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Liz Shuler, president of AFL-CIO, recently made a powerful statement on the impact of global warming on American workers:

              After the hottest year on record in 2023 and new heat records broken           already this year, it is clear that labor protections aren’t keeping up with the escalation of the climate crisis. Too many workers are exposed to extreme heat and wildfire smoke on the job without adequate safety measures in place. 

The AFL-CIO, however, has never taken a stand on the necessity to reduce the consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas – the primary cause of the escalating climate change that it acknowledges is leading workers to be exposed to extreme heat on the job.   

Fortunately, there are significant ways that organized workers are fighting fossil fuel pollution. In this newsletter you will learn, for example, about the “Green School Initiative” that the Chicago Teachers Union is demanding the city of Chicago undertake – and about the alliance it is building with labor and community groups to enforce those actions through its union contract. And you will learn about the Ohio solar workers, members of the Green Workers Alliance, who are lobbying for a solar farm in Mount Vernon, Ohio. 

Recent survey of a 75,000 people, selected at random in 77 countries that include 87% of the world’s people, found that four in five people want their countries to ramp up efforts in the fight against climate change. A majority of people in 62 of the 77 countries surveyed said they supported a quick transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy. These include 80 percent in China and 54 percent in the United States.

Should American labor resist the transition away from fossil fuels – or should we help lead it?

As the Chicago Teachers Union opened contract negotiations with the city this  June its “Green Schools Initiative” was a central demand. According to Stacy Davis Gates, president of the CTU, “This is Chicago Teachers Union’s demonstration of our accountability to our larger community. Our collective bargaining agreement and our coalition work, especially in communities of color, will be a net benefit to everyone.”

Following the model of last year’s successful UAW negotiations, CTU is opening their bargaining to the public for the first time, both online and in person. Union leaders are using the occasion to highlight the issues they think resonate most with the public — using the first session to bargain over “healthy, safe, green schools.” It included testimony from parents and community groups about environmental justice.

According to an article in E&E News, the negotiations illustrate the growing alignment between the climate and labor movements, which historically have clashed over the energy transition. Worsening climate impacts, such as the wildfire smoke that blanketed Chicago last year, have helped push some unions to embrace climate action as a workplace issue.

Demands of the Green School Initiative include:

• Net-zero emissions in schools district-wide by 2035.
• Solar panels, heat pumps, and composting programs in the 50 schools that most often experience extreme temperature problems. 
• A fully electrified school bus fleet. 
• A moratorium on new gas heaters. 
• A “carbon neutral schools” pilot program at five schools — with a goal of cutting energy costs 30 percent by the end of the next school year.
• Windows that can open in every school. 
• Removal of lead pipes from all buildings. 
• A “climate champion” for each school to coordinate climate initiatives. 
• Heating and cooling centers that would be available to the community during extreme weather.
• New clean energy education programs at every neighborhood high school, starting with those in environmental justice communities.
• At least three new carbon-free schools to replace the most outdated ones.

Source: https://www.eenews.net/articles/chicago-teachers-demand-climate-action-in-union-contract/

To contact the Educators Climate Action Network:  https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-the-educators-climate-action-network-2/ 

More than 30 labor, environmental, and health groups are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to unlock crucial disaster relief funding for extreme heat and wildfire smoke, neither of which are recognized by FEMA as major disasters.

Liz Shuler, president of AFL-CIO, said,

      After the hottest year on record in 2023 and new heat records broken already this year, it is clear that labor protections aren’t keeping up with the escalation of the climate crisis. Too many workers are exposed to extreme heat and wildfire smoke on the job without adequate safety measures in place. Not only do we need to develop strong worker protection standards to meet the demand of the changing environment and intensifying climate disasters, we need the federal government to take action now to release resources. The AFL-CIO calls on FEMA to swiftly classify heat and wildfires as ‘major disasters’ under the Stafford Act to ensure workers and their communities — especially marginalized communities — have the resources they need to prepare for and respond to the ongoing threats of climate change. FEMA has the power to save lives — and we urge them to use that power to meet this emergency with the urgency it deserves.”

Jean Su, energy justice director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said,

      It’s past time for FEMA to address the climate emergency head-on. That means unlocking crucial funding for local governments to build robust and resilient solutions like community solar and storage, cooling centers and air filtration. That’s a critical way we can protect workers and vulnerable communities from the ravages of the climate emergency.

The Labor Network for Sustainability recently co-sponsored a webinar on “Climate Justice at Work” with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. The panel featured Starbucks worker and union member Mad Austin, Washington State farmworker unionist Alfredo Juarez, Lauren Bianchi, head of the Chicago Teachers Union climate justice committee, and solar worker Joseph Salcido of the Green Workers Alliance. and Maria Brescia-Weiler of LNS and Mijin Cha, co-author of the LNS report “Workers and Communities in Transition: Report of the Just Transition Listening Project,” (March 2021) helped introduce the program.

To see the webinar: Here's the link 

The Green Workers Alliance is an organization of more than 1,500 renewable energy workers across the country. The Alliance mobilizes current and future workers in the clean energy field to build support for green jobs policies that grow the sector and improve job quality. They are currently focusing our organizing the100,000 workers on utility-scale solar and wind projects. 

The GWA strategy includes mobilizing solar and wind industry workers to campaign for renewable energy projects. For example, Ohio GWA members recently attended a hearing for the Frasier Solar Farm in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. According to Matthew Mayers Executive Director of the Green Workers Alliance, the workers showed support for the project and talked to community residents about why the project will benefit Ohio workers. After a Memorial Day weekend GWA cookout in Portsmouth, members attended a May 29 public information session for the Eastern Cottontail Solar Project in Fairfield County. GWA members spoke with project developers and union members and made plans to work together as the project approval process begins.

GWA members Levi Covington, Oscar Pineda, and Annie Covington shared their first-hand experiences on a panel about working conditions in New York's solar industry. Cornell ILR's Climate Jobs Institute organized the panel to introduce a new report on the challenges facing workers in the state's solar field. The report is based on over 250 survey responses from workers (many GWA members). Levi, Oscar, and Annie brought their first-hand experiences from the field to the audience and came away with meaningful connections to further our work.

For webinar with Cornell experts and GWA solar workers: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/climate-jobs-institute/research-and-policy/climate-jobs-institute-unveils-exploratory-study-new-york-solar-industry-0 

For the report: “Exploring the Conditions of the New York Solar Workforce” https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/sites/default/files-d8/2024-04/CJI-NYS%20Solar%20Workforce%20Report_April%202024_Final.pdf 

For news release on the report: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/climate-jobs-institute/research-and-policy/climate-jobs-institute-unveils-exploratory-study-new-york-solar-industry-0 

The Climate Advocacy Lab recently released a Blueprint for a Multiracial, Cross-Class Movement. In mid-June, several Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS) staff members participated in the Lab’s convening on the Blueprint in Los Angeles along with allies from environmental justice and climate organizations. 

LNS Co-Director Joshua Dedmond and Strategic Campaigns Director Sydney Ghazarian gave a brief presentation on “Class, Power, and Coalition-Building.” They differentiated the owning/employing/ruling class (i.e. those who own assets like factories, resources, and machines that are used to produce goods sold on the market) and the working class (i.e. those who work for the employing class in exchange for wages). The working class (most people) rely on the owning class – which has a tremendous amount of wealth and power over workers – for wages they use to purchase things like food and shelter. However, the owning class also depends on the working class because the owners can’t make profit without workers’ labor. So, when workers get organized, form unions, and strike their employers, they can alter oppressive power dynamics between those two classes.

Cross class organizing means reaching across differences in occupation, income, education, etc. in order to build an organized, multiracial, working-class movement of the majority with the People Power necessary to overcome those who oppose transformative economic, racial, and climate justice. 

The Climate Advocacy Lab’s “Blueprint for Building a Multiracial, Cross-Class Movement” is an invaluable resource for organizations and activists working to build powerful and diverse coalitions. With best practices derived from careful analysis of relevant case studies, everyone can benefit from this resource. 

To check out the Blueprint: Blueprint for a Multiracial, Cross-Class Movement

Artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo are pictured working with little, if any, health and safety measures

Photo credit Wikimedia Commons

Cobalt is essential for electric vehicle batteries, and much of that cobalt comes from the Congo. According to environmental journalist Adam Mahoney, “As America’s dependence on the Congo has grown, Black-led labor and environmental organizers here in the U.S. have worked to build a transnational solidarity movement. Activists also say that the inequities faced in the Congo relate to those that Black Americans experience.

Transit planner Bakari Height of the Labor Network for Sustainability told Mahoney that

 the global harm caused by the energy transition and the inability of Black Americans to participate in it at home are for a simple reason: 

We’re always on the menu, but we’re never at the table. The space of transportation planning and climate change is mostly occupied by white people, or people of color that aren’t Black, so these discussions about exploitation aren’t happening in those spaces — it is almost like a second form of colonialism.

Height told Mahoney that when Black people are in the room, these conversations are not only more prevalent, but also more action-oriented. His organization the Labor Network for Sustainablity supports Black workers and helps craft policies that support “bold climate action in ways that address labor concerns without sacrificing what science is telling us is necessary.”

For the full article with more of Bakari’s interview:

https://capitalbnews.org/congo-clean-energy-us-workers/ 

Hear author and disability advocate Anna Zivarts discuss her new book, When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency. The book gives an insight to how to redesign our transportation systems to meet the needs of nondrivers - many of whom have a disability or lack the qualifications required for a driver’s license. Zivarts is interviewed by LNS transit planner Bakari Height.

To see the interview: https://www.youtube.com/live/vPcH3oihMsE?si=-nZ5NpUC9WLHcTu0

Photo credit Special IG for Afghanistan Reconstruction Wikipedia Commons

According to a just-released study, the climate cost of the first two years of Russia-Ukraine war was greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated individually by 175 countries, including the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Kuwait. The estimated 175 million tons of GHG pollution include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and sulphur hexafluoride. This is equivalent to driving 90 million fossil-fueled cars for an entire year. 

According to a study of the Israel-Gaza war, the projected emissions just from the first 60 days were greater than the annual emissions of 20 individual countries and territories. This figure is for only two months; the conflict has now continued for nine months.

According to the nonprofit Conflict and Environment Observatory, the world’s militaries account for approximately 5.5% of global GHG emissions. US military emissions are on the same scale as the total GHG emissions of countries like Norway or Sweden.

For the Ukraine war study: https://en.ecoaction.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Climate-Damage-Caused-by-War-24-months-EN.pdf 

For the Gaza war study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4684768 

For global military emissions: https://ceobs.org/new-estimate-global-military-is-responsible-for-more-emissions-than-russia/ 

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, Key and Title by uploader (Eric Fisk)

According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the current rate of increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is ten times faster than at any point in the last 50,000 years.

Source: “Unprecedented” – CO2 Rising 10 Times Faster Than Any Time in Recorded History

The past year saw the largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere. According to the NASA, the global concentration of carbon dioxide was the highest in millions of years.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/09/carbon-dioxide-atmosphere-record

2023 was the hottest year on record. Every month for a year straight has been the hottest ever recorded. May, 2024 was the hottest month ever recorded. According to Zachary Labe of NASA, "The primary reason for this remarkable stretch of record-breaking warmth around the world is due to human-caused climate change."

Clip source: Global heat records set 12 months in a row, fueled by climate change

2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Brown University Photo Credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel

University Unions United for Free Speech recently issued this statement, endorsed by 29 academic union locals: 

As unions representing tens of thousands of workers at university campuses across the country, we strongly condemn the use of violent force and disciplinary actions by university administrations against students and workers peacefully protesting to demand their university administrations divest from the Israeli military and from companies profiting from the genocide in Gaza. 

As unionized workers, we understand that the freedom to assemble and protest are foundational to democracy and to our ability as workers to collectively fight for meaningful changes in our workplaces and the world. We recognize the disciplinary actions and mobilization of police forces against peaceful protestors as attempts by university administrations to curtail the freedom of speech and protest on campuses.

We stand in solidarity with all of the students, graduate workers, faculty, and staff exercising their rights to free speech and protest. We call on all university administrations to live up to their values of academic freedom and to guarantee the right to freedom of speech, assembly, and protest on campuses. 

Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bqn-5S9AhG-YvRTTbNrGM59N4W36kvI2tLg-JkkCIeo/edit

Photo credit Joon Powell. Cropping and color adjustment by Ryan Kaldari.

Rev. James Lawson died June 10 at 95. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Lawson “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

The son and grandson of ministers, Lawson was ordained as a high school senior. He was drafted for the Korean War but refused to serve and spent a year in prison as a conscientious objector. Lawson spent three years in India studying the campaigns and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. He concluded from his study of Gandhi that the Christian concept of turning the other cheek could be applied in collective actions to challenge morally indefensible laws.

After returning to the US, Lawson began organizing workshops in church basements in Nashville, Tennessee that prepared young civil rights activists, including John Lewis, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, the Freedom Riders and many others, in nonviolent strategies to challenge racist laws and policies. The strategies quickly proved their power. After hundreds of well-organized students staged lunch-counter sit-ins and boycotts of discriminatory businesses, on May 10, 1960, businesses agreed to take down the “No Colored” signs that enforced white supremacy – the first major city in the South to do so. Lawson then helped organize what became the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which organized the spontaneous efforts of tens of thousands of students who began challenging Jim Crow into a powerful force for transforming the South.

Rev. Lawson played a significant role in many of the key campaigns of the civil rights movement. In 1968 he chairman of the strike committee for the Memphis sanitation workers strike, one of the crucial struggles for the rights of Black workers. 

Rev. Lawson moved to Los Angeles in 1974, where he was pastor of Holman United Methodist Church. While in Los Angeles, he was active in the labor movement, the American Civil Liberties Union, and movements for reproductive choice and gay rights. He continued to train activists in nonviolence and supported immigrants' rights in the United States, the rights of Palestinians, and workers' rights to a living wage.

Sources:

 https://apnews.com/article/james-lawson-civil-rights-leader-d0abdb6dda2a4d0597e47fea48f161a0 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lawson_(activist)

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: