Help us build a powerful national organization for workers and communities to confront climate change. Membership is open to anyone interested and who endorses our mission and principles.

To be blunt, climate change poses an immediate existential threat to our species, to every individual, and to all that any of us hold dear. For this reason, protecting the earth’s climate is in the long-term interest of all humanity and we in labor, as the organized voice of the working class majority of the planet, must take a leading role in this struggle to put the interests of people before profits. It is to this end that the Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS) has been organizing a series of local and national “labor convergences” on climate around the country. Activists in Los Angeles met in July to strategize about ways to build the labor movement into a force for climate protection and justice. In the Northeast, labor-climate activists from Maryland to Maine will converge at the Labor Education Center at Rutgers University in November.

The Convergence will encourage climate protection advocates to organize locally and nationally in their own unions; encourage climate solidarity with workers around the world; build cooperation among climate protection advocates and caucuses in different unions; educate labor’s leadership and rank and file on the realities of climate change; transform the discourse and ultimately the policy of the labor movement; and bring local labor unions and activists into engagement with climate and climate justice organizations and activists in their own communities.

As workers and trade unionists, we can either initiate change or be the victims of it, or worse yet, suffer the consequences of inaction. We choose the former and thus resolve to use our power to reshape economic, political, and social systems in the interests of all the world’s people who are threatened by climate change.

Todd is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, a member of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the UAW Local 1981, and also serves on the steering committee of the Labor Network for Sustainability’s (LNS) Labor Convergence on Climate. Todd's opinion-editorial, "How workers, local unions can take the lead on climate change," was recently published in New Jersey's Star-Ledger. Read it here »

by Black Workers for Justice

“These are not natural disasters, they are the logical outcome of a society that believes some people and some places are expendable. They are the product of a broken political and economic system–an industrial growth society that has given rise to climate chaos and unspeakable suffering.” (NC Climate Justice Collective)

As we struggle to put our lives back together please consider these reflections:

The winds and rain of Hurricane Florence and then the floods have devastated our communities. We have had to leave our homes, many of which have been destroyed, as we suffer all of the pain of being displaced. Many are without food, water, necessary medications, and clothing. We have loss cherished family memories. But we have not loss our dignity.

Hog waste

As predicted by community and environmental justice organizations, numerous hog waste lagoons have been breached spreading toxic waste across our communities. Environmental racism is responsible for the harm the Pork Industry has done eastern North Carolina Communities. Smithfield Foods must be held accountable for their failure to guarantee safe waste systems on the farms that they contract with. And we must come to the aid of the community members and activist who have long been defending the community against this harm.

Coal ash

The N.C. communities that had been endangered by Duke Energy dumping its coal ash warned against the dangers of these 50 poison ponds. The flood waters after Florence have resulted in two of these pits leaking arsenic, mercury, lead and more into the Neuse and Cape Fear Rivers. Duke Energy said we are safe. We don’t believe them.

There is no dispute that global warming is responsible for the nature and frequency of these recent hurricanes. The continued burning of coal will only worsen these conditions. Energy corporations like Duke and their backers in government must be stopped if we are to avoid continuous disasters. We cannot lose sight of this as we struggle to survive.

Elections

The elected officials in office now bear responsibility for these problems. As survivors and activists we have to hold them accountable.The massive displacement and necessary preoccupation with recovery will be used by the Legislature to further suppress the votes of people of color and poor people. We have to demand special measures for people to vote wherever they are.

Recovery policy by the state must not only include assistance with housing, cleanup, etc. but also must address the demands to end hog waste and coal ash crimes against the people.

Above: LA County Federation of Labor President Rusty Hicks speaks in favor of improving LA’s storm water systems and committing funds to disadvantaged communities and ongoing maintenance to generate jobs and workforce training.

by Veronica Wilson

Recently, Los Angeles labor unions have put their weight behind Measure W for Safe, Clean Water on the November 6, 2018 local ballot. Measure W proposes a county-wide parcel tax of 2.5¢ per square foot of impermeable surface to raise an estimated $300M per year to invest in improving LA’s water systems, mainly, to better capture and manage stormwater and reduce urban runoff. The region, hot, dry and water-scarce, and unfit for accelerated population growth, has been challenged by water shortages for more than 100 years. Bloody disputes ensued as settlers constructed aqueducts that took water from California’s Eastern Sierras, and have since depleted the Owens Lake entirely and erased the Northern Paiute’s way of life. Today, two thirds of the region’s water are imported from the Owens Valley, Northern California, and the Colorado River.

Spearheaded by Los Angeles Alliance for A New Economy (LAANE) the Our Water LA coalition started with communities, advocacy groups, environmental, and environmental justice organizations. Unsafe drinking water, polluted waterways, deadly flood events, toxins and plastics washed into the Pacific Ocean and onto beaches were reasons for finding long-term solutions. In the most populous county (roughly 10 million) in the United States, public infrastructure projects would, for example, install permeable sidewalks and drainage swales in neighborhoods, design parks with water storage, and retrofit playgrounds. These solutions would not only improve the quality of life of residents by increasing access to clean, safe water, but also generate as many as 9,500 jobs, according to a study produced by LAANE.

At a hearing with the Los Angeles County Supervisors this summer, labor joined in to advocate for a prudent policy that understands water shortages, worsened by climate change, put firefighters in grave danger. Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby noted “Climate change is real!” and extended periods of drought followed by a year of heavy rain have made wildfires more frequent, intense and urban-proximate, endangering the county’s population and his workforce. Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council Ron Miller specified the importance of sustainable water management and potential opportunities for Pipe Trades, Plumbers and Electrical workers. Among other labor representatives, LA County Federation of Labor President Rusty Hicks spoke in favor of improving LA’s storm water systems and that committing the funds to disadvantaged communities and to ongoing maintenance will generate jobs and workforce training where they are needed most.

Currently in campaign mode, LAANE organizers are conducting outreach and educational presentations to union locals throughout the region. As a ballot measure, W will be up to LA county voters. Resting in their hands is a choice to make stormwater capture and reducing runoff a priority for the people and the planet.

Veronica Wilson is an LNS member and consultant who most recently organized the first Los Angeles Labor Convergence on Climate Change.

By Judy Twedt, Trustee UAW 4121 and Steering Committee Member, Yes on 1631

For over two years, unions across Washington State have been part of the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy.  It’s an historically broad coalition of labor, environmental, health, business, faith, and social justice advocates coming together to build a more equitable, clean energy economy.

As we’re witnessing the clear-cutting of common sense environmental policies at the Federal level, states initiatives like this one in Washington offer hope for a more sustainable future.

The coalition aims to put a price on carbon — something no other state have done yet. Our ballot initiative 1631 imposes a fee on the states largest polluters. It starts at $15/ton and rises by $2/year, raising an estimated $1 billion annually to invest in clean energy, forest health, manufacturing, and good paying jobs built to last. There are also funds set aside to help others transition through job training and wage assistance as well as dedicated protections for workers to ensure their jobs stay in Washington. In addition, 35% of investments must be targeted to low income neighborhoods and communities of color to ensure that everyone has access to a cleaner, healthier future.

Our coalition faces opposition from big oil companies like Phillips 66 and BP, and the Koch Brothers, amassing over $21 million. Those are record-breaking contributions intended to maintain their control of the energy economy, and 99% is out-of state.

UAW 4121, the union of over 4,500 academic student employees at the university of Washington, is one of the unions on the Yes on 1631 steering committee. We know that the impacts of unchecked climate change will disproportionately impact young people, and are leading campus-wide voter registration and GOTV efforts to drive up student participation in this midterm election. 

To learn more about the initiative, and how to help turn out the vote for this historically inclusive climate initiative, visit yeson1631.org. If your union can host a labor-to-labor phone banking event to help get-out-the-vote, email judytwedt@gmail.com.

About the Images

A 1631 campaign event hosted by UAW4121 and Green for All with guest speakers including CNN Commentator Van Jones, music artist Macklemore, and President of the Quinalt Nation Fawn Sharp.

Photos credits: Conor Courtney/The Daily (a UW students newspaper)

The Labor Network for Sustainability: Making A Living On A Living Planet

The mission of the Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS) is to engage workers and communities in building a transition to a society that is ecologically sustainable and economically just. We work to foster deep relationships that help the labor movement engage in the climate movement and the climate movement understand the economics of climate change and the importance of organized labor as a key partner in confronting the climate crisis.

We work with trade unions, worker centers and labor support organizations to advance a climate action program that will help the labor movement be a leading force for a just transition to a climate safe and equitable economy. This includes building a network of leaders and rank and file activists in the labor movement to confront climate change called the Labor Convergence on Climate.

We also work with climate and climate justice leaders to develop approaches to more effectively build partnerships with the labor movement, to understand the central importance of work in peoples’ lives and assure that good jobs are an essential element of a just transition. We encourage these organizations to integrate workers' rights policies in their agendas.

LNS serves also as a primary resource on just transition within the climate and labor movements. We identify and analyze policies related to just transition, develop principles that advance the rights of workers and communities who will be impacted in the transition to a climate safe economy, and we share information about just transition victories and effective strategies.

Donate today to Labor Network for Sustainability and help us build a future that works for all of us.