carbon bubble

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 12, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Wilderness and Economics - By Thomas Power and George Wuerthner, CounterPunch, January 8, 2016
• 1,500 Groups Urge Congress to Oppose the TPP - By Staff, Citizens Trade Campaign, January 7, 2016
• Demanding the Impossible: Saying "No Compromise" in the Climate Movement, And Meaning It - By Scott Parkin, CounterPunch, January 6, 2016
• COP21: Oil Sands Worker Urges Smooth Transition Off Fossil Fuels - By Staff, National Observer, December 8, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Break Free 2016 - May 2016 |
• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Vancouver Businesses Join Overwhelming Opposition to Tesoro-Savage Oil-By-Rail Terminal - By Staff, Columbia River Keeper, January 7, 2016
• Activists in Pacific Northwest Face Off Against Largest Oil-By-Rail Terminal in North America - By Martha Baskin, Truthout, January 6, 2016
• Vast Majority Opposed Tesoro Savage - By Roy L Hales, The Eco Report, January 6, 2016
• Over 1,000 Attend Oil Terminal Hearing in Clark County, WA - By Staff, Columbia River Keeper, January 5, 2016 
• Saturday Morning Talkies with Guest Host Carla West (Features No Coal in Oakland and the West Pittsburg, California campaigns) [audio] - By Carla West, KPFA 94.1 FM, January 2, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• African Women Organize to Reclaim Agriculture Against Corporate Takeover - By Mphatheleini Makaulele, Toward Freedom, January 7, 2016
• Monsanto Cuts 16% of Work Force as Sales in Roundup Herbicide Fall 34% - By Staff, Sustainable Pulse, January 7, 2016
• Philippines islanders unite to resist 'land grab' palm oil companies - By Rod Harbinson, The Ecologist, January 7, 2016
• As If Slavery Weren’t Enough, 6 Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp - By Tom Philpott, Mother Jones, January 6, 2016
• Landworker’s Alliance and The Land magazine launch Rural Manifesto - By Staff, La Via Campesina, January 6, 2016
• Organic Farmers Score New Victory in 'David and Goliath' GMO Fight - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, January 5, 2016
• Alberta's new farm legislation brings the province closer to international standards - By Nora Loreto, Rabble.Ca, January 4, 2016

The Oregon Standoff

• Toward an Anti-Fascist Analysis of the Malheur Rebellion - By Alexander Reid Ross, It's Going Down, January 9, 2016
• This rancher says the Bundys are idiots: but he too is worried about losing access to public land - By Darby Minow Smith, Grist, January 8, 2016
• Five Facts About Westerners’ Opinions on Land Management and the Economics of Public Lands - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, January 7, 2016
• The Point of the Spear: Nostalgia in Oregon’s Militia Movement - By Binoy Kampmark, CounterPunch, January 7, 2016
• The Rationality of the Malheur Gunmen: Fighting for the White Future of This Country - By Arthur Scarritt, CounterPunch, January 7, 2016
• Economic Interests Behind Malheur Occupation - By John Reimann, Oakland Socialist, January 6, 2016
• The Malheur Wildlife Refuge Occupation: a Skirmish Among Colonizers - By Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, CounterPunch, January 6, 2016
• The Many Hypocrisies of the Oregon Standoff - By Pete Dolack, CounterPunch, January 6, 2016
• Oregon Refuge Standoff Latest Extremist Jihad: Federal Inaction for 19 Months on Bundy Spawns More Militia Confrontations - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, January 5, 2016
• What the Vanilla ISIS Crisis in Oregon Says About the History of Wage Labor - By Charles Mudede, The Stranger, January 5, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Gas line explosion in Orange County leaves worker severely burned - By E Cherney, Natural Gas Watch, January 7, 2016
• Gazette editorial: ‘Right to work’ dangerous for WV - Editorial, Charleston Gazette-Mail, January 7, 2016
• Compressor Station Explosion Raises Concerns - By Amy Robinson, Natural Gas Watch, January 6, 2016
• Coal industry seeks stay of new rule aimed at reducing miners’ exposure to dust - By Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader, January 6, 2016
• Former Congressman Steven Horsford and CWP Release Petition Calling for an End to Threats of Violence Against Park Rangers and Public Lands Employees - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, January 6, 2016
• Mining deaths in the U.S. fell to historic low in 2015 - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 6, 2016; [related] Mining industry deaths at all-time low in 2015 - By Associated Press, FuelFix, January 6, 2016
• SFMTA denies Muni operators’ request for wage negotiations - By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, San Francisco Examiner, January 6, 2016
• Heated Rhetoric by Politicians Encourages Violent Extremism on National Public Lands - By Greg Zimmerman, Center for Western Priorities, January 5, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 5, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• "Conservation" Is Used to Justify the Displacement of Indigenous People - By Alejandra Orozco‐Quintero, Catie Burlando and Lance W. Robinson, Truthout, January 2, 2016
• Inside the Paris Climate Agreement: Hope or Hype? - By Brian Tokar, CounterPunch, December 30, 2015
• Climate activists can learn a lot from Black Lives Matter - By Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence, December 29, 2015
• Terror, climate chaos, financial crisis are the costs of ‘doing business’ - By Nafeez Ahmed, Middle East Eye, December 24, 2015
• Laudato Si—The Pope’s Anti-Systemic Encyclical - By Michael Löwy, Monthly Review, December 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016: | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Thin Green Line:

• Boycott ExxonMobil Because #ChildrenRNot4Sale - By Staff, Educating the Gates Foundation, December 31, 2015
• The Thin Green Line of Resistance: Year in Review - Dan Serres on Locus Focus, KBOO FM, December 28, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Climate Change Is Taking A Toll On Farmers’ Mental Health - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, January 4, 2016
• The disturbing lack of black organic farmers - By Katie Herzog, Grist, January 4, 2016
• Sakuma Bros. Farm Wins 2015 Scrooge of the Year - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, January 2, 2016
• 16 Reasons 2016 Will Bring Positive Change to the Global Food System - By Danielle Nierenberg, EcoWatch, January 2, 2016
• Venezuela Passes Law Banning GMOs, by Popular Demand - By William Camacaro, Frederick B. Mills, Christina M. Schiavoni, CounterPunch, January 1, 2016
• Judge green lights whistleblower claim against USDA by pesticide researcher - By Steve Volk, Washington Post, December 31, 2015
• No Such Thing As “The American Farmer” - By Gene Logsdon, The Contrary Farmer, December 30, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Caught in China's crackdown on labor radicals - Ellen David Friedman interviewed by Ashley Smith, Socialist Worker, January 4, 2016
• Workers' Comp Industrial Complex: The Middlemen Silencing Injured Workers - By Michael Grabell, Truthout, January 3, 2016
• NTSB report shines light on train collision - By Mary Clarkin, The Hutchinson News, January 2, 2016
• Tiny Materials in Countless Products Raise Big Questions for Environment and Health - By Elizabeth Grossman, Truthout, January 2, 2016
• WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Injured worker faces long road back - By Malcolm Hall, Indeonline, January 2, 2016
• Hurt Plumbers Want School Explosion Video - By Nick Rummell, Natural Gas Watch, December 31, 2015
• China mine survivors detected by infrared cameras in Shandong - By Staff, BBC, January 3, 2016 December 30, 2015
• A Legacy of Shame: Canadian Mining Companies leave behind decades of violence in Guatemala - By Scott Price, Intercontinental Cry, December 30, 2015
• Mexican Government Ignores Social Impact of Energy Projects - By Emilio Godoy, Truthout, December 30, 2015
• Newcrest coy on Hidden Valley shutdown - By Rosalyn Albaniel, Post Courier, December 30, 2015
• Unions threaten to shut down coal mines as four more potential cases of 'black lung' emerge - By Matt Peacock, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, December 30, 2015
• Union blasts SFMTA over Muni operator wages - By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, San Francisco Examiner, December 30, 2015
• Wave hits North Sea drilling rig, killing 1 - By Staff, Associated Press, December 30, 2015
• First responders, fire departments in U.S. often unprepared for hazardous train derailments - By Rick Rouanand Laura Arenschield, Columbus Dispatch, December 28, 2015
• Dozens feared dead in explosion at gas plant in Nigeria - By Staff, Russia Times, December 24, 2015
• Construction Workers Are Dying: Where's The Outrage? - By Joe Maniscalco, Labor Press, December 11, 2015

Edward P. Louie and Joshua M. Pearce - Energy Economics, 2016

Although coal remains the largest source of electricity in the U.S., a combination of factors is driving a decrease in profitability and employment in the coal-sector. Meanwhile, the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing rapidly in the U.S. and generating many jobs that represent employment opportunities for laid off coal workers. In order to determine the viability of a smooth transition from coal to PV-related employment, this paper provides an analysis of the cost to retrain current coal workers for solar photovoltaic industry employment in the U.S. The current coal industry positions are determined, the skill set evaluated and the salaries tabulated. For each type of coal position, the closest equivalent PV position is determined and then the re-training time and investment are quantified. These values are applied on a state-by-state basis for coal producing states employing the bulk of coal workers as a function of time using a reverse seniority retirement program for the current American fleet of coal-powered plants. The results show that a relatively minor investment in retraining would allow the vast majority of coal workers to switch to PV-related positions even in the event of the elimination of the coal industry.

Read the report (PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 29, 2015

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

Lead Stories:

• These Will Be The Biggest Climate Fights Of 2016 - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, December 23, 2015
• What this California department’s racist emails could mean for the communities it’s supposed to protect - By Aura Bogado, Grist, December 23, 2015
• Ailing, Angry Nuclear-Weapons Workers Fight for Compensation - By Jim Morris and Jamie Smith Hopkins, TruthOut, December 22, 2015
• Whistleblower Speaks Out Against USDA, Corruption and Systemic Pesticides - By Maryam Henein, TruthOut, December 22, 2015
• The Empire Strikes Back: the Return of the WTO - By Polly Jones, CounterPunch, December 14, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016: | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

COP21 and Paris:

• Climate Terror From Paris Could Endure for Generations - By Patrick Bond, CounterPunch, December 25, 2015
• Ground zero of climate change - By Tarique Niazi, Climate and Capitalism, December 23, 2015
• The Climate Movement is Dead: A Report Back from COP21 - By Ducky Slowcode, Medium, December 21, 2015
• This Climate Solution Could Cool the Planet and Feed the World - By Kiss The Ground, EcoWatch, December 21, 2015
• Talks in the city of light generate more heat - By Kevin Anderson, Nature, December 21, 2015
• And the Climate Pretender Award Goes To… - By Sandra Steingraber, Readers' Supported News, December 20, 2015
• Paris Was Just a Way Station in the Climate Change Fight - By Antonia Juhasz, Newsweek, December 18, 2015
• The problem with REDD+ - By Vijay Kolinjivadi, Uneven Earth, December 17, 2015

The Thin Green Line:

• In Ohio, Communities Work to Defend Themselves Against Fossil Fuel Industry - By Simon Davis-Cohen, TruthOut, December 27, 2015
• Forest Service Pushes for Coal Mining on Protected Lands in Colorado - By Eric Galatas, Public News Service, December 24, 2015
• Labor's Positive Progress - By Jay Youngdahl and Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, December 23, 2015
• It's Time for Jerry Brown to Break His Silence on Coal - By Robert Gammon, East Bay Express, December 23, 2015
• Paul Ryan Just Made The Case For Why Lifting The Oil Export Ban Is Really Bad - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, December 22, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Food Sovereignty: This is What Anarchy Looks Like - By Boyan Atzev, Popular Resistance, December 27, 2015
• #ENDWTO: Developing Countries return Empty Handed from WTO’s Nairobi Ministerial - By Afsar Jafri, Focus on the Global South, December 26, 2015
• Biting the Hands That Feed: New York's Immigrant Farmworkers Face Appalling Treatment - By Leanne Tory-Murphy, TruthOut, December 22, 2015
• G7’s ‘New Alliance’ deal is failing farmers in Africa - By Aisha Dodwell, New Internationalist, December 22, 2015
• Standards without enforcement are nothing more than empty promises to workers, consumers alike… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, December 22, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• SFMTA workers struggle to meet basic needs - By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, San Francisco Examiner, December 28, 2015
• Black lung: Queensland underground coal mines warned to reduce dust levels below safety standards - By Matt Peacock, Austalian Broadcasting Company, December 23, 2015; [related] Coalminers call for inquiry after return of black lung disease in Queensland - By Australian Associated Press, The Guardian, December 23, 2015
• OSHA Finds $12,000 Worth of Citations at Hotel Where Workers Report Dealing with Blood, Needles - By S E Smith, In These Times, December 23, 2015
• Dr says heavy metal poisoning from Tolukuma mine causing genocide - By Gloria Bauai, Post Courior, December 22, 2015
• Golden Misabiko on the Exploitation of Uranium in Congo - By Gideon Gottfried, TruthOut, December 22, 2015
• China’s Latest Crackdown on Workers Is Unprecedented - By Michelle Chen, The Nation, December 18, 2015; [related] Global unions demand release of Chinese labour activists - By Staff, IndustriAll, December 21, 2015
• Northeast China sees two coal mine disasters in two days - By Staff, China Labor Bulletin, December 18, 2015
• The Black Dust You Breathe on BART - By Julia Carrie Wong, San Francisco Weekly, December 16, 2015

Disaster Capitalism:

• FOIA Request Shows Govt Lied About Lead in Water - By Andrew Emett, Earth First! Journal, December 28, 2015
• ‘Nuclear Gypsies’ Risk Their Lives to Clean Up Fukushima - By Cole Mellino, EcoWatch, December 28, 2015
• Alabama Governor Uses BP Spill Money To Fix Up A Second Mansion For Himself - By Alice Ollstein, Think Progress, December 27, 2015
• Wrong track: Authorities lack manpower to inspect rail lines - By Rick Rouan and Laura Arenschield, Columbus Dispatch, December 22, 2015
• What Went Wrong at Porter Ranch? - By Gene Maddaus, LA Weekly, December 22, 2015
• Proof that Bhopal Gas is Now Claiming its Third Generation of Victims - By Rakesh Dixit, The Wire, December 8, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Smyth: B.C. Liberals deny unions an exclusive deal for Site C megaproject - By Michael Smyth, The Province, December 24, 2015
• Opec faces a mortal threat from electric cars - By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph, December 23, 2015
• Pemex oil production hampered by accidents, budget cuts - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, December 23, 2015
• Rig count tumbles three as oil prices refuse to budge - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, December 23, 2015
• Study shows 96% of some mining jobs can be automated - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, December 22, 2015
• Dresser-Rand plans to shutter plant, lay off 72 workers - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, December 21, 2015
• Mass Layoffs in China’s Coal Country Threaten Unrest - By Jane Perlez and Yufan Huang, New York Times, December 16, 2015

Just Transition:

• Time To Transition To 100% Clean Energy: The Wind Is Now At Our Backs - By Mark Ruffalo, Popular Resistance, December 22, 2015
• Can coal-hungry Appalachia take any lessons from Australia’s new solar farm? - By Clayton Aldern, Grist, December 21, 2015
• Australia’s powerful web of grassroots climate resistance - By Nicola Paris, Waging Nonviolence, December 17, 2015
• Earth to Labor: Dispatches from the Climate Battleground - By Sean Sweeney, New Labor Forum, December 17, 2015

Other News:

• 10 Incredible Moments in 2015: A Landmark Year in Climate Action - By May Boeve, EcoWatch, December 26, 2015
• How Fossil Fuel Divestment Can Rewrite the Climate Narrative - By Geoffrey Supran, Common Dreams, December 23, 2015
• Argentines March to Defend Workers Against Macri's Pro-Business Policies - By Staff, Telesur TV, December 22, 2015
• Christmas at the Mines - By Chris Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, December 22, 2015
• Inspection of Vast Federal Biological Collections Slated - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, December 22, 2015
• When the Workers Become the Owners: Taking the Co-op Movement to the Next Level - By Brian Van Slyke, TruthOut, December 21, 2015
• Starbucks' Deforestation-Free Pledge Is a Total Joke - By Elliott Negin, Alternet, December 18, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 22, 2015

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

Lead Stories:

• Tyson Foods' Secret Recipe for Carving Up Workers' Comp - By Michael Grabell, Truthout, December 18, 2015
• 2015: The year the coal industry woke up from a nightmare … and found it was real - By Bob Burton, Coal Wire, December 17, 2015
• South African Power Plants Roiled By Water Scarcity and Global Pivot Away From Carbon - By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue, December 16, 2015
• And the Unjust Transition Award Goes to … - By Aaron Mair, EcoWatch, December 15, 2015
• Labor Advisory Committee Report on TPP Synthesizes Everything Wrong
• About the Trade Deal - By David Dayen, Naked Capitalism, December 14, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Spring 2016: | #FlushtheTPP
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

COP21 and Paris:

• COP21: in spite of the show, the glass is 80% empty - By Daniel Tanuro, International Viewpoint, December 19, 2015
• The COP 21 is over… Or is it only just beginning? - By Michel Genet, Green European Journal, December 17, 2015 [originally in French]: Je COP, tu COP – c’est FINI ! Ou ça commence juste? - By Michel Genet, Eutopia, December 17, 2015
• ‘Indigenous people were silenced and erased’ - Editorial, New Internationalist, December 17, 2015
• COP21 agreed to a climate-changed world - By Nnimmo Bassey, New Internationalist, December 15, 2015
• An initial analysis of the COP21 climate agreement - By Brent Patterson, Rabble.Ca, December 15, 2015
• Opposition Isn’t Enough - By Kate Aronoff, Jacobin, December 15, 2015
• The Paris Climate Talks: a Victory for President Obama, a Defeat for the Planet and a Challenge to the Climate Justice Movement - By Eric Mann, CounterPunch, December 15, 2015
• Solidarity with those on the front lines of climate change - By Liam Barrington-Bush, London Mining Network, December 15, 2015
• Claim no easy victories. Paris was a failure, but a climate justice movement is rising - By Martin Lukacs, The Guardian, December 14, 2015
• Climate Fraud in Paris - By John Reimann, Oakland Socialist, December 14, 2015
• Protest in Paris: Climate Justice Activists Decry Accord as "Death Sentence" for Millions - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, December 14, 2015
• Anti-nuclear climbers defy Paris protest ban, four arrested - By staff, Nuclear Resister, December 4, 2015

The Thin Green Line:

• Cities Transitioning To A Fossil Fuel Free Economy - By Roy L Hales, The EcoReport, December 20, 2015
• Christmas Comes Early for Big Oil as Congress Agrees to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban - By Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, December 16, 2015
• Dirty deal lubricates the path to oil exports - By Greg Muttitt, Oil Change International, December 16, 2015
• Is The Cost Of Extending Renewables Too Much? - By Roy L Hales, The EcoReport, December 16, 2015
• Meet the Lobbyists and Big Money Interests Pushing to End the Oil Exports Ban - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, December 16, 2015
• What the Northwest Needs to Know about the Crude Oil Export Ban Lift - By Tarika Powell, Sightline Daily, December 16, 2015
• Community Activists Help Kill Big Oil Terminal in East Bay - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, December 10, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Latest: Arizona forest restoration project falls short - By Jodi Peterson, High Country News, December 21, 2015
• Europe’s Dirty Little Secret: Moroccan Slaves and a ‘Sea of Plastic’ - By Gary Wockner, EcoWatch, December 18, 2015
• Family farmers in the US and EU affected by WTO and FTAs - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 18, 2015
• Modern Farmer article traces history of Fair Food movement… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, December 18, 2015
• Unofficial Draft of Agriculture Text at MC10 Big Disappointment - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 18, 2015
• WTO favours developed countries, not the peasants and poor people - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 18, 2015
• WTO kills farmers and destroys communities in Thailand and India - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 18, 2015
• COP21: La Via Campesina brings peasant voices to People’s Climate Summit - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 17, 2015
• Wolf in sheep skin: WTO reinvents and seeks legitimacy in Africa - By staff, La Via Campesina, December 16, 2015
• AP Investigation: Supermarkets Selling Shrimp Peeled by Slaves - By John Hocevar, EcoWatch, December 15, 2015 [related]: From Whole Foods to Red Lobster: Stores, restaurants sell shrimp peeled by slaves, AP finds - By Tribune wire reports, Chicago Tribune, December 14, 2015
• COP21 and "4 per thousand": Storing Carbon in the Soil - By Chris Rhodes, Energy Balance, December 14, 2015

By Jeff Lusanne  - WSWS.org, October 29, 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.

In the rugged, mountainous region of Central Appalachia—covering West Virginia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and Western Virginia—many towns and cities exist because of a particular industry. Sometimes, the name of a town itself shows this: for example, Alloy, WV, where a silicon metal alloy plant is located on the banks of the Kanawha River. Countless towns were built around coal mines, many have which have faded away as mines closed, or become shells of their former prosperity. Indeed, Prosperity, WV is a place, located near the high-quality coal in Raleigh County.

The railroads, built through the challenging terrain of the Appalachian region to transport its valuable resources to domestic and international markets, created railroad towns. The sorting of traffic, maintenance of track and equipment, and administrative tasks created hundreds of jobs in cities across the region.

In the last two months, mass layoffs of railroad workers in response to falling coal traffic have called into question the fate of several towns that are inextricably linked to the railroad industry, where generations of workers have been employed by railroads.

The most severe blow was the sudden October 15 announcement by CSX Railroad that it was effectively ending operations in Erwin, Tennessee, a yard and maintenance base on a major route through the area. Employees of the railroad in Erwin heard the news in the morning at the beginning of their shifts, and then some spent their shift assembling all the equipment in the yard into the last train to leave town. When it did, 300 workers lost their jobs.

On October 20, CSX announced another 180 layoffs of yard and maintenance in Corbin, Kentucky, another major regional terminal. Due to declining coal traffic, the railroad closed the locomotive terminal and car shop, where workers inspect and maintain equipment. A hundred employees will remain and the terminal will stay open.

In both Corbin and Erwin, CSX stated that workers have the option of moving for work outside of the area—which could mean hundreds of miles away. An engineer wrote in the Erwin Record that with the last shift of crews, the conversation was “Where you going, Nashville? Birmingham? Etowah? Tampa?.” Followed by the “It’s been good working with you,” then “the handshakes, the hugs, the misty eyes, the turns and walks away.”

The positions of engineers, conductors, maintainers, and repairman were skilled operating or mechanical jobs with wages that are not commonly available elsewhere in the region, and their loss will have a devastating impact on the local economy and the workers affected.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 4, 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:

• Beyond Extinction: Transition to post-capitalism is inevitable (A response to Margaret Atwood's, It’s Not Climate Change It’s Everything Change) - By Nafeez Ahmed, Medium.Com, July 28, 2015
• The Hurricane Katrina Pain Index: 10 Years Later - By Bill Quigley, Portside, July 20, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Chicago, Illinois Saturday, September 19, 2015 | #Railcon15
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate

Bread and Roses:

• Strike Suspended in Potosi, Bolivian VP Declared "Persona non Grata" - By EFE, Earth First! Journal, August 3, 2015
• Farmworkers score big in new tomato deal - By Eve Andrews, Grist, July 29, 2015
• Farmworkers Walk Out Again in Organic Blueberry Fields Over Continuing Unattainable Production Standards Under Sakuma’s New Pay Scale - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, July 24, 2015

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 27, 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:

• Reports of capitalism’s death have been greatly exaggerated - By Kate Aronoff, Waging NonViolence, July 22, 2015
• Capitalism, Green or Otherwise, Is "Ecological Suicide" - By David Klein, TruthOut, July 21, 2015
• Ecological Crisis and the Tragedy of the Commodity - By Stefano B. Longo and Brett Clark, CounterPunch, July 21, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Slave in the Fields: A Reporter Goes Undercover in the San Quintin Valley - By Kau Sirenio Pioquinto, Truthout, July 25, 2015
• For Illinois Farmers, Damage From Coal Mines Can Span Decades - By Lizz Giordano, TruthOut, July 22, 2015
• New report reveals retiring toxic farmland would save water, money - By Dan Bacher, IndyBay, July 20, 2015
• Imagine farming that actually heals the earth - By Sami Grover, Tree Hugger, July 21, 2015; and Could better soil management reverse global warming? - By Sami Grover, Tree Hugger, February 12, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Mining, militarization and criminalization of social protests in Latin America - By Cesar Padilla, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, July 23, 2015
• Talvivaara Mine Environmental Disaster - By Mike O'Brien, Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities, and Trade, July 23, 2015
• An Open Letter to Warren Buffett: Put Public Safety Before Profit and Prioritize Oil Train Regulation - By Mike O'Brien, Huffington Post, July 22, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Anglo American to axe 53,000 jobs, put 15 assets up for sale - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, July 24, 2015
• Weatherford takes “brutally realistic” approach to U.S. job cuts - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, July 23, 2015
• Weatherford to boost job cuts to 11,000 - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, July 22, 2015

Just Transition:

• Don’t leave clean energy tax credits blowing in the wind - By Staff, BlueGreen Alliance, July 24, 2015
• The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, Jobs, and Labor - Labor Network for Sustainability, July 24, 2015
• Yancoal job cuts follow expansion approval: systemic adjustment needed - By Georgina Woods, Lock the Gate Alliance, July 24, 2015
• What Happens After the Coal Plant Closes? - By Christopher Flavelle, Bloomberg View, July 22, 2015
• The Problem With the Fight for 15 - By Boots Riley, Creative Time Reports, July 20, 2015
• Cooperative/Solidarity Economics and Advancing the Development of Worker Co-ops - By Michael Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing, July 2015

Other News:

• Inspectors find dozens of rail bridges need repair - By Dan Gunderson, MPR News, July 23, 2015
• Kropotkin on the Hudson - By Polly Howells, In These Times, July 22, 2015
• We may have already committed ourselves to 6-meter sea-level rise - By Systemic Disorder, Systemic Disorder, July 22, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 23, 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 end of capitalism has begun - By Paul Mason, The Guardian, July 17, 2015
• Inequality isn’t just bad for the economy; it’s toxic for the environment - By Susan Holmberg, Grist, July 5, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• N.M. Field and Dairy Laborers Win Right To Workers’ Comp—Court Calls Exemption ‘Absurd’ - By Joseph Sorrentino, In These Times, July 20, 2015
• DARKer Act Blocks State and Local GMO Safety Rules - By Mary Ellen Kustin, Environmental Working Group, July 16, 2015
• Special Report: Retiring Toxic Farmland in San Joaquin Valley - By Jennifer Patterson, Restore the Delta, July 14, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Pan Am medals win gold in unethical sourcing, say advocates - By Kirsten Stade, rabble.ca, July 21, 2015
• Thousands of Garment Factory Workers Across Cambodia Are Fainting on the Job - By Michael Arria, In These Times, July 21, 2015
• Newcrest Papua New Guinea gold mine remains suspended after worker’s death - By James Regan, Reuters, July 20, 2015
• Work kills 150 people a day in the United States - By Cécile Fandos, Equal Times, July 20, 2015
• Koch Brothers Exposed for Campaign Contributions to 19 Members of Congress Who Voted to Deny Fair Compensation to Asbestos Victims - By Environmental Working Group, EcoWatch, July 16, 2015; [related] Asbestos a threat to the whole community: alert issued by EU institutions - By Staff, European Trade Union Institute, July 15, 2015
• Bolivia: Potosi General Strike Paralyzes Mining Town - By Erin Gallagher, Revolution News, July 16, 2015
• ETUI cooperates with Brazilian trade unions in reflecting upon occupational health - By Staff, European Trade Union Institute, July 15, 2015
• BNSF must own up to risks of oil, coal trains - By Ron Young, The Daily Herald, July 19, 2015
• Heated Rhetoric on Nevada Monument Invites Confrontation; Federal Employees in the West Put in Crosshairs by Superheated Political Rhetoric - By Megan Devlin, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, July 13, 2015
• London trains shut down in rail worker strike - By Staff, World Socialist Web Site, July 10, 2015
• Rally at Emterra for striking workers - Staff, CFJC TV, July 7, 2015
• USW, Global Allies Pressure Sherwin Owner; Workers Aim to Pressure Swiss Officials on Lockout - Press Release, United Steelworkers Union, July 6, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Glencore to slash 380 coal jobs in South Africa - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, July 22, 2015
• More Job Losses Coming To U.S. Shale - By Gaurav Agnihotri, OilPrice.Com, July 16, 2015
• Oil rig repairer files bankruptcy, aims to end worker suits - Associated Press, July 13, 2015

Just Transition:

• Time Is Political - By Stephanie Luce, Jacobin, July 20, 2015
• Alpha Natural Resources: Running Right….off of a cliff - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, July 17, 2015
• German Co-operative Overcomes Takeover Plans by Large Utility, Rescues Defunct Wind Developer - By Wind-Works, The Community Power Report, July 14, 2015
• Experts Confirm Coal Industry’s “Global Poverty” Campaign Is Bogus - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, July 13, 2015

Other News:

• Senate Working to Strip Braking Safety Requirements From Oil Train Regulations - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, July 22, 2015
• Celebrating wins that give a fair shake to recycling workers and multi-unit residents - By A. R. Boone, Sierra Club Yodeler, July 15, 2015
• Indigenous Communities Slam Mining Injustice in Honduras - By Staff, teleSUR, July 10, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 30, 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 Story:

• With union support, indigenous people confront fracking in Argentina - By Adolfo Aguirre, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, June 25, 2015
• Someone Has to Sort Your Recycling, and It’s a Disgusting and Dangerous Job - By Michelle Chen, The Nation, June 24, 2015
• Report: Recycling Workers Exposed to Safety Failures, Needles, High Injury Rates - Press Release, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, June 23, 2015
• Resistance Is Needed to End Corporate Toxic Zones - Eric Loomis interviewed by Mark Karlin, Truthout, June 21, 2015

Green Bans:

• Labor, community unite in protest against Monster in the Mission - By Tim Redmond, 48 Hills, June 23, 2015
• Union workers to rally at ParkMerced - By Tim Redmond, 48 Hills, April 22, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Fruit Company Will Pay $330,000 To Farmworkers Who Got Fired After Reporting Sexual Abuse - By Esther Yu-Hsi Lee, Think Progress, June 26, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• South African commission finds police to blame in Marikana deaths - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, June 25, 2015
• The Face of the Coal Industry - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, June 24, 2015
• New Top Chemical Safety Board Lawyer Suing His Own Agency; Federal Lawsuit Seeking $300,000 + May Receive Sudden Sweetheart Settlement - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 24, 2015
• Psychosocial and musculoskeletal risk factors the most widespread in Europe’s workplaces - Press Release, European Trade Union Institute, June 24, 2015
• Department of Energy Cites UT-Battelle, LLC, For Worker Safety And Health Program Violations - By U.S. Department of Energy, Breaking Energy, June 23, 2015
• Flight attendants sue Boeing over 'toxic fumes' on Alaska Airlines jet - By Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2015; [related]: Is Aircraft Cabin Air Toxic? - By Gini Harrison, The Conversation, June 20, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Exterran closing Broussard oil, gas equipment plant, laying off 76; Broussard plant laying off 76 total employees - By Bill Lodge, The Advocate, June 28, 2015
• New PBS Documentary Exposes Human Toll Of Oil Boomtown In North Dakota - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, June 26, 2015
• BHP cuts another 140 jobs over abandoned Olympic Dam expansion plans - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, June 25, 2015
• Are Coal, Oil and Gas the Subprime Assets of the Future? - By Dan Zegart, DeSmog Blog, June 24, 2015
• EIA: Oil layoffs aren’t finished yet - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, June 23, 2015
• APM Terminals to close operations, cut more than 100 port jobs near Houston - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, June 22, 2015
• Caterpillar lets go of 50 workers - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, June 22, 2015

Just Transition:

• Business lobbies, unions join push for zero emissions targets - By Giles Parkinson, ReNew Economy, June 29, 2015
• Ontario Teachers' Pension Expands Ownership Of BluEarth Renewables - By Staff, North American Windpower, June 26, 2015
• Toronto march to merge economic justice and climate action - By Martin Lukacs, The Guardian, June 25, 2015
• Join the actions for Jobs, Justice and the Climate on July 4 and 5! - By Andrea Harden-Donahue, Rabble.Ca, June 24, 2015
• Investment In Renewable Energy Yields More Jobs Than Fossil Fuel Sector - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, June 23, 2015

Other News:

• South Africa’s gold workers 'unimpressed' with 13% pay rise offer - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, June 29, 2015; [related]: South African gold sector to table wage offer next week - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, June 24, 2015
• Strike at Marathon Petroleum refinery ends - By Andrea Rumbaugh, FuelFix, June 23, 2015

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