Climate Strikes

Congressional candidate Mike Siegal may have lost the 2020 congressional election in Texas’ 10th district, but the video above posted by Sunrise Movement shows why he won the support of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 520 and the Texas AFL-CIO...

#GivingTuesday, happening tomorrow, Dec. 1, is an opportunity for people to use their individual power of generosity to support the communities that are important to them. Whether you’ve just discovered one of our Just Transition Listening Project webinars or have been with us since we first started working to bridge the labor and environmental movements more than a dozen years ago, we thank you for being a part of the LNS community!

With the dawning of a new era, the Labor Network for Sustainability and allies are more excited than ever to host Transit Equity Days (yes “Days”) 2021. Official announcements of Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, 2021 actions will kick off on Monday, Dec. 21, the same day Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition hosts its Virtual Rally: Baltimore Transit Equity Solidarity Day.

With the likelihood of a federal government sharply divided between Republicans and Democrats, states are likely to play an expanded role in shaping the American future. The aspirations for a Green New Deal may have support from the presidency and the House, but they are likely to be fiercely contested in the Senate and perhaps the Supreme Court. Bold action to address climate and inequality could emerge at the state level.

The science is clear on climate change: we must rapidly phase out fossil fuels. But tens of thousands of workers have jobs in fossil fuel and related industries. How do we secure a just transition that guarantees good jobs with benefits for these workers in the new clean energy economy?

The Economic Policy Institute writes,

When the United States invests in clean energy, energy efficiency and infrastructure, and expands exports, we will rebuild American manufacturing and the U.S. economy, generating nearly 7 million good-paying jobs.

North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) has just signed an agreement with Ørsted Offshore North America to create a national agreement designed to transition U.S. union construction workers into the offshore wind industry in collaboration with the leadership of the 14 U.S. NABTU affiliates and the AFL-CIO.

This year many states have made bold moves to electrify transit. Not only is expanded public transit a crucial means to reduce climate-destroying greenhouse gases, it is also a crucial way to expand good, family-sustaining jobs through the transition to a green, electric-powered economy.

The Coronavirus pandemic and the economic depression accompanying it are already engendering new movements of both employed and unemployed workers. A series of commentaries by labor historian and Labor Network for Sustainability Research and Policy Director Jeremy Brecher describe how millions of people are experimenting with ways to address their problems through collective action in the COVID-19 era.