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Mary Robinson, chair of the Elders Group of former world leaders and former president of Ireland said: The world remains on the brink of climate catastrophe.” Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, said, “The influence of the fossil fuel industry was found across the board,” she said. “This COP has weakened requirements around countries making new and more ambitious commitments” on cutting emissions. The text “makes no mention of phasing out fossil fuels, and scant reference to the 1.5C target.”

While the governments of the world have failed to protect their people from climate devastation, those people are making their own moves to fight climate change. And although it is rarely recognized, those moves include workers and the unions that represent them. You’ll find examples below:

• Nearly 50,000 striking workers at the University of California are demanding transportation policies that will sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Unions and allies are leading a “Transit Equity Day” to demand expansion of greenhouse-gas reducing, justice-promoting public transit.
• Educators from the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have organized an Educators Climate Action Network and are fighting for eliminating carbon pollution and requiring climate education in their schools.
•  As workers at 114 Starbucks’ stores around the country strike to protest union-busting, supporters are petitioning Starbucks to stop both union busting and greenwashing.

In themselves such actions can’t halt climate change. But they can be building blocks of an irresistible people’s movement to force the governments and corporations of the world to reverse their course to destruction.

By: Bakari Height, LNS Transit Equity Organizer

The Transit Equity Day has announced that registration is open for the sixth annual Transit Equity Day, which will take place on Saturday, February 4th, 2023. 

Transit Equity Day is a national day of action that highlights defiant events by local transit organizers, labor unions, and climate justice advocates to promote equity in public transportation. The actions range from press conference declarations of February 4th as Transit Equity Day to in-person volunteer projects like Buffalo’s snow removal project aiding pedestrians to hazardous bus stops.  As a result of this activism, many localities across the country have declared February 4th as Transit Equity Day. These include the state of Wisconsin; the state of Connecticut; Arlington County, Virginia; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; and more. 

This year, Transit Equity Day will continue its livestream on YouTube, which will be hosted by the Transit Equity Organizer and Project Manager, Bakari Height.  He will be interviewing many participants, including many groups from the Greater Boston region. Participants are encouraged to register their events online at the Transit Equity Network’s new Transit Equity Day Action Network page. 

Transit Equity Day has attracted many big names like Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson, Amalgamated Transit Union Worldwide President John Costa, Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen, and Federal Transit Administration Administrator Nuria Fernandez. 

Here are some ways to get involved for #TransitEquityDay2023:

• For more information, visit www.labor4sustainability.org/transit-equity-2023
• Click HERE to register an event on February 4, 2023
• Click HERE to sponsor Transit Equity Day
• Click HERE to sign up for the Transit Equity Network, a Google group where we’ll plan the events and get you plugged in.
• Email Bakari at bakari@labor4sustainability.org with any questions

Nearly a year ago trade unionists and supporters demonstrated at the U.S. Capitol for “Good Jobs for a Green Future”—and then sat down and were arrested for refusing to leave and end their protest. The civil disobedience action was part of “Fire Drill Fridays,” a weekly series led by Jane Fonda and supported by Greenpeace. The action for “Jobs, Communities, & Just Transitions” was partially organized by the Labor Network for Sustainability and many participants in the network participated in the action. Jane’s fellow actor and “dear friend” Sally Field also spoke, recounting the labor struggles of Norma Rae, whom Field played in the eponymous film. Sally also participated in the civil disobedience.

This December 2, Jane Fonda and Fire Drill Fridays are getting back out in the streets of our nation's capital to sound the alarm on the climate emergency. A special focus of the event will be opposition to Senator Manchin's effort to revive his "Dirty Deal" permitting "reform" which would fast-tracked oil and gas projects across America. If you can get to Washington December 2, join LNSers, along with Greenpeace, Jane Fonda, and friends, for a day of inspiration and action. Make your voice heard and demand a cleaner, greener, healthier world. And of course, wear red! RSVP here.

The December 2 Fire Drill Friday action will be livestreamed at firedrillfridays.com

11:00 am-2: pm EST

Location:

Freedom Plaza

1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20004

By Oren Kadosh, LNS Legal and Policy Researcher

For the past several months, LNS has had the privilege of convening the monthly meetings of a newly formed Educators Climate Action Network (ECAN), formed by union educators across the United States in both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). ECAN’s monthly meetings have thus far each been composed of ECAN members or outside experts coming to present on a primary topic of discussion chosen in advance. Monthly meetings have focused on topics such as climate justice demands in bargaining, climate justice curriculums and education standards in schools, and the building and retrofitting of green, healthy public schools. There have been richly informative presentations and discussions at each meeting and an impressive repository of resources has already been assembled on each meeting topic. 

While this space has been fruitful, and while the creation of space for solidarity and collective learning is a prerequisite for movement building, there is also a desire among members to construct the network further into an organized body for exercising power. ECAN members are now starting to act where they are, organizing for action such as: getting interdisciplinary school curriculum and cross-cutting educational standards on climate justice passed into law at local and State levels; turning their schools into solar powered “resilience hubs” capable of providing power and cooling to community members during climate emergencies and related weather events; and bringing community members into their contract bargaining committees while incorporating community-informed green retrofitting of schools as major contract bargaining demands, beyond exclusively their own demands as workers. LNS will continue to support the development of this exciting formation. If you wish to be involved, please visit bit.ly/LNSECAN to sign up, as well as share the link and our flyer with your fellow union educators!

Image Source: Starbucks Workers Rally and March 01. elliotstoller. Wikimedia Commons.

On November 17, Starbucks’ annual “Red Cup Day,” workers at 114 Starbucks cafes around the country held a one-day “Red Cup Rebellion” strike. Members of Starbucks Workers United, organizing under the umbrella of Service Employees International Union (SEIU)’s affiliate Workers United, picketed in front of Starbucks stores and gave away red cups emblazoned with union messages. Starbucks workers in Chile, Brazil, Germany, Serbia, Belgium, Spain, and the UK held solidarity actions. This is the first nationally-coordinated multi-store strike at Starbucks. The union is now planning a coordinated, multiple-city rally on December 9.  

On November 17 LNS Executive Director Larry Williams, Jr. sent this letter to LNS network members:

I'm writing to you today because we just found out that union-busting Starbucks lied to us on climate change.

In 2019, the coffee conglomerate promised it would cut warming pollution from all its operations 50 percent by 2030. But since then, Starbucks has actually emitted MORE global warming pollution every year, even when the pandemic forced them to close stores and reduce operations.

At the same time Starbucks is polluting the world, it’s raking in billions of dollars in profit while engaging in a major union-busting campaign. They’ve recently fired more than 125 union leaders across the country.

We support the striking Starbucks workers because worker power and climate action go hand in hand. With a strong movement for livable wages on a healthy planet, Starbucks workers can be the vanguard of the movement for a Green New Deal from below.

But first, Starbucks needs to make good on its promises.

Take thirty seconds to sign the petition: Tell Starbucks to STOP greenwashing and union-busting, and start making good on its climate promises instead!

During the pandemic, CEO Howard Schultz has seen his personal fortune grow by nearly $1 billion. Starbucks can afford to pay its workers a living wage, and it can afford to lower its carbon emissions. This is the only way WE can afford to make a living on a living planet.

We’re proud of the Starbucks workers unionizing nationwide. We’ve noted the mass organizing trend and hope it continues. We know that organized labor can be a powerful force for change on climate. But only if we all band together.

Tell Starbucks to stop serving lies, stop union-busting, and take action on climate change!

We’re standing strong with Starbucks workers and will be doing more to support them in the coming months. Stay tuned.

In solidarity,

Larry Williams, Jr. 

Executive Director

Labor Network for Sustainability

By: Sydney Ghazarian, LNS Organizer and Communications Advisor 

The Labor Network for Sustainability is proud to join the Worker Power Coalition and progressive organizations calling on Congressional leaders to fully fund the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

The sign-on letter reads:

Between FY 2021 and FY 2022, union election petitions to the NLRB increased 58%. In the same time period, Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges increased by 14%. These workers are simply expressing their rights to form a union as guaranteed by federal law. The field staff at the NLRB has been cut by 37% since 2014 – and 50% since 2002. This severe understaffing means that the Board is unable to adequately service the needs of these workers. In fact, the NLRB staff union itself claims “the agency no longer has the resources to adequately enforce its mission.” Even in union drives where employers do not commit ULPs, delays related to understaffing have a chilling effect on workers exercising their rights.

At the Labor Network for Sustainability, we recognize the critical importance of worker power not only in winning transformative climate action, but in ensuring that our future, sustainable economy is just and powered by millions of high-paying union jobs. To achieve our mission, a fully-funded NLRB is crucial. 

With budget negotiations underway this month, now is the time to act. Use the Worker Power Coalition’s toolkit to send Congress a message.

Tell Congress to fully fund the NLRB with the $368 million budget it needs.

Nearly 50,000 academic workers across the University of California system went on strike November 14 in the largest US work stoppage of 2022. After more than a year of bargaining, teaching assistants, researchers, post-doctoral students, and others on ten campuses represented by the United Auto Workers left their classrooms and labs. Their demands include increased compensation, childcare reimbursements, job security protections, sustainable transit incentives, eliminating fees for international scholars, and stronger disability accommodations. A membership survey by the unions found 92% of graduate workers and 61% of postdoctoral scholars are “rent burdened,” spending more than one-third of their income on monthly rent.

The strikers’ “core demands” include a program for “Climate & Transit.” According to their website:

To combat climate change and reduce emissions, 48,000 UAW-represented Academic Workers are demanding:

• Free public transit passes for all workers who want them
• Cash incentives to commute via sustainable means
•  Subsidies for the purchase and maintenance of bikes and e-bikes
• Improved campus cycling infrastructure

For background on the strikers’ fair transit demands: https://www.fairucnow.org/transit/

Image Source: dgdimension- stock.adobe.com

A sign-on letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists is calling for the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration to design and implement critical worker protections to save their lives and livelihoods from climate-driven extreme heat. The letter states an acceptable heat standard should:

• include a clearly defined acclimatization plan;
• limit the discretion of the employer in determining appropriate provisions for shade, rest, and water so that workers have a consistent set of protections across the state and regardless of employer;
• establish a set of high heat procedures for high heat conditions;
  track heat-related injuries;
• lower the heat index threshold for implementing heat protections from 88 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit to capture most occupational heat issues and include external influencing factors;
• include a set temperature for water given to workers rather than "suitably cool"; and
• be specific about rest breaks based on the severity of the heat index and workload.
  

It’s not just a Maryland problem: A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, Too Hot to Work, projects that between now and 2065, climate change will quadruple US outdoor workers' exposure to hazardous heat conditions, jeopardizing their health and placing up to $55.4 billion of their earnings at risk annually.

Image Source: Jacob Lund- stock.adobe.com

After a week-long occupation of the University of Barcelona campus by students from End Fossil Barcelona, the university agreed that all students will have to take a mandatory course on the climate crisis. The university will also devise a training program on climate issues for its 6,000 academic staff. The university said in a statement that it was “fully committed to working towards the eradication of the causes of the climate emergency and to mitigating its consequences.” University of Barcelona economics professor Federico Demaria said, “Ten or 15 years ago the university would have sent in the police. But now you can’t kick them out because you know they’re right and society supports them.” 

For more:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/12/barcelona-students-to-take-mandatory-climate-crisis-module-from-2024

Amy became involved in the Labor Network for Sustainability in 2021 when she was interviewed as part of the young worker listening project. She then went on to take part in the Young Worker Organizing Committee and support the Young Worker Convergence on Climate in September of 2022, facilitating a panel of fellow building trades workers.

Amy looks forward to a career of building climate resilient infrastructure as a rank and file member, and organizing building trades workers towards fighting unions and a livable planet.

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: