LABOR & CLIMATE NEWS
Chicago Teachers Firing for Environmental Activism Blocked
It all started when the General Iron Company decided to move its car-shredding operation to Chicago’s Southeast Side community. Students, teachers, and community members held numerous marches and demonstrations to protest the move to a location little more than half a mile from George Washington High School. In addition, teacher Chuck Stark took part in a hunger strike and teacher Lauren Bianchi was arrested at a protest outside a city official’s home.
The Workers Who Protect Our Environment Condemn Supreme Court Anti-Climate Ruling
In response to the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v EPA that gutted the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, Marie Owens Powell, President of AFGE Council 238, which represents EPA employees, recently stated…
AFL-CIO Convention Passes Resolution on “Climate Change, Energy and Union Jobs”
At its 29th Constitutional Convention in June, the AFL-CIO passed a resolution on “Climate Change, Energy and Union Jobs.”
The resolution begins by pointing out the threat of climate change and the necessity of reducing emissions to meet it…
Common Preservation in a Time of Mutual Destruction
Social movement researcher Dalilah Shemia-Goeke recently reviewed Common Preservation in a Time of Mutual Destruction by LNS co-founder and senior advisor Jeremy Brecher. Her review, “How a Global Nonviolent Insurgency Could Prevent Climate Destruction,” was published in Resistance Studies and Waging Nonviolence.
LNS Goes to Gathering for Grassroots Union Activists
Several LNS staff recently attended the 2022 Labor Notes Conference in Chicago, IL. It was the largest ever held, and by many accounts, the most inspiring and energizing to date. Between the numerous panels, workshops, and meetings covering all facets of building a strong and democratic labor movement, there were six devoted to discussing and teaching about the intersection of work, unions, and climate change.
Young Worker Organizing at Labor Notes
At the 2023 Labor Notes Conference (see previous piece), one of LNS’s main goals was to build support and strategic outreach for its upcoming Young Worker (YW) Convergence in Los Angeles, where young union members and climate activists will meet to strategize around how young workers can move forward a just transition with an urgency commensurate with the climate emergency. There was great enthusiasm for the project from young union members across a vast range of occupations, from tradespeople and longshore workers to teachers and transit workers. Staff will be following up on all the connections that were forged during the weekend and help ensure that these crucial young union voices are represented at the YW Convergence.
