Climate Strikes

Webinar on LNS Just Transition Report

Webinar on LNS Just Transition Report

The Center for Global Work and Employment, Labor Education Action Research Network (LEARN) and Center for Environmental Justice at Colorado State University have recently sponsored a virtual discussion on the Just Transition Listening Project (JTLP)’s 2021 report Workers and Communities in Transition. You can watch the recording online on LEARN-TV.

Clean Trucks and Fairly-Treated Truckers

Clean Trucks and Fairly-Treated Truckers

Since truck deregulation, truck drivers are frequently misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees. That has turned much of truck driving from a well-paid, union-protected occupation to one with low wages, egregious working conditions, deprivation of benefits, and onerous costs that are shifted from the employer to the driver. How will new truck pollution regulations affect the workers who drive the trucks?

Labor Leader Tefere Gebre Builds Labor-Climate Alliance at Greenpeace

Labor Leader Tefere Gebre Builds Labor-Climate Alliance at Greenpeace

When Greenpeace boats formed a “floating picket” to support striking Chevron workers in Richmond, CA, one of those aboard was Tefere Gebre, until February the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO and now chief program officer at Greenpeace USA. Gebre described Greenpeace’s support for refinery workers as “a genuine attempt to build a transformational relationship” with the striking workers.

Enviros Protect Steelworkers’ Backs

Enviros Protect Steelworkers’ Backs

On April 29, activists from the environmental group Greenpeace USA and oil workers and Steelworkers Local 5 deployed a “boat picket” at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA composed of three Greenpeace boats floating in formation near the oil tanker delivery dock, with striking refinery workers, banners and picket signs on board.

Starbucks Workers Catch “Union Contagion”

Starbucks Workers Catch “Union Contagion”

In August 2021, workers at three Starbucks stores in and around Buffalo, New York, filed union election petitions with the National Labor Relations Board. In the eight months since, close to 250 other Starbucks stores have filed similar petitions. More than 40 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize.

A Child Shall Lead Them—to Heat Pumps for Europe

A Child Shall Lead Them—to Heat Pumps for Europe

While the Russian military continues to devastate Ukraine and the US sends billions for military aid to Ukraine, European countries continue to support the Russian war effort by purchasing Russian oil and gas. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies reap a bonanza on shortages that are impoverishing American consumers at the gasoline pump. And even as climate catastrophe is causing still more devastating heatwaves, droughts, and floods those companies are planning to expand fossil fuel production to exploit the Ukraine crisis still more.

Wisconsin Creates State Office of Environmental Justice

Wisconsin Creates State Office of Environmental Justice

On Earth Day, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced an executive order creating a new office of environmental justice. The new office will work with farmers and rural communities, communities of color, Tribal Nations, state and local partners, and low-income populations, among other key stakeholders, the governor’s office said.

IPCC Report Calls for “Just Transition”

IPCC Report Calls for “Just Transition”

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the need for immediate action to protect the climate and lays out detailed strategies for how to do it. The report includes a lengthy analysis of ‘just transitions’ in countering climate change. A just transition could entail that…