If you are looking for ways to move your union forward on climate, this webpage is for you!

Here are all the ways your union can take action.

Organize a Labor Climate Action Committee

Whether you’re looking to organize within your own local or with other locals in the community, or make it an official organ of a national union, a Labor Climate Action Committee is a great way to engage the labor movement on the climate crisis.

Survey your Union Members on Climate

If your Union is seeking to gain a deeper understanding of its members’ opinions and concerns on climate change, use our Union Climate Change Survey! There are several reasons to survey your local, labor council, state or regional organization. 

INPUT FROM THE MEMBERSHIP: the survey should give you information about the current and anticipated impact of climate change on your members.

ANALYSIS INSTEAD OF EMOTION: we need to have serious and fact-based discussion about climate change and our jobs & communities. This survey is a way of focusing on the issues, rather than the fear and anger members may feel.

SHIFT DISCUSSION FROM BLAMING “ENVIRONMENTALISTS” TO UNDERSTANDING THE ENVIRONMENT: the threat to jobs is not due to people who recognize climate change & the need to respond. It is the result of climate change and carbon buildup.

CONVINCE LEADERSHIP IT IS TIME TO ENGAGE & BEGIN PLANNING: the survey should provide Union leadership with evidence that they need to begin tackling this issue.

FORCE LEADERSHIP TO ACT: Union leadership needs to feel pressure from the membership to get going on this. The survey should help make that case.

RESET THE DEBATE BASED ON REALITY: The survey should help show, based on what members see happening around them, that climate change is already impacting our lives and cannot be ignored. 

For more information and help using the survey, contact John Harrity. John is the retired president of the Connecticut International Association of Machinists.

Divest your Union’s Pension Fund from Fossil Fuel

Working people collectively own an enormous amount of capital in our pensions. As a sector, pensions are the largest source of investment in financial holdings, even larger than standard investment houses and banks! Pensions constitute over $40 trillion! Our pension funds are invested in stocks and bonds that may not be serving our interests as working people and may be harming our families’ futures. 

Imagine what we might be able to support and build, imagine the great jobs we could create, if we use more of our pension funds to directly benefit our members and our families.

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