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•   In New Jersey, unions representing the state university system’s 19,000 union employees joined with students, environmentalists, and community members for a day of action for climate justice, fair wages for workers, a halt to fossil fuel projects, and city bike lanes and community gardens.
• A Vice President of the UAW and the President of the Sierra Club proclaimed that they are “committed to working together to make the transition to a zero emissions future one with fair standards for workers and communities in the US.”
• Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK joined a Day of Action protesting the rising cost of living and government inaction on climate.
• 140,000 people marched through Paris demanding price freezes and massive investment in climate protection.
  

You’ll find out more about each of these stories in this issue of Making a Living on a Living Planet.

Larry Williams, Jr. Executive Director of the Labor Network for Sustainability, sent a message to LNS friends and supporters that said in part:

We’re celebrating the recent defeat of US Senator Joe Manchin’s “Dirty Deal.” This was a proposal to undermine environmental reviews and fast-track fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Today, we’d like to lift up the board members of the Labor Network for Sustainability who fought tooth and nail to oppose this Dirty Deal. LNS Board Members Jennifer Krill and Edgar Franks recently joined an action in the Hart Senate Building in Washington DC, in which Jennifer was arrested in an act of civil disobedience to oppose the deal.

Jennifer Krill stated: “Prioritizing the climate crisis means prioritizing environmental justice. Legislation that leads to more drilling and mining is precisely the kind of political side-dealing that has set us back from meeting our urgent climate goals. We’re grateful that members of Congress have taken action to stop the exploitation of frontline communities and stand up to the fossil fuel and mining industries. Congress has sacrificed people for corporate profits for far too long.”

Edgar Franks stated: “We as a farmworker union want to stand on the side of environmental justice. We are one of the communities that are bearing the brunt of climate change and also some of the most disenfranchised politically. The Dirty Deal was filled with mechanisms that further widen the divide where we will continue to be sacrificed for profits to the fossil fuel industry. We look for the time where we will not have to pit environment over jobs. As unions we need to be present and demand real solutions that are led by affected communities.”

But of course, this victory does not belong to us. It belongs to the many environmental justice leaders from across the country who’ve taken a stand against the Dirty Deal. It belongs to the communities in the Gulf of Mexico and coastal Alaska and everywhere in between. And it belongs to you.

convention.goiam.org

The International Association of Machinists, a venerable union representing half-a-million workers in more than 200 manufacturing and transportation industries, passed a powerful resolution on climate change at its October national convention. The resolution notes that: “Our Union is especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate change,” with “large percentages of IAM members working in at-risk occupations and industries." Further, “the threat to IAM members, and the entire human race, from unchecked climate change is undeniable.” The threat includes “massive disruptions to the global economy, national security, displacement of people in coastal communities, extreme heat, wildfires, drought, flooding, and other extreme weather-related events.”

The resolution called for concrete steps to address the impact of climate change on the IAM and more broadly. It establishes a union commission to conduct a year-long examination of the potential impact of climate change on the jobs and industries of IAM members. The commission will produce a report that includes “both broad plans and specific approaches for addressing jobs impacted by climate change” and “the steps needed for workers and communities to transition to new jobs and industries in the new green economy.”

The resolution also declares that the IAM will engage in “pro-active leadership” to address this crisis by “joining with other unions and organizations in the international climate change movement” to “actively defend workers’ jobs, rights, and lives,” as well as secure “a livable future for our children and future generations.”

Image Credit: Rutgers AAUP-AFT

In a convergence of labor, student, community, and climate forces, Rutgers University students, faculty, graduate workers, and staff joined for a day of speakouts, rallies, and marches for climate justice and fair contracts for the university’s 19,000 union employees.

“Our different organizations and unions all chose this day to send a message to the Rutgers administration and to political officeholders, so we’re working together to support each other,” said Rebecca Givan, president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, the union representing full-time faculty, graduate workers, and others. “Students have been organizing for climate justice measures, and they need to be heard. The contracts for our unions at Rutgers expired nearly three months ago—we need the administration to act on our proposals with the same urgency we feel.”

The day’s events started with a demonstration calling on Governor Phil Murry to veto proposals for seven major fossil fuel projects. Then a rally on campus called on the university to start bargaining with its workers for a fair contract. Then climate justice activists led a march to New Brunswick City Hall calling for city-level climate reforms: expand and add city bike lanes; incorporate green affordable housing with solar-ready rooftops; oppose a gas power plant in Woodbridge, NJ, and install community gardens in each neighborhood.

Image Source: @UNITEHERE 11 Tweet

UNITE HERE Local 11 represents over 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, including airline catering workers. In September Local 11, joined by more than 40 environmental organizations, wrote American Airlines demanding action to protect the environment. Specifically they called for American Airlines to:

1) Consider the operations of its airline catering contractor in its ESG report,

2) Commit to reducing 90% of single use plastics from its flight and catering operations,

3) Stop donating to politicians who have denied climate change.

 Robin Rodríguez of UNITE HERE Local 11 says:

Local 11 cares deeply about environmental issues, because our members and their families deserve to breathe clean air and water, live in areas with green space and not suffer long-term effects of pollution. While we fight for better jobs, benefits, and wages, part of that work is in vain if our members do not have livable communities. Economic and environmental justice are inseparable.”

Clara Meza, who has worked for 38 years for American Airlines’ catering contractor Sky Chef,  says, “As a mother I want my kids to have an earth to enjoy. American Airlines can take the needed steps to make sure Sky Chef’s is contributing to our environment in a positive way.”

Image Source: Mike Mareen- stock.adobe.com

Cindy Estrada is a long-serving Vice President of the UAW. Ramon Cruz is President of the Sierra Club. Coming from such different affiliations, it is striking that they have just published a joint article about Autoworkers and the Environmental Movement in the Nonprofit Quarterly. They write:

Moving the US to 100 percent electric vehicles (EVs) is an important part of addressing the nation’s top source of greenhouse gas emissions—the transportation sector. It is also an opportunity to reorganize the auto industry and win workplace democracy, especially in the South, where corporations and politicians have staunchly opposed union rights for workers with stark implications for worker wellbeing nationwide.

It’s only by coming together as a united labor, environmental, and racial justice movement that we will have enough power to take on corporations and their political allies and ensure that this transition benefits people working in the automotive industry, our communities, and our planet.

They say that the UAW and Sierra Club are “committed to working together to make the transition to a zero emissions future one with fair standards for workers and communities in the US.” They note that the Sierra Club and other environmental groups pushed to secure labor rights and standards for auto workers in Build Back Better Act. They point out the massive movement of auto production to the South, and argue “there is no path to unionize the auto industry in the South without a broad coalition of auto workers and environmental and racial justice organizations.” They call for building “mass popular support to re-unionize and decarbonize vehicle manufacturing in a way that benefits workers, our communities, and our planet.”

Image Source: stockphoto-graf- stock.adobe.com

Shortly after Hurricane Ian devastated Florida, Adriana Phillips, a community organizer with South Bronx Mutual Aid in New York began hearing from new immigrants who were being offered lucrative jobs in Florida through flashy ads in Spanish on online platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp. Two weeks later she began hearing from laborers, some of whom had only been in the US for a week, who had gone to Florida and found that their wages were being docked to pay for their room and board in violation of their work agreements. “This looks and smells like human trafficking,” she said.

Resilience Workforce, a New Orleans group that advocates for and monitors migrant workers following natural disasters, sent staff members to Florida who contacted hundreds of day laborers. Sacha Feinman, communications director of Resilience Force, said he personally witnessed workers "putting themselves in danger," including roofers who were not wearing safety gear and several workers sleeping inside a truck in a parking lot. And executive director of Resilience Workforce Saket Soni said, "Promises are often not kept to these workers. I am concerned they are being recruited through fraud."

A survey of 361 construction day laborers following hurricane Harvey found that 72% were undocumented immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Their average hourly wages ranged from $12 to $14 an hour. More than a quarter reported wage theft in the month following Harvey.

For more: Immigrant workers face wage theft and unsafe conditions as they rebuild Florida

Image Source: @jam_har Tweet

Hundreds of thousands of people marched and rallied October 1 in over 50 towns and cities across the UK on a National Day of Action protesting the soaring cost of living and inaction on the climate crisis. The actions were called by Enough is Enough, a 700,000 member campaign supported by the trade union movement and community groups including tenant unions and foodbanks. Its five demands are:

•  A real pay raise
• Slash energy bills
• End food poverty
• Decent homes for all
• Tax the rich

Climate campaigners brought London’s famed Westminster Bridge to a standstill. Don't Pay UK encouraged householders to stop paying their bills if the government does not offer further support to families. 50,000 workers from four postal and railroad unions struck for wage increases to make up for inflation.

On October 16, 140,000 people marched through Paris protesting the rising cost of living and government inaction against climate change. They demanded massive investment in climate action, higher wages, an emergency freeze on the prices of groceries, rent, and energy, and greater taxation of windfall profits of corporations. A leader of the action called on protesters to “not allow themselves to be divided by their skin color, their religion, political affiliation or indifference.” Some of the demonstrators wore yellow vests, the symbol of disruptive actions that started in 2018 by protesting against government climate protection policies.  The recent demonstration dovetailed with a strike by refinery workers, an impending strike by transportation workers, and a call for a general strike by France’s largest trade unions.

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: