EcoUnionist News #70

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, October 13, 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:

• The Driscoll’s Boycott, the Capitalist Hydra and the TPP: Dispatches from Washington State - By Káráni, Káráni: Escribir o Volar, October 11, 2015
• Two more unions have joined TUED - By Sean Sweeney, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, October 10, 2015
• Another Case of Whistleblower Retaliation: This Time at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - By Kay Matthews, La Jicarita, October 9, 2015
• Having the Hard Conversations - By Jane McAlevey & Michal Rozworski, Jacobin, October 4, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People's Climate Movement - October 14, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

Bread and Roses:

• 16th October: International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty and against transnational corporations - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 12, 2015
• Peasants’ rights belong to peasants! Don’t take a single one away! - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 10, 2015
• Whole Foods Co-opts Revolutionary Rhetoric but Mistreats Employees - By Alice Merrill, Truth Out, October 10, 2015
• Monsanto Fights Back Against Cancer Lawsuits as Company Eliminates 12% of Workforce - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, October 9, 2015
• Monsanto slashing 2,600 jobs, buying back shares as sales fall - By Carey Gillam, Reuters, October 7, 2015; [related] Monsanto Slashes Jobs as Confidence in Future of Company is Shaken - By Sustainable Pulse, Sustainable Pulse, October 7, 2015
• Via Campesina and other social movements in Rome to warn against threat of new patents - By Ivan Mammana, La Via Campesina, October 6, 2015
• Victory of the peasants’ movement in the struggle for the recognition of their rights within the UN - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 6, 2015
• Black farmers’ lives matter: Defending African-American land and agriculture in the deep south - By Beverly Bell, Other Worlds, October 5, 2015
• 'Exxons of Agriculture' Wielding Power to Block Real Climate Solutions - By Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, September 30, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• South Africa gold companies face massive lung disease suit - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, October 12, 2015
• Unions Wait 36 Hours to Bargain, BART a No Show - By Admin, We Make BART Work, October 12, 2015
• "Glencore responsible for extension of coal strike in S. Africa" - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, October 9, 2015
• Setting the Record Straight on Oil Trains - By Eric de Place and Ben Stuckart, Sightline Institute, October 8, 2015
• 3 workers missing after explosion at gas facility in Louisiana - Staff Report, Associated Press, October 8, 2015; [related]: One person reported killed at pipeline explosion at Williams Gas Plant in Louisiana - Staff Report, Russia Times, October 8, 2015
• Weather Service Employees Tethered By Illegal Gag Orders - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, October 8, 2015
• The ETUI hosts a meeting of WHO experts on nanomaterials - Staff Report, European Trade Union Institute, October 7, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• UK Pension Funds Have Lost £683 Million To Failed Coal Investments - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, October 12, 2015
• Almost $1bn wiped off the value of UK pensions’ coal investments [PayWall] - By Bob Burton, Financial Times, October 11, 2015
• Man Camp Ghost Towns - By Chip Northrup, No Fracking Way, October 9, 2015
• Nine U.S. oil rigs sidelined this week, Baker Hughes says - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, October 9, 2015
• Congress Is Trying To Lift The Oil Export Ban. This Is Why They Will Fail - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, October 6, 2015
• Fracking firms face hard times - By Nova Safo, Marketplace, October 5, 2015
• Why Another Big Bank Is Jumping On The Anti-Coal Bandwagon - By Alexander C Kaufman and Ben Walsh, Huffington Post, October 5, 2015
• Coal crash: How long can Australia ride in the coal wagon? - By Paul Cleary, The Monthly, October 2015

Just Transition:

• 'Big Win' for Divestment Movement as California Public Pensions Dump Coal - By Jon Queally, Common Dreams, October 8, 2015
• Is recycling as awful as the New York Times claims? Not remotely - By Ben Adler, Grist, October 6, 2015
• Trade union leaders call for social-ecological transition at Paris Congress - Staff Report, European Trade Union Institute, October 6, 2015

Other News:

• Coal Attorneys Investigate Oakland City Council - By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, October 7, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW