Letter from the Editor

Dear friends,

And so, like climate change, all of us have to step in and lead the fight for our own – and eachother’s – survival.

This issue of "Making a Living on a Living Planet" lays out a response to Coronavirus that is based on the need for working people to organize ourselves and impose solutions on our government and our employers. As the LNS statement on the Coronavirus, excerpted below, says:

“This is a time for solidarity. This is a time for sustainability. This is a time for the Green New Deal.”

As a result of vigorous lobbying by labor, environmental, and allied organizations, the two-trillion dollar stimulus package just passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump included important gains for working people, including expanded unemployment insurance and health benefits. But in many areas it is completely inadequate for the needs of working people. Further, Republican legislators stripped out important protections for the climate. Will there be an additional stimulus package? If so, will it provide what we really need? More than 700 organizations have signed a call laying out five principles for a “People’s Bailout.” Here’s a chance to tell your elected representatives what we need next.

With the approach of Earth Day, climate-concerned unions and the entire labor-climate movement have been mobilizing for a Climate Strike on Earth Day 2020 that will be the largest and most powerful response ever to the threat of climate change. Those planning to participate may now wondering what will happen to the global Climate Strike in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. “Climate Strikes Go Virtual” tells how plans for the climate strike are adapting to the pandemic and how labor organizations and others can still strike a blow for climate protection.

Workers are often afraid to use their most powerful weapon, the strike, for climate protection. Not janitors in Minneapolis! Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26, with 4,000 members in the high-rise commercial buildings of the Twin Cities, went on a one-day strike last month with climate protection as one of their primary demands. A few days later they were poised to strike again when their employers came back to the bargaining table and reached an agreement – including contract language on their climate demands – that the members voted unanimously to accept.

Our thoughts are with all of you and your loved ones, wishing you safety and good health. 

In solidarity,

Jeremy Brecher, editor

Image: Created by Taylor Mayes of the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs, this image is one in a series of Earth Day to May Day graphics, and correlating video interviews hosted by LNS's Leo Blain, that will help to call attention to the need for an Emergency Green New Deal amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The United States is now the epicenter of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As Congress acts swiftly to develop relief and recovery packages to address the crisis, we must make sure that they prioritize the health, wellbeing, and economic stability/security of all people, with no exceptions.

Please join the Labor Network for Sustainability and more than 500 organizations in demanding that the fourth relief package, which is about to be debated, includes these 5 principles:

1. Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions.
2. Economic relief must be provided directly to the people.
3. Rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives.
4. Make a downpayment on a regenerative economy while preventing future crises.
5. Protect our democratic process while protecting each other.

We need to act fast! Visit the People's Bailout website to learn the various ways to take action, or click below to write to your Congressional leaders immediately.

Maria Castaneda was first elected Secretary-Treasurer of 1199SEIU United Health Care Workers East in 2007, and has twice been re-elected. She holds the second highest position in her union, representing over 450,000 healthcare workers in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Maria is the highest ranking Asian American woman labor leader in the United States.

Born in the Philippines, Maria migrated to the US in 1984. She worked as a volunteer community organizer in New York, assisting Filipino nurses with their immigration issues and helping promote Philippine cultural heritage. She lobbied for the Nursing Relief Act that granted thousands of Filipino nurses permanent resident status and family unification.

She began working for 1199SEIU in 1985 as an organizer in the Registered Nurses Division. In 1998, Maria was a Vice President of 1199, representing the 5,300 members at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Seven years later, she was elected Executive Vice President, representing 1199 members at Montefiore Health System, Continuum Health Partners (now part of the Mt. Sinai Health System), Maimonides Medical Center and Lutheran Health System.

Maria has also helped to forge a different model of labor management relationship – the strategic partnership. This partnership focuses on quality patient care and worker engagement. Under her leadership, hospitals reduced acquired infections by engaging frontline workers as quality coaches; increased patient satisfaction through care teamwork; reduced wait time in clinics; improved prep time in operating rooms; and carried out other successful initiatives. These joint labor-management initiatives give frontline healthcare workers a voice and input in promoting quality and safe patient care and services, and promote employee job satisfaction.

Maria also led the labor-management Training and Upgrading program for union members. This program provides career ladders for healthcare workers through skills enhancement and continuing education. For example, a Certified Nurse Aide can train to become a Licensed Practical Nurse and eventually, a Registered Nurse. Service workers are trained to become Surgical Techs, clerical workers become certified billers and coders and so on.

Within 1199SEIU, Maria leads in promoting a culture of health and wellness among members through workplace wellness programs. Members and the employers are engaged as wellness champions and help foster healthy eating choices, exercise and smoking cessation to combat chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

Maria is a Vice President of the 2.1 million-member Service International Union. Last year, she formed the Haiyan/Yolanda relief work group, together with other SEIU leaders. The work group raised almost $600,000, and another $1.3 million worth of food, medicines, infant formula, water, and wipes. The work group partnered with NGOs in the Philippines and funded agricultural, livestock and fishing projects – including the rebuilding of a fishing landing and trading center – and rebuilding health centers, day care centers and a sewing cooperative. They also donated hospital emergency-room beds, nurses’ scrubs, and mattresses, bed sheets, and pillow cases for nurses who had to sleep on hospital floors.

Previously, after the earthquake in Haiti, Maria helped form the 1199SEIU We Care for Haiti committee, through which the union donated over a million dollars for UNICEF to support Haiti’s children.

Meet the entire LNS Board of Directors, including five new members »

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.

Join Labor Network for Sustainability in building a future that works for all of us.