railroad workers

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 26, 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:

• Lessons Discarded: Ten years after a Texas City refinery blast killed 15 and rattled a community, workers keep dying - By Mark Collette, Lise Olsen and Jim Malewitz, Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, March 21, 2015
• Anatomy of a Disaster: Studies pinpointed what went wrong in Texas City, but unsafe conditions persist - By Mark Collette, Lise Olsen and Jim Malewitz, Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2015
• Blood Lessons: Ten years after a fiery explosion killed 15 in Texas City, preventable deaths continue at refineries - By Jim Malewitz and Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2015
• A Deadly Industry: Assembled data shows how and where refinery workers continue to die - By Jim Malewitz, Jolie McCullough, Ben Hasson and Lise Olsen, Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2015
• Survivors Remember: For two former BP workers, disaster and its aftermath remain vivid - By Mark Collette and Lise Olsen, Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• Remembering lives lost in tragedy; Candlelight vigil highlights victims of BP blast - By Christopher Smith Gonzalez and T.J. Aulds, Galvaston Daily News, March 23, 2015
• Shell workers in Deer Park end strike - By Andrea Rumbaugh, FuelFix, March 20, 2015
• Vigil mourns 15 oil workers who died in Texas blast 10 years ago - By Joseph S. Pete, NWI Times, March 23, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Experts: New Mexico oil patch could lose 2,000 jobs - Associated Press, March 25, 2015
• Oil field services company cuts 200 of 250 employees in Arkansas - Associated Press, March 21, 2015
• Oilsands producers face harsh reality of rout: There’s no one to save them this time - By Jeremy van Loon and Rebecca Penty, Bloomberg News, March 23, 2015
• Texas landmen left out of work as oil patch boom times go bust - Bloomberg, March 23, 2015
• US coal market in ‘structural decline’, warning to global investors - By Sophie Vorrath, Renew Economy, March 25, 2015

Just Transition:

• Congressman: The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Worth Building Even If It Only Creates One Job - By Scott Keyes, Think Progress, March 19, 2015
• Keystone XL Pipeline = Less Jobs Than You Think - By Drew Toal, NextGen Climate, March 19, 2015
• Too Much Oil; Taking on climate change will require massive state investment and the destruction of the fossil fuel industry - By Matt Huber, Jacobin, March 22, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Editorial: No time to lose on rail safety - By Montreal Gazette Editorial Board, Montreal Gazette, March 13, 2015
• Improving Track Maintenance is Key to Oil Train Safety; Track Related Defects are a Leading Cause of Train Accidents in U.S. - By Clark Ballew, PR Newswire, March 23, 2015
• Jen Wallis, Steering Committee member of Railroad Workers United, Part 2 [audio] - By Jen Wallis, We Do the Work, March 17, 2015
• Oil trains: track inspection finds "critical defects" on North Country line - By Brian Mann, North Country Public Radio, March 18, 2015
• Rail industry’s improved tank cars failing to prevent spills - By Daneil Tyson, Register-Herald, March 17, 2015
• Train crash site was due to get crossing gates - By Allison Ross, The Courier Journal, March 17, 2015

Health and Safety:

• Bangladesh: Business as Usual as Garment Brands Stall Progress - By the International Trade Union Confederation, Portside, March 13, 2015
• Canada regulator probing TransCanada’s pipeline safety code violations - By EBR Staff Reporter, Energy Business Review, March 19, 2015; [related] National Energy Board investigates TransCanada over pipeline safety-code violations - By Brent Patterson, Rabble.Ca, March 20, 2015
• Honeywell lockout at Illinois uranium plant coming to an end - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.com, March 23, 2015
• Salvadoran Maquila Plants Use Gang Members to Break Unions - By Edgardo Ayala, Inter Press Service, March 23, 2015
• Steelworkers Withdraw From Lakeland Sawmill Inquest - By Stephen Hunt and Brad West, United Steelworkers, March 23, 2015
• Thousands of Sweatshop Workers In China Go On Strike - By John Vibes, True Activist, March 17, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 19, 2015; image by Jon Flanders

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 Conference: Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• Florida’s Climate Change Gag Order Claims Its First Victim - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, March 18, 2015
• A Rational Agriculture Is Incompatible with Capitalism - By Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, March 2015
• Who Controls Our Food? - By Nick Dearden, New Internationalist, March 4, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• After 6-Week Strike, Oil Workers Say They Have “Won Vast Improvements in Safety and Staffing” - By David Moberg, In These Times, March 16, 2015
• All across Australia, solidarity with USW oil workers - United Steelworkers, March 17, 2015
• Holding the line against Big Oil - By Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker, March 18, 2015
• Minor fire extinguished at Shell Martinez, Calif. refinery - Reuters, March 13, 2015
• New Fire At Troubled Exxon Refinery Quickly Extinguished -By Sacha Feinman, Think Progress, March 12, 2015
• Refinery deal struck, Bay Area gasoline prices set to fall - By George Avalos, Bay Area News Group, March 13, 2015
• Solidarity in the heartland: Chicago Fight for $15 joins striking BP oil workers on the picketline - By Bob Simpson, Daily Kos, March 13, 2015
• Striking Motiva workers approve contract - By Sarah Scully, Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2015
• Striking oil workers emerge victorious thanks in part to green group solidarity - By Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence, March 13, 2015
• Striking refinery employees could come back to work by end of March - By Andrea Rumbaugh, FuelFix, March 18, 2015
• Striking workers days away from returning to plants - By Sarah Scully, Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2015
• U.S. Refinery Strikes Now Turn to Local Negotiations - By Lynn Doan and Barbara Powell, Bloomberg, March 12, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Bakken Oil: The Anarchy of the Market - By Richard Mellor, We Know What's Up, March 17, 2015 [editor's note: the IWW EUC does not endorse the article writer's definition of "anarchy", so please do not send us angry letters!]
• Carbo Ceramics cuts jobs, dividend as oil plunges - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, March 17, 2015
• ConocoPhillips to lay off 200 Canadian workers - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, March 18, 2015
• Evacuate the Economy (or By the Way, Your Home Is On Fire) - By Rebecca Solnit, Common Dreams, March 11, 2015
• Faces of Coal - By Nuck Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, March 17, 2015
• Global Wave of New Coal Plants is Going Bust, New Report Finds - By Mary Anne Hitt and Nicole Ghio, The Sierra Club, March 16, 2015
• Legendary Coal Miner Says We Must Stop the Insane Practice of Mountaintop Removal - By Jeff Biggers, EcoWatch, March 16, 2015
• Oil producer Nexen cuts workforce by 400 - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, March 17, 2015
• Texas Oil/Gas Industry Barometer Falling; Job Losses Climbing - By Joe Fisher, NGI Shale Daily, March 13, 2015

Health and Safety:

• America is literally on fire: How out-of-control oil spills are destroying our population centers - By David Dayen, Salon, March 10, 2015
• Amid Evidence of Illnesses, Activists Call on Electronics Industry to Boost Workplace Safety - By Nicki Lisa Cole, Truthout, March 17, 2015
• Cement-factory roof collapses in Bangladesh, dozens feared trapped - By Julhas Alam, Associated Press, March 12, 2015
• Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails - By Marcus Stern, New York Times, March 12, 2015
• Oilfield safety a concern as companies cut costs during downturn - Bloomberg, March 12, 2015
• Friday the 13th Nightmare for Workers on Chevron’s Barrow Island - By Ashleigh Telford, Maritime Union of Australia, March 13, 2015
• Kelowna man dies fracking - By Bill Everitt, Kelowna News, March 12, 2015
• Linc Energy alleged to have exposed workers to dangerous gases at experimental plant near Chinchilla, west of Brisbane - By Mark Willacy and Mark Solomons, Australian Broadcasting Company News, March 17, 2015
• McDonald’s Workers Nationwide File OSHA Complaints Alleging Hazardous Work Conditions - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, March 17, 2015
• Rail workers initiate forums to discuss fight for safety - By Jack Parker and Jim Altenberg, The Militant, March 23, 2015
• 10 Reasons Why BP Got Off and Offshore Oil Drilling Just Got More Dangerous - By Antonia Juhasz, Rolling Stone, March 12, 2015
• A Terrible, Terrible Choice; Gulf of Mexico Oil Industry Veteran Speaks Out - By Cherri Foytlin, Bridge the Gulf, March 13, 2015
• Union alleges Kitimat smelter emissions turn residents into 'guinea pigs' - The Canadian Press, March 17, 2015
• Union warnings of lethal overcrowding ignored - By RMT Press Office, RMT.ORG, March 13, 2015

Other News:

• Building people power before the Paris climate summit - By Jeremy Brecher, Waging Nonviolence, March 5, 2015
• Seattle doesn’t want Shell’s stinkin’ Arctic drilling fleet - By Ana Sofia Knauf, Grist, March 5, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 10, 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
• Refinery Strike Is Not Just About Safety; It's About Pollution - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, March 6, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• California State Senate holds hearing in Torrance on refinery explosion - Associated Press, March 5, 2015
• Contract worker speaks on safety issues in US oil strike - World Socialist Web Site, YouTube, March 4, 2015
• 5,000 Oil Workers Enter Third Week of Strike Over Safety and Working Conditions - The Real News, YouTube, February 21, 2015
• It's all about safety - United Steelworkers, YouTube, February 13, 2015
• Loera: Refineries have long ignored workers' pleas for safety - By Debbie Loera, Houston Chronicle, March 4, 2015
• More labor board charges filed in Steelworkers strike - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, March 4, 2015; [response] Steelworkers fire back over unfair labor practice charges - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, March 5, 2015
• Steelworkers rally at Shell HQ as talks set to resume Wednesday - By Sarah Scully, FuelFix, March 6, 2015
• Strike Solidarity Guerrilla Movie Night -  Peter Menchini, Vimeo, March 5, 2015
• The United Steelworkers’ intimate ties to Wall Street - By Shannon Jones, World Socialist Website, March 6, 2015
• USW Statement on March 4 Talks with Oil Industry - United Steelworkers, March 4, 2015
• [Historic Archives] Chevron Oil Refinery Strike, January 31, 1969 - San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive

Carbon Bubble:

• “Default Monday”: Oil & Gas Companies Face Their Creditors as the Fracking Bubble Bursts - By Wolf Richter, Naked Capitalism, March 5, 2015
• Oil sector loses jobs in February - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, March 6, 2015
• Public ownership of oil refineries will see Alberta through low oil prices, says AFL President Gil McGowan - By Ella Bedard, Rabble.Ca, March 5, 2015

Energy Democracy:

• Greece Revokes Key Authorization for Foreign-Run Mine - By Michael Lerner, Blouin News, March 3, 2015
• With corporate energy, we're stuck in the dark ages; let's switch to public ownership - By Calum McGregor, Open Democracy, March 4, 2015

Health and Safety:

• Animation of Fire at Chevron's Richmond Refinery - Chemical Safety Board, YouTube, April 19, 2013
• Behind the Curve - Chemical Safety Board, YouTube, October 28, 2014
• Blast survivors tell harrowing stories at Lakeland inquest - By Mark Nielsen, Prince George Citizen, March 5, 2015
• Reporting on Workers’ Comp [Podcast] - By Nicole Collins Bronzan, ProPublica, March 9, 2015

Other News:

• Cross Harbor rail tunnel idea debated at hearing: Union workers differ with civic and community board over proposal - By Christopher Barca, Queens Chronicle, March 5, 2015
• Declaration of South African Food Sovereignty Campaign - By the Food Sovereignty Campaign Coordination Committee, Climate and Capitalism, March 1, 2015
• How a small town's green energy plans went disastrously wrong - By Roy MacGregor, The Globe and Mail, March 6, 2015
• The Site C Dam and Christy Clark, union maid - By Rod Mickleburgh, Rabble.Ca, March 5, 2015
• Study emphasizes the enormous cost of poorly regulated toxic chemicals - European Trade Union Institute, March 6, 2015
• Uber, Lyft, and the growing problem of temp jobs - By Heather Smith, Grist, March 4, 2015
• We want system change not climate change - By Andrea Ferrant, Geneviéve Savigny, Unai Aranguren, La Via Campesina, March 4, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 5, 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
• Five years post-explosion, Tesoro strikers still push for safety measures - By J.M. Wong, Seattle Globalist, March 3, 2015
• Op-Ed: Oil refineries need to heed concerns, implement safety improvements - By Antonia Juhasz, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• Crossing the Line: Money, Safety, Power; What Makes a Union Strike at a Bad Time for Oil and Gas? - By Dianna Wray, Houston News, March 3, 2015
• Daughter of Man Killed at Texas City Refinery Watches USW Strike - By Dianna Wray, Houston News, March 3, 2015
• ‘Disappointed’ in union, Shell says it is hiring relief workers - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, March 3, 2015
• Environmental groups join St. Charles Parish refinery workers on picket line - By Jennifer Larino, The New Orleans Times-Picayunne, February 25, 2015
• Letter to USW Oil Workers - By Leo W. Gerard, Thomas M. Conway and others, United Steelworkers, February 26, 2015 [related] This is What We're Fighting For.
• LyondellBasell accuses Steelworkers of threatening returning workers - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, March 3, 2015
• Shell unveils plan to replace USW refining workers - By Lynn Doan and Zain Shauk, Bloomberg, March 3, 2015
• Steelworkers’ local reminds strikebreakers of their union oath - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, March 3, 2015
• Striking USW refining workers, Shell to resume labor talks Wednesday - By Lynn Doan and Lucia Kassai, Bloomberg, March 2, 2015
• USW strike is about worker safety - By Susan Criss, The Daily News, March 3, 2015, February 18, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Bank of England Issues Warning Over Looming 'Carbon Bubble' Threat - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, March 4, 2015
• Kentucky Doesn’t Have Any More Working Union Coal Miners - By Erica Peterson and Whitney Jones, WFPL 89.3 FM, February 26, 2015
• Nabors cuts nearly 3,500 jobs as U.S. drilling takes big hit - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, March 3, 2015
• US running out of room to store oil; price collapse next? - Associated Press, March 3, 2015

Health and Safety:

• Coal Mine Explosion in Ukraine Traps Dozens - Associated Press, March 3, 2015
• 'Fracking' and worker safety: U.S. oil boom is in full swing, as are questions about hazards - By Tom Musick, Safety + Health, November 23, 2014
• Inspector General Auditing FRA's Railroad Bridge Safety Oversight - OSHA Online, March 2, 2015
• Oil — The risks outweigh the rewards - Editorial, Daily World, February 28, 2015
• Tank Car Debate Rolls On - By Jerry Laws, OSHA Online, March 1, 2015
• 350 Seattle Hub Unanimously Approves Support of Two Railroad Workers (United) Resolutions  - By 350 Seattle, March 4, 2015, February 26, 2015
• Transporting Tar Sands “As Dangerous” As Shale Oil - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, March 2, 2015

Other News:

• American mass transit is dying - By Henry Grabar, Salon, March 1, 2015
• Commentary: The risks that arise from violating CSR norms - By Mark N. Sills and Jennifer L. Egsgard, Northern Miner, March 2, 2015
• Community Voices: Fighting for the Rights of Farmworkers in the Border Region - By Andrianna Natsoulas, Why Hunger, March 2, 2015
• Goodbye, Mr. Spock: Leonard Nimoy’s passing reminds us of the spirit of wonder and discovery represented by Spock and the Star Trek series - By Leigh Phillips, Jacobin, March 2, 2015
• Oregon's signature solar energy project built on foundation of false hopes and falsehoods - By Ted Sickinger & Jeff Manning, The Oregonian, February 27, 2015
• The Problem with the Environmental Movement - By Alexis Goggans, The Equation, February 20, 2015
• The Risk of Climate Catastrophe Is So Severe, We Had to Break the Law, Say Activists - By Peter Rugh, Vice News, March 2, 2015
• Tiny radio stations a big tool against gentrification - By Anna Goren, Seattle Globalist, February 19, 2015

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