Climate Strikes
Transit Equity Day Organizers
Transportation is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in this country and gasoline-powered vehicles also emit harmful pollutants that disproportionately affect already overburdened communities. At the same time, our public transportation system is in need of...
Mark your Calendars Earth Day Climate Strikes Ahead!
By Lauren Burke Last September, an estimated 7.6 million people joined the global climate strike, making it the largest demonstration against climate change in the world’s history. In the U.S., over 39 trade union bodies engaged in the climate strike: passing...
Virtual Convergence 3 on Transit Equity Day: Recording Now Available
Thank you to all who attended LNS's Virtual Convergence 3: Transit Equity: Labor and Community Voices on the Nexus of Civil Rights and Climate Action To prepare for Transit Equity Day taking place February 4, 2020, LNS featured a panel of union leaders and civil...
EPA Workers Need Your Help to Protect Your Climate!
Environmental Protection Agency workers protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and ensure a healthy environment for everyone. In the face of devastating climate change, we need them more than ever. The Trump Administration is gutting the EPA—slashing funding,...
Union Teachers Spreading the Word on Climate
How can unions educate their members about climate change? The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) just provided a sterling example. The entire current issue of its magazine American Educator is devoted to teachers and climate change. It is available free online....
Texas AFL-CIO Adopts Resolution on Climate Change
Ryan Pollock, an inside wireman with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) writes about the recent AFL-CIO Convention in Texas: Not only were many of my fellow trades siblings—plenty of whom work in the fossil fuel industry or represent fossil...
Fire Drill Friday for Good Jobs
On December 13, trade unionists and supporters demonstrated at the U.S. Capitol for “Good Jobs for a Green Future”—and then sat down and were arrested for refusing to leave and end their protest. The civil disobedience action was part of “Fire Drill Fridays,” a weekly...
Postal Workers Take on Climate Change
The American Postal Workers Union has taken on the climate crisis within the national union structure by following up on their last national convention resolution “Climate Change, Jobs and Justice.” At its recent national All-Craft conference held in Las Vegas, the...
Connecticut Project Labor Agreement Law Ensures Green Jobs Are Union Jobs
When work on public infrastructure is performed by union labor there are many benefits for workers, communities, and the economy as a whole. However, too many infrastructure workers are denied union representation. And many devices—such as subcontracting, performing...
The Power of the Powerless
By Jeremy Brecher,LNS Research and Policy Director This commentary maintains that the power of the powerful depends on the cooperation and acquiescence of other people. If enough of those others refuse to go along, they can undermine the “pillars of...