Above: Rhiana Gunn-Wright – Director of Climate Policy, Roosevelt Institute helped kick off the Sept. 22, 2020 Climate Jobs and Just Transition Summit at the Opening Lightening Around with powerful remarks about climate justice.
Climate Jobs NY is a coalition of labor unions representing 2.6 million working men and women united to combat climate change and reverse inequality. CJNY aims to demonstrate that we do not have to choose between a healthy planet and good jobs. This fall CJNY held a Climate Jobs and Just Transition Summit, which you can watch in its entirety here.
Some Highlights
Sharing the progress of the LNS-convened Just Transition Listening Project, noting that we are hopeful but “woefully” far away from achieving a vision of a just transition to an ecologically sustainable and just economy, LNS Executive Director Michael Leon Guerrero joined Eddie Bautista, Executive Director, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, John Murphy, International Representative, United Association and Samantha Smith, Director, Just Transition Centre for “Securing an Effective and Just Transition,” hosted by J. Mijin Cha, Assistant Professor, Occidental College. Watch it here.
Elizabeth Bunn, LNS National Policy Director and Maryland State Director emphasized why public transportation funding is urgently needed on a concurrent session chaired by JP Patafio, Transport Workers Union 100 Vice President. “Strong Unions, Sustainable Transport,” also featured Alana Dave, Public Transit, International Transport Workers’ Federation, Micah Mitrosky, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 569, and Michael Yee, Director, Educational and Cultural Trust Fund of the Electrical Industry, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 3. Watch it here.
LNS Board Directors Who Spoke
LNS Board Directors John Harrity, Chair and Founding Member of the Board, CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs and Cynthia Phinney, President, Maine AFL-CIO joined Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer, Illinois AFL-CIO and Monserrat Garibay, Secretary-Treasurer, Texas AFL-CIO on the concurrent session Maine, Texas, Illinois, Connecticut: Building Climate Jobs Organizations State by State, chaired by Mike Fishman – Climate Jobs National Resource Center, Former Secretary-Treasurer, Service Employees International Union. Watch it here.