Climate Strikes

As a public servant, I am a member of AFSCME Local 3599, the Upstate Environmental Protection Technical and Professional Employees, part of District Council 37 of New York City. Our local’s highly technical and professional members ensure approximately ten million people receive high quality drinking water.

Not only are government unions protectors of the environment, they have also been strong advocates for climate-friendly policies.

In 2019, government workers and their supporters forced an end to President Trump’s shutdown of the government and used the threat of a general strike to keep the government open. 

Our annual Transit Equity Day featured people from around the country taking action for better, more reliable, and more equitable transit. Our livestream for the event also showcased many little-known local transit justice initiatives.

A diversified transportation system will not only reduce emissions faster, provide more mobility for more people, and lessen the burden of mineral extraction for batteries–but also stimulate millions of new, dignified jobs across the supply chain.

January 2025 was the warmest January on record, with average global temperatures of 3.13 degrees Fahrenheit (1.74 degrees Celsius) – significantly above the target set by the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Jeremy Brecher’s new book The Green New Deal from Below is hitting the media. Watch a Rutgers LEARN webinar about the book.

A new article by Loyola University professor Urooj Raja says that “essential workers” are “bearing the brunt of climate change.”