental justice; and how public funding to implement green projects is being organized for by unions and community organizations. Union workers and officials from locals representing many sectors of work in Colorado attended, including IBEW, SEIU, AFSCME, LIUNA, SMART-TD, and many more. 

During the convening, it became clear that Colorado workers and surrounding communities have made incredible strides toward a renewable energy economy and a just transition. But it was also clear that there is much left to do, both for transitioning fossil fuel workers, but especially for Indigenous and frontline environmental justice communities still being too often marginalized and their urgent needs delayed. Challenging but important truths were surfaced about the lack of inclusion and meaningful collaboration between the labor movement and the environmental justice movement. As the private sector is infused with billions in taxpayer dollars to boost the energy transition, one big takeaway from the convening has been that de-siloing our movement spaces, and meaningfully addressing the needs of all stakeholding communities, is absolutely critical to building the people power necessary to win the urgent change we need.

1400 workers in Erie, PA have been out on strike since June, demanding that their employer, Wabtec, start producing green locomotives. In a statement of solidarity, the Labor Network for Sustainability said:

The unions were denied their basic rights to strike over grievances, and most importantly, over the company’s refusal to move forward with worker-supported, environmentally necessary green locomotive production.   

This strike may well represent the first instance ever of unionized workers striking to force their employers to make products to protect the climate. That's historic. 

The Labor Network for Sustainability supports the United Electrical Workers in their fight to manufacture more sustainable transportation. Their decision to strike represents their decision to prolong life on our planet by making lower emission locomotives to carry freight across this great country.  Their decision also upholds the livelihood of many communities that these railroads run through that face negative effects from the current engines.  

The railroad industry is still behind with making the necessary steps in maximizing their efficiency with their right-of-way, including: electrifying the last-mile of their urban rail yards, sharing their tracks with electrified inter and intracity transit, and upgrading their locomotives to non-pollutant green locomotives, ones touted by the UE workers in Erie.  

Image Source: shark749- stock.adobe.com

Hundreds of workers at Amazon’s main headquarters in Seattle held a walkout May 31 to protest the company’s backtracking on its commitments to climate protection.

A statement by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice condemned the company’s recent admission that it had dropped its commitment to its “Shipment Zero” policy, which pledged in 2019 to reduce carbon emissions to net zero on 50% of its shipments by 2030.

 A worker quoted in the statement said, “I’m appalled that senior leadership quietly abandoned one of the key goals in the climate pledge. It’s yet another sign that leadership still doesn’t put climate impact at the center of their decision-making. That’s why I walked out.”

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice accused Amazon of undercounting its carbon footprint, disproportionately locating pollution-heavy operations in communities of color, and working to undercut clean energy legislation.

The demonstration also protested Amazon’s mandatory return-to-office policies. 

Image Source: Quality Stock Arts- stock.adobe.com

UPS Workers Win Heat Protections: Faced with a threatened strike – including “practice picket lines” -- by its 340,000 union employees, UPS has agreed to a contract that provides major gains in wages and working conditions for its Teamsters’ members. The contract includes elimination of a “two-tier” wage rate; significant wage increases, especially for the lowest paid workers; and combining part-time jobs to provide new full-time jobs.

Sometimes lethal heat conditions have been a central issue for UPS workers. UPS has promised to equip all new package cars with air-conditioning and to install fans on older package cars. Section 14 of the contract states: 

All vans, pushbacks, fuel trucks, package cars, shifting units, and 24-foot box vans after January 2024 shall be equipped with A/C. Single fans will be installed in all package cars within 30 days of ratification and a second fan will be installed no later than June 1, 2024. Air-conditioned package cars will first be allocated to Zone 1 which is the hottest area of the country. All model year 2023 and beyond package cars and vans will be delivered with factory-installed heat shields and air induction vents for the package compartment. Within 18 months of ratification, all package cars will be retrofitted with heat shields and air induction vents. A Package Car Heat Committee will be established within 10 days of ratification for the purpose of studying methods of venting and insulating the package compartment. A decision must be made by October, 2024 or the issue will be submitted to the grievance procedure. The company will replace at least 28,000 package cars and vans during the life of the contract. 

The contract was overwhelmingly ratified by UPS union members on August 22.

"Not Just for Us:” Eighty-four Amazon delivery drivers in Southern California have joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and negotiated the first union contract among any Amazon workers in the country. They have been on an indefinite strike since June 24. Driver Raj Singh says, “Sometimes it reaches 135 degrees in the rear of the truck and there’s no cooling system,” said Singh, who has worked the job for two and half years and through the height of the pandemic. “It feels like an oven when you step back there. You instantly start feeling woozy, and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve actually seen stars.” Singh says, “We’re trying to get this done, not just for us but for every delivery driver that works for Amazon.” Teamsters are now picketing Amazon warehouses around the country in solidarity.

“Working Shouldn’t Be a Death Sentence:” On July 28, construction workers, airport baggage handlers, letter carriers, and other outdoor workers traveled from Texas to the steps of the Capitol in Washington, DC. They were joined by labor organizers and lawmakers for a “vigil and thirst strike” to protest a new Texas law that eliminates compulsory water breaks for construction workers – even if mandated by local governments.

SEIU petition to OSHA: Pass Heat Rules Now! The Service Employees union is collecting signatures for a petition calling for the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to immediately implement rules to protect workers from heat. It reads in part:

OSHA must implement heat rules immediately. Extreme temperatures could make thousands of farm workers seriously ill -- and even suffer heat stroke and die. Outdoor workers need enforceable protections so dangerous incidents never happen. Heat deaths are preventable tragedies. The prevention is nothing complicated:  shade, cool water, rest, education and monitoring.

 To sign the petition: https://act.seiu.org/a/oshaemergencyheat

Fighting Lethal Heat in California: The California Green New Deal Network advocated and won funding for Community Resilience Centers in the California Budget, which are vital to providing life-saving relief to residents vulnerable to increasingly lethal extreme heat. But the funding was cut in last year's budget. The Los Angeles Times estimated that high temperatures had killed nearly 4,000 people between 2010 and 2019 — more than six times higher than official state figures. The California legislature set a 2019 deadline for finalizing regulations for hot indoor job sites like warehouses and restaurants, but Cal/OSHA has so far failed to issue those rules. According to an article in POLITICO by Alexander Nieves,

Environmental justice and public health groups are hoping that the prospect of retrofitting housing and installing heat pumps will entice politically powerful labor unions to get involved. They’re looking to groups like a relatively new coalition of 13 unions, including SEIU California, the California Federation of Teachers and United Steelworkers, which is planning to release a policy platform this fall that will include extreme heat.

The article quotes Amee Raval, policy and research director for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, who says, “I think the work of this clean energy transition, in the context of worsening disasters and extreme heat, are absolutely jobs that we want to ensure are family-sustaining union jobs, and that there are pathways to organize our communities.”

Image Source: Max Zolotukhin- stock.adobe.com

On August 14 Montana district court Judge Kathy Seeley declared Montana’s fossil fuel-promoting laws unconstitutional and enjoined their implementation. In a 103-page order, Judge Seeley said that by prohibiting government agencies from considering climate impacts when deciding whether or not to permit energy projects, Montana is contributing to the climate crisis and stopping the state from addressing that crisis. She found that every additional ton of greenhouse gas pollution warms the planet, and that harms to the plaintiffs “will grow increasingly severe and irreversible without science-based actions to address climate change”.

The case was brought by 16 plaintiffs aged five to 22, who argued that the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies violated provisions in the state constitution that guarantee a “clean and healthful environment.” While young people have been suing for a decade in state and federal courts for recognition of a constitutional right to a stable climate, this case marks the first time in US history that a court has ruled on the merits of the case that a government violated young people’s constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuels. Michael Gerrard of the Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, said, “I think this is the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court.” 

Image Source: Jokiewalker- stock.adobe.com

On July 6, newly elected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team provided the city plan for a “Chicago Green New Deal.” Mayor Johnson, a longtime Chicago teacher and union organizer, ran a social justice campaign stressing the disproportionate impacts polluting industry and changing climate have on communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. 

 The environmental justice subcommittee of the mayor’s transition committee included 25 members from business, civic, social justice, and community-based organizations. Its recommendations focused on a Green New Deal for Chicago, a framework meant to serve “as guiding principles for our efforts to realize a cleaner, healthier, more just, and sustainable city.” Major goals include:

• Ensure effective environmental justice oversight and responsiveness
• Fully resource a new Department of Environment with a focus on environmental justice
• Achieve a Green New Deal for water
• Secure a just transition to an equitable, decarbonized Chicago
• Guarantee utilities are provided in a fair, equitable and affordable manner with an investment emphasis on communities facing the greatest utility burden
• Achieve a Green New Deal for schools 

The environmental justice recommendations also emphasized the need for job opportunities for communities in clean energy transition and other environmental efforts like accelerating lead service line replacement and electrification of buildings.

Jung Yoon, a co-chair of the environmental justice subcommittee and campaign director at Grassroots Collaborative, a coalition of community and labor organizations, said,

The framing is intentionally political and intentionally bold about using a frame of a Green New Deal to address environment and climate justice issues. I think there is a lot of excitement around how Chicago, as the third-largest city, can really pave the way to show what a Green New Deal in action can look like in our city so we can address current environmental and economic and racial disparities in a sustainable future.

She is a community organizer passionate about environmental and workers’ justice, and as Board President of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, is fighting for a cleaner neighborhood. She is an elected Chair of the Local School Council for her neighborhood’s elementary school. In 2022, she was given the Cesar Chavez-Jane Gonzalez Award from the Latino/a Workers Leadership Institute at the University of Michigan, Dearborn for her activism in her community.

Marcelina is a lifelong resident of Chicago’s Southeast side. She comes from a blue collar family and is a 4th generation union worker. Besides working on preventive maintenance at the plant, she enjoys live music and traveling with friends and family.

Our Mission

To be a relentless force for urgent, science-based climate action by building a powerful labor-climate movement to secure an ecologically sustainable and economically just future where everyone can make a living on a living planet.

Making a Living on a Living Planet is published by the Labor Network for Sustainability: