Climate Strikes

Income inequality is the highest it has been in 100 years, and with that has come an all-out assault on the political and voting rights of working people. Add to that the devastating effects that Covid has had on workers lives and the economy, and onrushing economic and health impacts Climate Change are unleashing on workers and their families. We must build a mass movement that fights for working people on all fronts.

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.

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?

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.

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.

The American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents 7,500 scientists, engineers, and other employees at the federal Environmental Protection Agency, is demanding a contract that insulates agency science from political interference.

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.

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.

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.