For the sixth year, the Transit Equity Network of Labor Network for Sustainability will celebrate Rosa Park’s birthday with a nationwide Transit Equity Day February 5. Transit rider organizations, labor unions, and transit equity advocates will take attention-grabbing actions locally around the country to dramatize the need for just transit for all.

Through bold strategy and collective action, United Auto Workers (UAW) have won historic gains in their 2023 contracts with the Big 3 Auto companies– gains that turned the tide against an unjust transition to electric vehicles and demonstrated that climate progress and economic justice can and must be won in tandem.

In October this year, California Labor for Climate Jobs (CLCJ) launched as a new, state-wide coalition of fourteen California labor unions with express intent to promote a worker-led transition to a just and climate-safe economy.

By Veronica Wilson, LNS California Organizer For the second year in a row, SMART (Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation) International Union hosted a “Cleanup Kingspan Virtual Summit,” inviting organizations to stand with workers fighting for “good” “green” jobs. Labor...

At a November Department of Energy panel on “Community Voices from the Ground” grassroots environmental justice advocates asked the Department to stop promoting large-scale polluting project in marginalized communities of color.

The abundance of climate-heating gases in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2022. A new report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) finds that climate-heating gases in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2022 and “there is no end in sight to the rising trend,” which is largely driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

According to the latest US government forecast, the US will extract more crude oil in 2023 than ever in history, more than twice as much as ten years ago.

While it is often asserted that rich countries like the United States will be spared the worst effects of climate change, the recently released Fifth National Climate Assessment finds that temperatures in the US are actually rising faster than the global average. According to the authoritative report, Americans are suffering “far-reaching and worsening” consequences from the climate crisis, with worse to come. 

The UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Green Economy Program has just launched a Federal Infrastructure Funding Database.

Those of us in the fight for climate justice have long heard that recycling is broken. “Most recycling ends up at the landfill.” “Recycling uses more energy than it saves.” “If you put one contaminant in the recycling, the whole load will go to the landfill.” I’ve repeated these sentiments without really knowing where I got them from.

Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union, has written in the union’s newspaper…

The United Auto Workers international, which represents 400,000 workers and 580,000 retirees, called on December 1 for a cease-fire in Israel and Palestine.

In September 2023, the United Auto Workers union (UAW) went on strike against the Big Three automakers — Ford, GM, and Stellantis. After more than a month of picket lines and bold strike tactics, the union has ratified contracts with the Big Three.

In the on-going strike by UAW auto workers against the auto industry Big Three, one of the central objectives is to win a just transition to climate safe vehicle production for auto workers. At press time the strike continues, but the union has already won significant concessions that will contribute to a just transition.

The strike by the UAW against the Big Three auto companies has brought together autoworkers and climate advocates around the demand for a just transition to a climate-safe auto industry. But what is a just transition? Why is a just transition necessary? And how could a just transition for auto workers be achieved?