mine workers

By Lynda Sullivan - Upside Down World, June 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.

Peru has been rocked once again by a social conflict which pits the government, looking out for the economic interests of a multinational corporation, against its people. The Tia Maria Mine, an open-pit project of Southern Copper Corporation, controlled by Grupo Mexico, is the latest attempted imposition of a destructive mega-project by big business on rural communities in the interior of the country. To date, the conflict has claimed eight lives: four in 2011 and four more since April of this year. The affected communities have been on an indefinite strike since March 23rd and, as a response, President Ollanta Humala has called a state of emergency, permitting the Armed Forces and the National Police to violate the constitutional rights of the local population in the hope that repression will breed consent. However, the threatened farmers say that they will fight to the end, and the company, making use of the red carpet set down by the Peruvian state, also does not appear to be giving up on its 1.4 billion dollar investment anytime soon.

The conflict dates back to 2009, when the company first produced its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Tia Maria, a copper extraction project hoping to mine 120 thousand tons of copper cathodes per year during its 18 year life span. It would be situated in the district of Cocachacra, though its effects would also reach the districts of Punta del Bombón, Deán Valdivia and Mejía, regions all belonging to the province of Islay, in the department of Arequipa. The most sensitive and threatened area is the Tambo Valley, which is considered the 'larder' of the Arequipa region, and wider afield. Ninety-seven percent of its agricultural produce and eighty-eight percent of its fishing catch goes to feeding the south of the country. The valley employs more than 15 thousand families and produces a profit of around 320 million soles a year (roughly $100 million) [1].

Tia Maria would consist of two open pits; the largest of which, La Tapada, would be situated just 2.4 km from the Tambo Valley. The second, sharing the name of Tia Maria, would be just 1 km further [2]. The subterranean waters that are connected to the Tambo River would pass just 250 meters from the open pits. The communities along the Tambo Valley, on seeing the project’s dangerous proximity to their fertile lands, formed the Tambo Valley Defense Front, a platform on which to project their voice. In October 2009 the Defense Front lead a popular consultation in the districts of Cocachacra, Punta del Bombón and Deán Valdivia, resulting in an overwhelming rejection of the project with 93.4% voting against it [3].

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 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:

• Food, Water, Health, Life: UN Experts Warn of Threats Posed by Secret 'Trade' Deals - By Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams, June 2, 2015
• Louisiana Environmental Group Warns Santa Barbara Oil Spill Cleanup Workers to Protect Their Health - By Julie Dermansky, DeSmog Blog, May 31, 2015
• Peru: Shougang Mining Worker Killed in Marcona Protests - By Erin Gallagher, Revolution News, May 28, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Why Your Beauty Salon Likely Doesn’t Have Any Employees - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, June 3, 2015
• More Than 40 Charged With Murder For Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse - By Beenish Ahmed, Think Progress, June 2, 2015
• Injured Workers' Day: Support shouldn't come in half-measures - By Ella Bedard, Rabble.Ca, June 1, 2015
• If You’re In A Nail Salon In New York, You’ll Now See A Workers’ Bill Of Rights On The Wall - By Tara Culp-Ressler, Think Progress, May 30, 2015
• Construction Worker Killed Near Wind Farm Construction Site - By Mark DelFranco, North American Wind Power, May 29, 2015
• Senior EU officials and industry lobbies joined forces to undermine the European strategy against endocrine disruptors - European Trade Union Institute, May 29, 2015
• Latest Mining Death Underscores Need to Enforce Westray Law - By United Steelworkers, Yahoo Finance, May 26, 2015
• Female worker dies in Canadian gold mine - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, May 24, 2015
• OSHA Chief: Fine for Deadly Leak "Petty Cash" for DuPont - By Neena Satija and Jim Malewitz, The Texas Tribune, May 23, 2015
• Fire on Gulf oil platform forces evacuation of 28 workers - Associated Press, May 22, 2015
• Marikana massacre: the untold story of the strike leader who died for workers’ rights - By Nick Davies, The Guardian, May 19, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Texas oil field vendors cut 200 jobs, close plants - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, June 2, 2015
• US coal miner Murray Energy to lay off around 1,800 - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, May 22, 2015
• Popping Canada's 'Carbon Bubble' good for economy - By Jeff Rubin, CBC Radio, May 19, 2015

Just Transition:

• Climate justice and the good life--for everyone - By Marc Lee, Rabble.Ca, June 3, 2015
• Fossil fuels still hugely subsidized while number of jobs in renewables keeps growing - By Christiane Kliemann, European Trade Union Institute, May 28, 2015
• Why Students Are Joining the March for Jobs, Justice & the Climate - By Jody Chan, Fossil Free, May 28, 2015
• Activists Work to Stop East Bay Coal Exports - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, May 27, 2015
• The darker side of solar power - By Konrad Yakabuski, Toronto Globe and Mail, May 27, 2015
• No Climate Protection without Climate Justice; No Climate Justice without Degrowth - By Christiane Kliemann, DeGrowth in Action, May 27, 2015
• Critics of Capitalism Must Include Its Definition - By Richard D. Wolff, Truth Out, May 26, 2015
• We need a new economic system - By Gar Alperovitz, Gar Alperovitz blog, May 22, 2015
• Why Democratic Energy Offers Faster Approach to Clean Energy - By John Farrell, Institute for Local Self Reliance, May 22, 2015
• Support the Workers - By Bruce K. Gagnon, Space 4 Peace, May 21, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Rail safety problems trigger protests - By Mark Gruenberg, People's World, May 29, 2015
• BLET/SMART–TD statement on Positive Train Control, crew size following fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, May 19, 2015
• I-Team: Union Warned About Engineer Fatigue in Months Before Deadly Amtrak Crash - By Chris Glorioso, NBC TV 4 New York, May 14, 2015

Other News:

• Reclaim the Power! Climate protestors rout security with UK-wide fossil fuel strikes - By Oliver Tickell, The Ecologist, June 1, 2015
• The Limited "Victory" Won by Mexican Farm Workers - By Bertha Rodríguez Santos, Truth Out, May 31, 2015
• Harmony Gold to cut over 3,000 jobs, union asks Gov’t to intervene - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, May 29, 2015
• More Than 30 Student Groups Tell Aramark: Sustainable Tuna Now! - By David McElhatton, Greenpeace, May 28, 2015
• MUA Protests Plans to Deregulate Shipping - By Ashleigh Telford, Maritime Union of Australia, May 20, 2015
• Yes, We Protest Shell Oil with Products Made from Oil. Duh. Now Join Us - By Ansel Herz, The Stranger, May 18, 2015
• The biodiversity crisis and the environmentalist left - By Alan Thornett, International Viewpoint, May 13, 2015
• Recent elections in several countries suggest a worker-environment message is disrupting the norm - By Sean Sweeney, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, May 10, 2015

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

By David Spratt - Climate Action Moreland, June 2015

Hazelwood Power Station (HPS) was built between 1964 and 1971, and comprises 1542 megawatt (MW) of capacity over eight generators. It was privatised by the Victorian Liberal Party Kennett government in 1996 for $2.35 billion.If HPS had stayed in public hands, it would likely have been decommissioned in 2005, but in 2004 the Bracks Labor government extended its operations till 2031, allowing Hazelwood to move a road and a river to access 43 million tonnes of brown coal deposits in a realignment of the mining licence boundaries. The owners have a 30-year mining licence due for renewal in 2026.HPS and the land on which it operates are owned by the Hazelwood Power Partnership. Since 7 June 2013, the four partners have been subsidiaries of International Power (Australia) Holdings Pty Ltd. This company is in turn jointly owned by subsidiaries of Engie (formerly GDF Suez SA) (72 per cent ownership) and Mitsui & Co Ltd (28 per cent ownership). Engie is a global energy company with corporate headquarters in France. Mitsui & Co Ltd is a global trading company with corporate headquarters in Japan.Currently HPS produces more than 10,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy annually and is supplied with up to 18 million tonnes of coal each year from the adjacent Hazelwood mine, releasing around 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. Today HPS provides approximately 21 per cent of Victoria’s baseline electricity supply.

The Victorian Government has expressed a desire (though it does not yet have a policy) for a significant expansion of renewable energy in Victoria. This has widespread community support and must be done quickly and at a large scale because climate change is already dangerous. Scientists warn that two degrees Celsius of warming could occur in just two decades, so preserving a safe climate and a healthy future requires rapid de-carbonisation.

Expanding renewable energy requires coal-generating capacity to be removed from the market because oversupply is crowding out and preventing new investment. The Australian energy market operator says there are about eight gigawatts of surplus generating capacity across the national market, equivalent to five Hazelwood power stations. This includes up to 2.2 gigawatts of brown coal generation that is no longer required in Victoria in 2015, which is greater than Hazelwood’s capacity. Power companies have been lobbying government for capacity to be reduced, and senior Victorian energy department bureaucrats are aware of the need to close coal power stations in order to roll out renewables.

The Victorian Government has committed to being a leader on climate change. Closing down excess coal generation is a key test of the government’s climate credentials. Coal-fired power stations are the world’s largest source of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions. Victoria cannot make the necessary emissions reductions without addressing the operations of Hazelwood and/or Yallourn power stations.

Hazelwood power station is old, unsafe and dirty. Based on emissions intensity, it is the third-dirtiest coal power station in the world and the dirtiest in Australia, releasing around 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, almost three per cent of total Australian greenhouse emissions. The Hazelwood majority owner, Engie (formerly GDF Suez), owns the third-most polluting coal-power station fleet in the world. The full – health and carbon pollution – social costs of Hazelwood totalling $900 million per year are borne by the community, rather than the plant’s owners.

A steady stream of local jobs can be created in the Latrobe Valley with the rehabilitation of mines and decommissioning of plant, which will require a significant workforce stretching well over a decade. The Latrobe Valley needs a strong jobs package and an economic transition plan and new industries because the move from coal to clean wind and solar renewable energy is now both urgent and inevitable.

Hazelwood power station and mine are a health hazard to local residents, exemplified by the autumn 2014 mine fire. The owners of Hazelwood have abused their social licence and forfeited the right to profit from a power station that is now a major health hazard – both to local people and to all peoples who face the uncertainties of living in a hotter and more extreme climate.

In July 2010, the Victorian Labor government promised to start shutting Hazelwood and passed climate legislation providing the reserve power to regulate emissions from existing brown coal-fired generators. Restoring the government’s capacity to regulate emissions would be complementary to actions being taken by other governments, including in the United States and Europe.

Read the report (PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 26, 2015 (Image: Judi Bari stands defiant outside of the Oakland Federal Building, ca: 1996).

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.

Special Note: Due to the recent (voluntarily, fortunately) location of this site's main administrator, some of these stories are a little delayed. We apologize for any delay in timely reporting. Bear with us; we're all working class volunteers. ;-)

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

Lead Stories:

• WARNING: The TPP is a hazard to your health and our Democracy! - Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio, National Nurses United, April 23, 2015
• Who’s Really Paying for Our Cheap Clothes? - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, April 20, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, May 18, 2015
• Nine oil well deaths lead to warning about inhaling chemicals - Associated Press, May 18, 2015
• Global union action against asbestos - By Brian Kohler, Industriall Global Union, May 13, 2015
• 2 workers dead, 10 hurt in Mexico oil rig accident - Associated Press, May 5, 2015
• Workers end two-week long strike at BHP’s nickel mine in Colombia - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, May 4, 2015
• AFL-CIO Report: The High Toll of Job Injuries and Deaths - By the AFL-CIO, Portside, May 1, 2015
• A Global perspective on hazardous chemicals in the workplace - By Friis Bach, Environmental News Network, April 28, 2015
• Make Your Voice Heard, Speak Out for Safe Jobs, Protect Workers Now! - Blue Green Alliance, April 28, 2015
• 3 gold miners die in Ghana - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, April 26, 2015
• On 2-Year Anniversary of Rana Plaza Factory Collapse, Activists Announce Major Victory for Victims - By Miriam Shestack, In These Times, April 24, 2015 [related] Two Years After Rana Plaza Tragedy, Rights Abuses Still Rampant in Bangladesh's Garment Sector - By Kanya D'Almeida and Naimul Haq, Truth Out, April 24, 2015
• Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza - By Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams, April 24, 2015
• World day for safety and health at work: the ETUC calls for occupational cancer prevention measures - European Trade Union Confederation, April 20, 2015

Gulf South Rising:

• Money spent cleaning up BP’s mess skipped those who needed it most - By Brentin Mock, Grist, April 21, 2015
• Deepwater Capitalism - By Quincy Saul, CounterPunch, April 20, 2015
• Gulf Fishermen Still Struggling Five Years After the BP Spill - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, April 20, 2015
• Gulf South Rising: Demonstrations Across US on Fifth Anniversary of BP Oil Spill - Earth First! Newswire, April 20, 2015
• Five Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, We Are Closer Than Ever to Catastrophe - By András Tilcsik and Chris Clearfield, The Guardian, April 17, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Canadian oil field services company cuts 2,000 jobs across North America - Bloomberg, May 13, 2015
• Houston engineering company cuts 1,700 jobs amid first quarter loss - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, May 12, 2015
• More oilfield jobs lost despite modest rebound in crude prices - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, May 8, 2015
• Hercules Offshore has cut 40 percent of workforce amid low oil - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 29, 2015
• BP cuts hundreds of jobs as profits fall by nearly $1 billions - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 28, 2015
• Linn Energy to close Denver office, shed 55 jobs - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, April 24, 2015
• Weatherford increases job cuts to 10,000 - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 22, 2015
• Baker Hughes increases layoffs to 10,500 - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 21, 2015
• Nabors has laid off thousands in 2015, including more than 40 percent of its drilling unit employees - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 21, 2015
• Halliburton lays off 9,000 workers - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, April 20, 2015
• U.S. Steel to increase job cuts in Harris County - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, April 20, 2015
• Hercules sells four rigs as Gulf drilling work disappears - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 20, 2015

Just Transition:

• Renewable Energy Employs 7.7 Million People Worldwide, Says New IRENA Report - By Staff, Sustainable Energy for All, May 19, 2015
• The Coal Industry Is a Job Killer - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, May 13, 2015
• General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) joins TUED - By Bishnu Rimal, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, May 7, 2015
• EPA’s Proposed Carbon Rule Would Create Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs, Report Says - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, April 22, 2015
• Labor Troubadour Connects Working People to Climate Change Cause - By Staff, Blue Mountain Center, April 16, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Oakland residents deliver “coal” to developer to protest coal export plan - By Jess Dervin-Ackerman and Ethan Buckner, Rising Tide North America, May 15, 2015
• RNs, Sierra Club survey Richmond neighborhoods on health impact of coal trains - By California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, May 7, 2015
• Railroad union urges tougher safety standards to help prevent oil train derailments - By Associated Press, Daily Journal, April 26, 2015
• Court victory vindicates BLET position on two-person train crews - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, April 21, 2015
• Survivor of rail yard explosion is emotionally, mentally shaken - By Nicole Goodrich, ABC KETV 7, April 17, 2015

Other News:

• Marathon workers say no to labor offer in Galveston - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, May 19, 2015
• SA gold miners face repeat of brutal 2014 platinum strike - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, May 13, 2015
• Farm Worker Advocates Target Ben & Jerry's - By Mitch Wertlieb and Melody Bodette, VPR, May 12, 2015
• LyondellBasell workers vote to end strike - By Andrea Rumbaugh, Houston Chronicle, May 7, 2015
• Public Process—Nearly Avoided—Just Killed that Proposed North Portland Propane Terminal - By Dirk VanderHart, Portland Mercury, May 7, 2015
• Hudbay's Manitoba miners down tools - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, May 3, 2015
• Here's the ad that is upsetting the union at Stillwater Mining - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, April 27, 2015
• The Undemocratic Job-Killing Trade Scheme That Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership - By Leo Gerard, USW President, In These Times, April 27, 2015
• Secret Papers Reveal Lawson's 1981 Plot to Use Army Against Oil Workers - By Brendan Montague, DeSmog UK, April 20, 2015

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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 20, 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 ExxonMobil Explosion That Nobody Is Talking About - By Sacha Feinman, Think Progress, April 13, 2015

May Day:

• May Day 2015 Benefit Concert for the Chicago IWW - Chicago IWW
• PROLERSKATING: A May Day Rollerskating Party! - Portland IWW
• Toronto IWW: May 16-17 2015: Organizing 101: Build the Committee Training - IWW.ORG

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• At least 19 dead after illegal mine collapses in Tanzania - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, April 17, 2015
• The Children's Place: Time To Pay Up! - By United Steel Workers, PR News Wire, April 17, 2015
• Coal Companies That Lobbied To Repeal West Virginia Mining Regulations Accused Of Federal Safety Violations - By Cole Stangler, International Business Times, April 15, 2015
• Federal researchers ID at least 9 VOC inhalation deaths at oil sites - By Mike Soraghan, EnergyWire, April 13, 2015
• Short Portraits of 11 Who Died on the Deepwater Horizon - Associated Press, April 18, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Coal Is Dying and It’s Never Coming Back; With or without help from President Obama - By Tim McDonnell, Climate Desk, April 16, 2015
• The Oil Industry’s ‘Man Camps’ Are Dying; Drillers spent big to house workers in the new boomtowns. No more - By David Wethe and Kelly Gilblom, Bloomberg Business, April 15, 2015
• Schlumberger cuts another 11,000 jobs in wake of oil crash - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 16, 2015

Just Transition:

• AWEA: US jobs increased 40% in 2014 - By David Weston, Wind Power Monthly, April 16, 2015
• Bonded PV Arrays Could Provide Safer Solar Power - By Bill Brooks, Renewable Energy World, April 19, 2015
• How Worker Co-ops are Moving Beyond Capitalism - By David Morgan, Occupy.Com, April 11, 2015
• Trade Unions condemn Petrocaribe Act; debate fate of Senator - Breaking Belize News, April 2, 2015
• Union funds to bail from flagship renewable energy investment - By Giles Parkinson, ReNew Economy, April 16, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Guest Opinion: Dirty fuel exports darken NW’s Earth Day - By Fred Felleman, Crosscut, March 31, 2015
• Jones Act tied to crude oil exports - Marine Log, March 25, 2015
• Railroad unions advancing two-person crew legislation to protect safety - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, April 17, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Alleging Labor Abuses, U.S. and Mexican Workers Call for Boycott of Driscoll’s Berries - By Rachel Luban, In These Times, April 18, 2015
• Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law - By David Bacon, Capital & Main, April 7, 2015
• Indonesia to send home enslaved fishermen; Government moves to return foreigners home after investigative report reveals forced labour in seafood industry - Al Jazeera, April 3, 2015
• Salad days? Semi-slavery on the 'sweating fields' of southern Spain - By Almudena Serpis, The Ecologist, April 16, 2015
• Time to Hold Large Buyers Accountable To Farmworkers Who Grow and Harvest Our Food - Fair World Project, April 2, 2015

Other News:

• Going Global in Richmond? Coalition Seeks Benefits From New UC Berkeley Campus - By Steve Early, BeyondChron, April 10, 2015
• Resurrection unionism: 5 ways labor can rise again - By David Goodner, Waging Non Violence, April 15, 2015
• Sharing is not always sharing - By Dirk Holemans, Green European Journal, April 16, 2015
• Turning Yosemite National Park Into a Cash Cow - By Marc Norton, CounterPunch, April 1, 2015
• Unlikely allies: Mexican miners and farmers unite over toxic spill - By David Bacon, Al Jazeera, April 15, 2015; [related] Miners and Farmers Challenge Mexico's Copper Giant - By David Bacon, Reality Check, April 15, 2015

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

By Nick Mullins - The Thoughtful Coal Miner, April 12, 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.

Many people believe that corporations are out to create jobs–at least that is what most industries use as an excuse to push for decreased regulation and tax cuts.

It’s no surprise that most people who follow along with this idea are terrible critical thinkers, or at least have a similar sense of psychopathic, self-centered greed as the corporations themselves. I’ve heard some people say, “They worked hard and deserve to keep their wealth,” to which it must be assumed that every corporation began and ended with the original founder of said company and nothing was ever been passed down to the next generation. But I digress. Back to why so many people are terribly misled.

Corporations are actually out to make a profit. It is the legal obligation of a public corporation to their stock holders. Legal obligation…that means by law, as in, they can get in deep shit if they don’t make profits for their stock holders.

If that means using less people to get more production, they will do it. If that means lowering wages or decreasing benefits to reduce labor overhead, they will do it. If that means taking cost saving short cuts and lobbying against regulations meant to protect people living near their operations, they will do it. If that means shipping jobs overseas so they can do all of the above, they will do it. If that means designing a system of economics that makes us all utterly dependent upon working their jobs to buy the food they produce and to purchase the medicines we must then take and to buy the vehicles, gas, and auto insurance to allow us to go get all of these things, then you better believe they’ll do it–or rather, they have done all of the above. We are at their mercy.

It’s not a Conservative vs. Liberal issue, its an Everybody vs. Corporate America issue. Corporate America has the money and power to corrupt our political system AND they’ve got plenty left over to spend on media to keep people fighting amongst themselves rather than see what the REAL problem is. For any of the 314,000+ people who have “Liked” Count on Coal’s Facebook page, do a search for Count on Coal and the National Mining Association. Wait, I’ll do the work for you…here click this link….

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 14, 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:

• 4/18 March and Rally: Workers Memorial Day 2015 Remember The Dead and Fight for The Injured & Fight TPP - Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, April 13, 2015
• Fields of Toxic Pesticides Surround the Schools of Ventura County—Are They Poisoning the Students?; In some of California’s most heavily Latino communities, going to school can be a health hazard - By Christina Sarich, The Nation, April 6, 2015
• Monsanto Employee Admits an Entire Department Exists to “Discredit” Scientists; But no one knows about it - By Christina Sarich, Natural Society, April 6, 2015

May Day:

• Boston Mayday 2015! - Boston IWW, April 13, 2015
• Chicago May Day 2015 Schedule of Events & Official Posters - Chicago IWW, April 13, 2015
• May Day #Shut It Down Assembly (Bay Area) - Leaflet (not affiliated with any organization)

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Harmony halts operations at Unisel mine after fatal incident - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, April 7, 2015
• New Evidence BP’s Spill Dispersant Caused Harm to Humans and Wildlife - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, April 7, 2015
• Union warnings ignored as rotten rail signal collapses - By RMT Press Office, RMT, April 8, 2015
• Workers now out after being trapped by fire in Manitoba mine - CBC News, April 6, 2015
• Workers strike at Anglo’s coal mine in South Africa - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, April 8, 2015

USW Refinery Strike:

• United Steelworkers reviewing contract proposal from Marathon Petroleum - By L.M. Sixel, FuelFix, April 7, 2015
• Union workers vote to end strike - By Mark Maynard, The Independent, April 6, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Noble Energy cuts 220 jobs - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, April 7, 2015
• Two coal plants in Ohio part of AEP closings - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, April 8, 2015
• Wages for oil and gas workers are growing the slowest of any industry - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, April 9, 2015

Just Transition:

• Australian Renewable Energy Industry Loses 2,300 Jobs, Labor Calls Abbott To Swallow His Pride - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, April 13, 2015
• Coal Jobs Decline As Renewable Jobs Increase - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, April 8, 2015
• European federation of Public Services Unions joins TUED - Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, April 8, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Sued by engineer of train that exploded, BNSF says it may be shielded by federal law - By Adrian Glass-Moore, WDAZ 8 ABC, April 12, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Detroit Needs Water to Work - By Justin Wedes, Detroit Water Brigade, April 13, 2015
• Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws; New publication by Grain and La Via Campesina documents nefarious ways new laws criminalize seed sharing and the growing peasant movement resisting them - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, April 8, 2015

Other News:

• Chevron Whistleblower Videos Show Deliberate Falsification Of Evidence In Ecuador Oil Pollution Trial - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, April 9, 2015
• Mass Extinction: Is the Enemy Us? - By Umair Muhammad, Great Transition Initiative, February 2015
• Oiling The Machinery Of Climate Change Denial And Transit Opposition - By David Suzuki, DeSmog Blog, April 7, 2015
• What If Uber Were a Unionized, Worker-Owned Co-Op? These Denver Cabbies Are Making It Happen - By Erin McCarley, Yes!, April 10, 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

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 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:

• 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
• OSHA Whistleblower Investigator Blows Whistle on Own Agency; Employee says the federal whistleblower program isn’t protecting whistleblowers or the public - By Vicky Nguyen, Liz Wagner and Felipe Escamilla, NBC Bay Area, February 24, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• Flare-up roars at BP Whiting Refinery - By Joseph S. Pete, NWI.com, February 23, 2015
• On strike against the next "accident" - By Ragina Johnson, David Judd and Elizabeth Schulte, Socialist Worker, February 24, 2015
• Some contractors (unionized) not so bad, Steelworkers say - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, February 25, 2015
• Steelworkers union, Occupy Wall Street dump manure at ExxonMobil Torrance refinery - Staff, Daily Breeze, February 22, 2015
• Strike at U.S. Refineries Widens; Workers Walk Out of Three More Facilities - By Erin Ailworth and Alison Sider, Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2015
• Union chief says U.S. refinery strike could spread - By Erwin Seba, Reuters, February 24, 2015
• Union is striking for safety, Steelworkers’ international head says - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, February 24, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Bill to regulate vans and shuttles for railroad crews draws fans and foes - By Cathy McKitrick, Ogden Standard-Examiner, February 23, 2015
• Canada: Oil train accident shows new safety rules inadequate - Associated Press, February 23, 20155
• CN derailment shows new safety standards inadequate, watchdog says - By Paola Loriggio, The Globe and Mail, February 23, 2015
• Report Predicting 10 Oil-train Derailments Per Year Underscores Need for Immediate Moratorium on Crude-by-rail; Dangerous Trains Risk Hundreds of Deaths, $4 Billion in Damages Annually - By Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, February 23, 2015
• Unifor reaches late-night deal with CN - By Ella Bedard, Rabble.ca, February 24, 2015
• Why bitumen isn’t necessarily safer than Bakken - By David Thomas, Railway Age, February 23, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Labor negotiations at a standstill at Bruce Mansfield power plant - By Sam Kusic, Pittsburgh Business Times, February 24, 2015
• Oil Giant Shell Shelves Dirty Tar Sands Mine - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, February 24, 2015
• Is Oil Returning To $100 Or Dropping To $10? - By Martin Tillier, OilPrice.com, February 22, 2015
• Shell pulls plug on long-delayed Alberta oil sands mine - By Jeff Lewis, The Globe and Mail, February 23, 2015
• Shell Withdraws From Largest Tar Sands Project Yet - By Ari Phillips, Think Progress, February 25, 2015
• Texas oil tool companies cutting more than 1,100 jobs - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, February 23, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• Labour and Nature: Power in Numbers - By Tegan Tallullah, Post Growth Institute, February 24, 2015

Other News:

• Climate Strike! - By Sean Farmelo, Slaney St, January 18, 2015
• Flood Wall Street goes on trial - #Flood11 Collective Statement, February 24, 2015
• Government Documents Reveal Canadian Embassy Backed Mining Abuses in Mexico - By United Steelworkers Union and Mining Watch Canada, Mining Watch Canada, February 25, 2015; [related]: Community Responds to Report Revealing Complicity between Canadian Embassy in Excellon Violations against La Sierrita - By Ejido La Sierrita de Galeana, Tlahualilo, Durango, Mining Watch Canada, February 25, 2015
• Palisades Nuclear Power Plant denies wage lawsuit claims - By Jim Hayden, Holland Sentinel, February 24, 2015
• The Paris climate talks and the failure of states - By Gabriel Levy, People and Nature, February 25, 2015

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