EcoUnionist News #33

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 15, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Register now for the Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conferences: Richmond, California (March 14, 2015) and Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• Support the USW Oil Workers ULP Strike and Defense Fund - USW Fundraising Appeal

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• [Photos] USW Tesoro Picket 2/12/15 (Martinez, California) - United Steelworkers, February 12, 2015
• At my oil refinery, my life is worth the price of a pie; We don’t want to be exposed to potentially fatal hazards unnecessarily. That’s why we’ve organised the largest strike since 1980 to demand worker safe - By Butch Cleve, The Guardian, February 12, 2015
• Health and Safety Concerns Forced Workers into a Work Stoppage [Podcast] - By Steve Garey, United Steelworkers, February 9, 2015
• The same fight; Nurses support the United Steelworkers on their strike lines - By Lucia Hwang, National Nurses United, February 15, 2015 [related] Nurses support refinery protest - By Rick Hurd, San Jose Mercury News, February 13, 2015
• Shell, union spar over picket line etiquette - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, February 13, 2015
• Three U.S. Oil Plants Targeted by Union Strike Report Upsets - By Lynn Doan and Daniel Murtaugh, Bloomberg, February 11, 2015
• USW Striking Oil Workers Speakout For Health And Safety At Tesoro Refinery [video] - By Steve Zeltser, Labor Video Project, February 12, 2015
• Washington Refinery Workers Protest for Better Working and Safety Conditions; Thirteen workers were killed in accidents at two refineries in the state in recent years - By Jonathan Rosenblum, Alternet, February 10, 2015
• [Another Strike?] 1,100 natural gas utility workers on Long Island eye walkout - Associated Press, February 12, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Apache slashing Eagle Ford drilling rigs - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, February 13, 2015
• Cenovus to cut 15% of staff, freeze pay - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, February 12, 2015
• Driller: More than 1,000 field hands out of work as rigs decline - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, February 12, 2015
• Hercules Offshore lays off 30 percent of workforce - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, February 12, 2015
• Mirroring oil, this fossil fuel is plunging, too - By John W. Schoen, CNBC, February 11, 2015
• Texas idles more drilling rigs - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, February 13, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• California labor: "There are no jobs on a dead planet" - By Michelle Kern & Alex Farr, People's World, February 10, 20155

Global Anti-Capitalism:

• The Debt Slavery Must End to Prevent Environmental Catastrophes: Will Greece Kick Start a Paradigm Shift? - By Stefano Balbi, Common Dreams, February 10, 2015

Other News:

• Constitution Pipeline Threatening 7 PA Landowners With Un-Constitutional Eminent Domain - Energy Justice Summer, February 14, 2015
• Death toll in Brazil offshore oil platform explosion climbs to 5 - Natural Gas Watch, February 11, 2015 [related] Death toll of Brazilian oil ship explosion rises to 5 - Associated Press, February 12, 2015
• Enormous Toxic Cloud Shrouds Six Towns In Spain After Blast At Chemical Plant (VIDEOS) - By Dylan Hock, Addicting Info, February 12, 2015
• Exclusive: Exxon wants five-year Beaumont pact to avert strikes during buildout - By Erwin Seba, Reuters, February 12, 2015
• Growing voices say gig workers need protections, benefits - By Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2015
• Homophobic culture permeates mining industry - By Ashley Renders, Corporate Knights, February 6, 2015
• Libya reopens strike-hit oil port as U.N. convenes talks - By Ahmed Elumami, Reuters, February 10, 2015
• The Lumber Man In Charge of Climate Policy; Bay Area billionaire Robert Fisher profits by logging California's North Coast forests, even as Governor Jerry Brown has tapped him to help implement the state's anti-global warming agenda - By Will Parrish, East Bay Express, February 11, 2015
• Peru anti-oil protest leaves 1 dead, 22 wounded - Associated Press, February 11, 2015
• VT Gas pulls the plug on pipeline expansion to NY - By Dan D’Ambrosio, Burlington Free Press, February 10, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC