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LABOR & CLIMATE NEWS
Great Power Struggle Over Fragmented Global Networks
The global convergence of crises that has been dubbed the “polycrisis” has emerged in tandem with the decline of globalization. But what is replacing globalization is less a new system than a chaotic scramble. This is one of a series of Strike! Commentaries on “The Polycrisis and the Global Green New Deal.”
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LNS Welcomes New Communications director
LNS is proud to introduce our new Communications Director, Virginia Rodino. Virginia’s professional career has focused on communications strategy for labor, non-profit, and activist organizations.
Letter from the Editor
Workers organize to protect themselves from inadequate pay, overwork, insecurity, and threats to their health and safety. And now there is another threat to workers’ wellbeing: climate change. And workers are organizing to fight it.
Hurricanes Fed by Global Warming Ravage Workers and Communities
Back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton have devastated much of Appalachia and the South. In a statement following Hurricane Helene, the Labor Network for Sustainability called it “A Wake-up Call for Social Justice.” It said these tragedies of death and destruction “are not natural.”
How Climate Change Threatens Workers
A recent article in the workplace safety newsletter Confined Space analyzes recent deaths at Impact Plastics to show why workers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The author is Jordan Barab, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2017 and previously worked for AFSCME and the AFL-CIO.
Join “the Green New Deal from Below” book launch
The Labor Network for Sustainability is pleased to announce the publication of The Green New Deal from Below: How Ordinary People Are Building a Just and Climate-safe Economy by LNS Co-Founder Jeremy Brecher.
If California Politicians Won’t Support Climate Projects, Can the People Make Them Do It Anyway?
On election day, in addition to selecting their choice for President of the United States, California voters will decide whether or not to fund climate projects. Measure 4 is a $10 billion bond to spend on clean drinking water, protections from floods, droughts and extreme heat, ocean protections, parks, and clean energy projects, among other initiatives. It prioritizes low-income communities and those living on the frontlines of climate change impacts.
Heat Kills; Heat Standards Will Save Workers’ Lives
Heat can be deadly for workers whether they are working outdoors or indoors. According to National Council for Safety and Health, COSH, “Extreme heat causes as many as 2,000 worker fatalities in the U.S. each year, and up to 170,000 workers are injured in heat stress-related accidents annually.”
Climate Change: In Case You Haven’t Heard…
The “2024 State of the Climate Report” just issued by a team of climate scientists finds that “We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster.” This is “a global emergency” in which “much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled.”
New York State Bill to Put Solar on Public Buildings
A recent law passed by the New York City Council with a supermajority of votes will put unionized workers to work installing solar panels on city buildings.
Solar Jobs Market Heating Up
The recently released 2023 Solar Jobs Census published by the independent nonprofit organization Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), found that full-time jobs in the US solar industry grew nearly 6% in 2023.
Big Businesses Promoting Union Busting, Climate Destruction
A report by the global labor federation the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) finds that the large corporations Amazon, Tesla, Meta, ExxonMobil, Blackstone, Vanguard, and Glencore are undermining democracy across the world by financially backing far-right political movements, funding and exacerbating the climate crisis, and violating trade union rights and human rights. The ITUC represents 191milllion workers in 169 nations.
Southern California Refinery to Close
On October 16th, news broke that Phillips 66 will shut down its Los Angeles refinery in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company gave notice of plans to close the refinery that has roughly 600 employees and a few hundred more contractors in two facilities linked by pipeline located five miles apart in Carson and Wilmington, California.
Hurricane Helene: A Wakeup Call for Climate Justice
The tragedies of death and destruction unfolding in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina are not natural. Global warming and the climate crisis are making the rapid intensification of storms more deadly and more frequent. NBC reported two...