class struggle

By Gareth Dale - Green European Journal, June 12, 2024

Inspiration for decarbonising industry and creating green jobs is within the hands of those already facing precarity in today’s economically unstable times. A resilient history of workers’ initiatives overcoming redundancies, alongside recent activist, trade-union, and workforce collaborations, provides concrete examples for empowered transitioning.

In 2023, when Europe was blasted by a record-breaking heatwave named after Cerberus (the three-headed hound of Hades), workers organised to demand protection from the extreme heat. In Athens, employees at the Acropolis and other historical sites went on strike for four hours each day. In Rome, refuse collectors threatened to strike if they were forced to work during periods of peak heat. Elsewhere in Italy, public transport workers demanded air-conditioned vehicles, and workers at a battery plant in Abruzzo issued a strike threat in protest at the imposition of working in “asphyxiating heat”. 

One could almost say that the Ancient Greeks foretold today’s climate crisis when they euphemistically referred to Hades, god of the dead, as “Plouton” (giver of wealth). The reference is to the materials – in their day, silver, in ours, fossil fuels and critical minerals – that, after extraction from the Underworld, line the pockets of plutocrats. Modern society’s plutocratic structure explains the astonishingly sluggish response to climate breakdown. The much-touted green transition is barely taking place, at least if the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases is taken as a yardstick. These continue to rise, even accelerate, and likewise the rate of global heating. The transition remains in the grip of powerful and wealthy institutions that – even if we leave aside motivations of avarice or greed for status – are systemically constrained to put the accumulation of capital above the habitability of the planet.

Against this backdrop, the politics of transition is class struggle beyond that of workers defending themselves and their communities against weather emergencies. That is part of the picture, of course. But class struggle is, above all, evident in the liberal establishment seeking to displace transition costs onto the masses, even as it presides over ever crasser wealth polarisation. From this, resistance inevitably flows. The question is, what form will it take? 

Some takes the form of an anti-environmental backlash, instigated or colonised by conservative and far-right forces. While posing as allies of “working families”, they denigrate the most fundamental of workers’ needs: for a habitable planet. Some takes a progressive form, the classic case being the gilets jaunes in France. When Emmanuel Macron’s government hiked “green taxes” on fossil fuels as a signal for consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars, the rural working poor and lower-middle classes, unable to afford the switch, donned yellow safety vests and rose in revolt. Although France’s labour-movement radicals joined the cause, they were unable to cohere into a political force capable of offering alternative solutions to the social and environmental crises.

By Amy Goodman, Jeff Goodell, and Ruth Cerezo-Mota - Democracy Now!, June 6, 2024

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, June 6, 2024

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, June 5, 2024

By Emma Roberts and Sasha Josette - GND Media, June 4, 2024

By Tyler Norman - Just Transition Alliance, June 3, 2024

According to recent surveys, labor unions are overwhelmingly popular with the American public, with the highest rate of support since 1965. A number of widely-supported strikes in unexpected industries, from teachers and nurses to Starbucks and Amazon workers, primed the pump over the last decade. The extremely visible and highly successful SAG-AFTRA strike boosted public recognition of the need for strong fighting unions significantly.

The recent UAW strike took union support to an entirely new level. Although picketing autoworkers were demonized by media talking heads, working class communities were inspired by their spirited and ambitious “Stand Up Strike” campaign against the Big 3 automakers. New UAW President Shawn Fain did an exceptional job of publicizing their progress with regular livestream updates, and the American public eagerly watched this historic labor victory unfold in real time.

Our small team at JTA does not have the capacity to track every union campaign. But we have been paying close attention to the recent UAW struggles. We hope that they will continue to aggressively organize, fight to win, and command attention, adding momentum to the entire movement.

By Sarah Jaffe, Union Jake, and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, May 31, 2024

By Michael Goldfield, Union Jake, and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, May 31, 2024

By staff - Labor Network for Sustainability, May 30, 2024

HB433, recently signed into law by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, prohibits any municipality in the state from passing heat protections for workers.

The legislation came in response to efforts by farm workers in Miami-Dade county to legally require heat protections, such as rest breaks and access to water and shade.

Florida is facing record heat. Last August Orlando hit 100F, breaking a record set in 1938. The National Weather Service’s outlook for summer 2024 predicts Florida temperatures will be even warmer than normal.

Governor DeSantis recently signed a bill removing references to climate change from Florida law.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/04/florida-worker-heat-water-protection

By Jacob Wallace - Waste Dive, May 30, 2024

A strong majority of shareholders voted against the proposal, which urged Republic to more explicitly detail how its investments in automation and artificial intelligence affect workers.

Dive Brief:

• Republic Services shareholders voted down a proposal last week that would have required the companyto prepare a report on how its climate-related policies affect workers and its supply chain. Republic’s board of directors urged a no vote.
• The International Brotherhood of Teamsters made the proposal. The labor union argued that Republic needs to address the impact of artificial intelligence and automation —which Republic plans to use to pursue a circular economy for plastics, among other climate priorities — on workers and communities.
• The company responded that its climate plan already includes engagement with stakeholders and said it would “continue to responsibly integrate technology” while balancing upskilling and retaining employees, per a securities filing ahead of the meeting.