EcoUnionist News #46

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 8, 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:

• Fatal Construction Accident Shows Higher Risks Faced by Latino Workers - By Danica Jorden, Truthout, March 31, 2015
• Newsletter: Austerity, Debt & Environmental Degradation - By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance, April 4, 2015
• The USW Strike Still Isn't Over at LyondellBasell and Marathon - By Dianna Wray, Houston Press, March 31, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Dominion Confirms Worker Injured at Cove Point - By Marty Madden, BayNet.Com, March 31, 2015
• Fire At Exxon Mobil Corporation Chemical Beaumont Plant - By Micheal Kaufman, BidNessEtc, March 31, 2015
• 5 years after a deadly coal mine disaster, what’s changed? - By Mason Adams, Grist, April 3, 2015
• Oil Rig Explosion Kills 4 in Gulf of Mexico, No Spill Reported - By Gillian Mohney, ABC News, April 1, 2015
• Mexico’s Pemex: 3 workers still missing after platform blaze - Associated Press, April 2, 2015
• Mexico says oil spill avoided after deadly offshore blaze - Associated Press, April 2, 2015
• Oil platform fire toll in Gulf of Mexico: 4 dead, 302 evacuated - By Ana Isabel Martinez, Reuters, April 1, 2015
• 32 miners trapped in Manitoba nickel mine - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, April 6, 2015

USW Refinery Strike:

• For a number of workers, the strike has yet to end - By LM Sixel, Houston Chronicle, March 31, 2015
• Striking refinery workers in Kentucky will return to work this week - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, April 6, 2015
• We Are Criff Reyes Defense Fund - USW Local 5, March 28, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Baker Hughes closes Bryan office, lays off 54 employees - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, April 6, 2015
• Frank’s International says it will cut up to 600 jobs - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, March 31, 2015
• Petrobras pension fund losses said to reach $1.9 billion - By Rhiannon Meyers, Bloomberg, April 2, 2015

Just Transition:

• CalSTRS to study coal-company divestment - By Randy Diamond, Pensions & Investments, April 3, 2015
• Coal Loses Nearly 50,000 Jobs, Wind and Solar Add 79,000; Natural gas still outpaces renewable job growth, but the numbers are up for debate - By Katherine Tweed, Greentech Media, April 3, 2015
• Extreme Oil Moratorium is Needed - By Sylvia, Communities for a Better Environment, April 2, 2015
• Inside, outside, everywhere! Let’s take action for energy democracy and climate justice - By Maite Llanos, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, April 5, 2015
• Italian national center CGIL and European Federation of Public Services Unions join TUED - By Editor, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, April 6, 2015

1267-Watch:

• BNSF Engineer Who Manned Exploding North Dakota "Bomb Train" Sues Former Employer - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, April 4, 2015; [follow up] BNSF Challenges Lawsuit From Engineer Who Ran For His Life From Exploding Oil "Bomb Train" - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, April 7, 2015
• Why more pipelines won’t solve the problem of oil-train explosions - By Ben Adler, Grist, April 6, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• African farmers unite against Transnational Corporations - La Via Campesina, March 31, 2015
• After Cesar Chavez: The fight for farmworker rights isn’t over - By Brentin Mock, Grist, March 31, 2015 [related] Reinventing Cesar Chavez - By Justin Feldman, CounterPunch, April 3, 2015
• 50,000 Mexican Farmworkers Have Gone on Strike in Baja California, Demand Overtime Pay, Breaks, Healthcare and Water - By Nicole Akoukou Thompson, Latin Post, April 1, 2015

Other News:

• Alliance of building trade unions threatens to lure away Site C labour - By Justine Hunter, The Globe and Mail, March 30, 2015
• Cliff Willmeng: Interview with a “Fractivist” - By John Reimann, Oakland Socialist, March 31, 2015
• Emanuel, CTA Illegally Ban Election Talk Among Chicago Bus, Train Operators - ATU, March 31, 2015
• North Sea workers to vote on industrial action - By Energy Reporter, Energy Voice, March 27, 2015
• The Paris Climate Summit and the Power of the People - By Jeremy Brecher, Labor Network for Sustainability, April 2, 2015
• Report Back of Defend Knowland Park! Huchiun Territory of the Ohlone: Kickoff Action! - Defend Knowland Park!, April 3, 2015
• 60 percent of Los Angeles sanitation workers a no-show as part of labor negotiations - By City News Service, Los Angeles Daily News, April 1, 2015
• Striking manganese mineworkers urged to return to work - By Martin Creamer, Mining Weekly, April 2, 2015
• Vermont About to Become a Hellish Place for People to Work in? - By Michael Arria, Alternet, March 31, 2015

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