For 75 minutes on Wednesday night, June 24, an esteemed group of speakers and some of the best minds in labor, economics, and the environment came together for our latest Just Transition Listening Project webinar: Black Workers and Just Transition.

In the form of a TV talk show, the webinar was hosted by author and syndicated columnist Bill Fletcher Jr., and included an interview with Jhacova Williams, economist for the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy (PREE) of the Economic Policy Institute, as well as a roundtable discussion with Nia Winston, General Vice President of UNITE HERE and Tanya Wallace Gobern, Executive Director of the National Black Workers Center.

This is the second in a special series of monthly webinars on Just Transition and is a part of the Just Transition Listening Project which runs through 2020. The recording of our first webinar The Pandemic, the Economic Crisis and Just Transition can be found here. With 40 million Americans currently unemployed, the need for a just transition has never been more urgent.

Praise

"I've facilitated and attended more Zooms than I can count over the past months. And this was, if not the best, then right up there at the top. What powerful, articulate, smart, visionary people! Thanks you SO much."

Nancy Greenman, Albany, Oregon, Retired, Service Employees International Union 503

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"I thought this was outstanding and well worth my time to watch it. This is one of the best discussions I have ever seen, showing both passion and deep thinking.

"I've forwarded the link to our D candidate for governor, among others. I'm planning to share it with a number of state legislators and candidates today.

"I'm 75, live in Charleston, WV, and served as a social worker and planner for the state for over 24 years. Also editor of New Deal Photographs of West Virginia - 1934-1943, and a volunteer citizen advocate on social justice issues. I learned about the just transition work from the WV Center on Budget and Policy, which does such great work here on a wide range of issues."

Betty Rivard

"Thank you I'm ready to share. I've watched a lot of good webinars in the past 3 months and this one stood out. As a white person I get tired of hearing white environmentalists say blacks aren't involved in the climate movement. I'm on board with the "Justice Movement" and as a person of faith have been working across silos. I appreciate Bill mentioning the Post Office as I've also been concerned more generally about the Post Office, the state of abandonment by our government and it's workers and those in rural areas and elsewhere for whom the Post Office is a lifeline. I periodically reach out to my legislators and ask what they're doing about the Post Office and they just say there's no bill to vote on. I'm going to reach out to my local Democratic Club and local League of Women Voters and ask how are the vote by mail ballots going to get to people.

"This is serious as we fight for everyone to have the right to vote. I'm thinking we ought to reach out to our congressional Black Caucus. Barbara Lee isn't my rep, but we both live in the Bay Area. Let's move forward, not one step back."

Jan Warren

"Fantastic, thank you"

Timothy Welp

Ibram X. Kendi presenting his new book "How to Be an Antiracist" at Unitarian Universalist Church located in Montclair, New Jersey. August 14, 2019. Wikimedia Commons.

By Leo Blain

Racial justice advocates often say that in order to achieve a racially equitable society we cannot just be “not racist,” but that we must be actively anti-racist. Ibram X. Kendi, a preeminent antiracism advocate and historian said that “Being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.” 

Unions have been partners in the fight for  racial justice for decades. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders of the 1960s often emphasized the need for strong unions in the struggle for equal rights in and outside of the workplace. In an October 1965 speech to the Illinois AFL-CIO convention, King said that “The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.”

Amidst the Movement for Black Lives and the desperate need to change our country’s policing practices, many of us in the labor movement are asking ourselves: how can we put the indomitable force of the labor movement behind the words of Kendi and King? How can we use our collective power in the labor movement to dismantle structural racism and police brutality?

At the Labor Network for Sustainability, we’ve found inspiration and leadership on how to best advocate for Black lives from leaders in the Movement for Black Lives and unions that are prioritizing this work. Below are some of the resources that have shaped and continue to influence our thinking, organizing, and communications. 

This extensive compilation of resources for anti-racist allies, created by Tatum Dorell, Jourdan Dorell, and Matt Herndon includes short essays and articles, books, PDFs, podcasts, videos, teaching resources, and more on anti-racism and safe and responsible anti-racist allyship. 

We’ve been particularly inspired by our union brothers and sisters that have already taken tangible action for Black lives by leveraging their power as workers. In Minneapolis, members of ATU local 1005 denied their labor from law enforcement seeking to use members busses to transport arrested protestors. In D.C., the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades has set up support booths for protesters. 

While many unions have been and continue to be engaged in anti-racist work, racism needs to be called out and eliminated where it persists in the labor movement. Here is an article from Amnesty International that provides a guide on how to effectively call out and engage with people that have made racist or bigoted remarks. In some cases though, a person or institution's racist words and actions necessitate their removal from the communities they exist in so that they do not continue to harm others. For example, Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll has a documented history of supporting institutional racism and violence. Many Minneapolis-area unions have called for his resignation. 

We know there’s a lot more work happening out there as the labor movement re-commits to racial justice. We’d love to hear about it and uplift it in social media. If you’re interested in sharing effective racial justice work that you’ve seen in the labor movement and beyond that deserves to be uplifted, send us a message at leoblain@labor4sustainability.org, or message us on Social media at @labor4sustainability on Facebook and Instagram and @LN4S on Twitter.

Leo is the Social Media and Online Community Manager at LNS.

By Veronica Wilson

A new report Reimagined Recovery: Black Workers, the Public Sector, and COVID-19 argues expanding jobs in the public sector is the starting point in recovery efforts that place racial equity at the core. Reimagined Recovery is the first product by the Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity (CARE) at Work, a new initiative at the UCLA Labor Center led by Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, founder of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center. 

The report notes COVID-19 exacerbates a racial injustice throughline of stacked health, economic and climate crises. Recent unconstitutional extrajudicial public executions by police have sparked mass protests demanding a stop to violence and a reimagining of the country’s social and economic structures. With this in mind, the report looks at spending priorities.

The study reminds us that for the past century, Black community members were systematically  excluded from the private sector and found jobs as government expanded public services. The report details how Black women, in particular, entered public sector employment and that work in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and transportation provide quality jobs vital to our community as a whole. But privatization since the 1980s left a shrinking public sector bereft of resources. Among a set of recommendations, Reimagined Recovery concretely calls for state and local funding in federal coronavirus relief packages. Along with local policies such as job training with equity and climate at the center, the report gives us a point of departure to imagine recovery that begins with racial justice.

Read more »

Veronica is the Los Angeles/California Organizer for LNS. 

On July 2nd, the Senate will head home for vacation having done nothing to effectively address systemic racial injustice, respond to the public health and economic crises spurred by the Coronavirus pandemic or fund essential services to provide relief to communities and workers. Their refusal to act and decision to vacation in the midst of crisis is a clear failure of leadership.

On Wednesday July 8th, communities across the country will take action to hold their senators accountable.

PRIORITY ASK: Will your organization: 

• Anchor an event [or suggest something different in line with goals/frame] - own the coordination and decision making about the shape of an event. Have a member of your organization act as a point of contact for other organizations who want to join in. Ideally also put forward a comms / press contact. 
• Turn out members to an event anchored by others. 
• Participate in digital day of action

Find out more about the action plan
Get plugged in: Sign Up Here

By Debby Szeredy, Executive Vice-President, American Postal Workers Union

This is an excerpt from an article that first appeared in the January/February 2020 edition of American Postal Worker magazine.

We need to start preparing to rise up with people power. That includes all our members, family, friends, neighbors, community organizations, and our political representatives. We have to rise up to protect our working and living environment.

At the 2019 All-Craft Conference, we had our first APWU Union Climate Change Session, where we gave attendees a survey to find out what our members thought about the effects of climate change on postal workers and the responsibilities of the USPS. Our living and working environment must be turned around soon.

It was very clear from the survey that weather, air quality, and unsafe working conditions affect us on and off the job:

• 62 percent of those surveyed (291) felt climate change has increased in frequency and intensity.
• 33 percent felt that climate change interrupted jobs, wages, or benefits.
• 54 percent have had their home or household expenses affected.
• 87 percent felt that the USPS has failed at communicating the impact of climate change on the Postal Service and/or your work location.
• 69 percent believe that climate change will affect our children and grandchildren personally.
• 71 percent have family members who have been affected by extreme weather, and 30 percent of members have experienced health issues due to extreme weather and exposure to bad air quality.
• 83 percent think it is better for the union to engage in the fight against climate change destruction.

We received so many ideas as to what the union should be doing to combat climate change, including negotiating how the Postal Service should help reduce the carbon footprint and invest in cleaner energy and provide a safer work environment.

We have 114 members who wanted to be a part of the APWU’s fight against climate change. Any members interested in signing on please contact my office at 202-842-4250.

As 15-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg has said, “act like our house is on fire – because it is.”

Read Debby's entire article »

Above: "Protecting Farmworkers as Temperatures Rise With Climate Change." California’s long, hot summers can be deadly for people who make their living laboring in the sun. The state’s Mediterranean climate is great for the 400 different types of commodities grown, but hard on the humans who harvest them. And climate change is making matters worse. Watch how UC Davis is working with growers and workers to prevent heat illness.

An article in The Guardian blows the whistle on the little-recognized threat of climate change to workers. In 2018, 60 workers died due to temperature extremes, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data on workplace fatalities.

According to projections conducted by the not-for-profit organization Climate Central, the number of dangerous heat days for major US cities will increase from 20 a year on average in 2000 to 58 in 2050. A dangerous heat day is defined as one in which the heat index, accounting for heat and humidity, exceeds 104F (40C).

The Public Citizen report, “Extreme Heat and Unprotected Workers” found that workers are already facing hotter temperatures more frequently. But there are no federal safety protections for workers in extreme temperatures, and only three states, California, Washington and Minnesota, have heat stress workplace protection standards.

In an April 2019 report, the AFL-CIO noted federal Osha’s inspections related to heat declined by 49% under the Trump administration’s first two fiscal years in office.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and other unions have negotiated protective language on heat in their contracts.

Above: From the June 28, 2018 Fossil Free Berlin Action. "Today we are asking the German parliament to take out its money from dirty coal, oil and gas and invest it into a healthy planet and a fossil-free future! Finance our future, instead of climate chaos!," Credit: Willem Thomson/Fossil Free Berlin.

Workers who see the recent gyrations and crashes in coal, oil, and gas stocks may wonder what it all means for their pension funds. Many major cities around the world, including London, New York City, Auckland, Berlin, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Oslo and Stockholm have been taking steps to divest their pension funds from fossil fuels, both to protect their workers’ pension investments and to protect the climate.

To learn more, see the guide Divesting from Fossil Fuels, Investing in Our Future: A Toolkit for Cities.

An LNS organizational member, Railroad Workers United, held a Steering Committee meeting in June, where members adopted a Resolution on Essential Workers. These workers, which include railroad workers, are deemed "essential," meaning society cannot continue to function without them. "Yet despite this fact, and the fact that these workers are routinely referred to as 'national heroes,'" RWU writes, "they are often overworked and/or underpaid, forced to labor under difficult, dangerous and unsafe conditions." 

An excerpt of RWU Resolution is below:

Whereas, millions of workers – among them front line health care staff, warehouse workers, grocery store workers, meat-packing and food processing workers, farm workers, transit and railroad workers – are all putting their lives on the line every day in service to the nation; and

Whereas, tens of thousands of “essential workers” have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and many have lost their lives; and

Whereas, these workers are considered “Essential” and have been labelled as “National Heroes”; and

Whereas, the vast majority of these workers labor under arduous, demanding, dangerous and exhausting conditions under the best of circumstances during routine times; and

Read the entire Resolution »