Earthworkers Unite!

By members - Earthworks Unite, January 17, 2024

The following statement was issued on September 12, 2024

We, the eligible staff of Earthworks, are excited to announce that we have formed a union with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Earthworkers Unite. We ask that the Leadership Team (LT) and Board recognize Earthworkers Unite and agree to come to the bargaining table with us immediately. We currently have 21 workers signed up in the union, which we believe represents at least 77% of eligible staff.

We have formed this union in solidarity with our fellow workers, colleagues, and partners. Core to creating a just world is deep democracy and we cannot work towards this future without first modeling it within our own organization. We deserve a workplace where we are respected, empowered to create the strategy which determines our work, and know that when there is conflict there is a just and impartial process available to us. We believe deeply in the work we do and love the communities we work with, and have organized this union to do this work more sustainably and equitably. This announcement is an invitation for Earthworks to continue to align its actions with its mission to promote a just future and address systems of oppression both within and outside the organization.

We know Earthworks can and must be better for its workers and for the communities we serve. We can only effectively organize, advocate, or support partners when we are respected and supported by our workplace. We unionize in solidarity with peer organizations including the Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, and the League of Conservation Voters, and the more than 9,000 workers IWW represents in the so-called United States. The next great labor movement is here, and we are proud to be a part of it.

The labor movement is inextricably linked with the environment, climate, and environmental and climate justice movements. We are incredibly proud of Earthworks’ strong partnerships with organized labor, and hope that you will recognize our own union without any hesitation. We know the best way to support organized labor is to join and support a union in one's own workplace and we trust LT to stand by the assurances made over the past year that there would be no retaliation for speaking up with the desire to improve Earthworks.

The better world Earthworks seeks to create starts with all of us working together to build a more respectful and equitable working environment. If the Leadership Team is truly committed to building this world, we encourage them to voluntarily recognize Earthworkers Unite and welcome them to bargain for an agreement that benefits us all.