green unionism

By Kenny Stancil - Common Dreams, April 30, 2022

In an act of solidarity with Chevron workers fighting for a new labor contract as executives boast of a record-breaking quarter, Greenpeace USA campaigners joined United Steelworkers Local 5 union members on Friday to expand the picket line onto the waters of San Francisco Bay.

Nearly 500 workers from Chevron's oil refinery in Richmond, California have been on strike for more than a month in what USW Local 5 vice president B.K. White calls "a movement of working people rising up to challenge a corporation." 

Chevron announced Friday that its profits surged to $6.3 billion during the first three months of 2022—four times as much as the fossil fuel giant pulled in over the same period last year, as Common Dreams reported. That prompted fresh calls from progressives for a windfall tax to prevent further price gouging and war profiteering by Big Oil and underscored one of the reasons why workers are demanding better pay.

"What's the answer to corporate greed?" Greenpeace asked on social media. "Solidarity!"

By staff - Connecticut Post, April 28, 2022

The American economy is driven by American workers. In Connecticut, many areas of employment have organized labor and fill our unions with bright, hardworking individuals dedicated to moving the state forward and securing a better future for all residents.

However, we still aren’t moving fast enough when it comes to our economic transition toward a green-collar workforce. It is important for labor to lead on climate now. This process begins with individual workers, mainly union members, taking action and organizing around environmental issues.

Labor unions are a powerful political force that can advance environmental protection for the benefit of workers and society as a whole. An initiative of the ILR Worker Institute at Cornell, in partnership with Climate Jobs National Resource Center, “Labor Leading on Climate,” proves that when organized labor leads on an issue like climate change, the outcome is a thriving economy. According to the International Labour Organization the creation of 24 million new jobs is also something that cannot be ignored. The challenge for individual workers, however, is that it isn’t always clear what they can do to advance a clean energy transition in ways that are meaningful and sustainable.

Labor unions and their members can be a driving force of a transition to a clean-energy economy. Sometimes, unions and their members already do this when they advocate for improved workplace conditions. For example, bus drivers can advocate for electric buses to reduce both their exposure to harmful diesel exhaust and air pollution in the communities they serve. Health care professionals can advocate for air pollution reduction measures that can limit asthma prevalence. Educators can present concepts of sustainability to their students and can introduce older students to “green-collar” careers to prepare them for work in the low-carbon economy of the future.

The building trades can rally around clean infrastructure investments. For example, electricians benefit from increased electric vehicle charging installations that are beneficial for the electrification of buildings and industry whereas pipefitters can benefit from geothermal energy projects. State and municipal employees can advocate internally for Lead by Example programs and publicize what their agencies or departments have learned to help businesses and residents transition away from fossil fuels. Manufacturers can seek new opportunities in renewable energy such as manufacturing parts for the Northeast’s emerging offshore wind industry.

The opportunities for unions and their members to engage in environmental advocacy in ways that benefit both workers and the environment are abundant. Workers should not fear a transition to a clean energy economy. While fighting climate change seems like an insurmountable feat, it is also one that shouldn’t be delayed any further. The time to act is now and organized labor can and should take the lead on this issue.

By Dr. Robert Pollin, Veronica Wilson, and Norman Rogers - The Climate Center, April 28, 2022

By B.K. White and Steve Zeltser - Labor Video Project, April 27, 2022

By Lary Buhl - Capital and Main, April 27, 2022

Last year Armando (who requested that his last name not be used) was working as an addiction counselor when a parole officer came to his office with a flyer announcing a new nine-week training course in electric bus manufacturing technology. The company promised not to discriminate against the formerly incarcerated, among whom are some of his clients. “I wanted to see the class so I could explain it to my clients and maybe recommend it, and make sure they understood the opportunity,” Armando told Capital & Main. “And then I thought, ‘Man, this is a good company with good pay and benefits, and it’s in a growing field.’”

Armando signed up for the class himself, and after completing it last October, he was offered a position as a battery technician at Proterra at over $20 an hour, an entry level salary higher than he was earning as a counselor, with a potential to increase quickly. True to its word, the company didn’t discriminate against him because of his past drug addiction. Armando, 52, who has been clean for five years, did have to compete with job candidates who didn’t have dings on their record and had experience in manufacturing. Now, after only six months, Armando’s eyeing a supervisory position. He’s also been helping the company screen candidates and mentoring those taking the pilot course.

“I want [students] to understand that you can’t be late or get high or do anything stupid on the job,” Armando said. “There’s expensive equipment, and you could kill yourself if you’re careless. Some of these students never had real jobs, and I like people to get a second chance. But you have to take the nine-week course seriously.” The gratitude Armando feels toward the company that gave him a chance has made him work even harder, he said.

The program at Proterra is the fruit of a community benefit agreement (CBA) between the company, United Steelworkers Local 675, L.A.-based nonprofit Jobs to Move America, and a coalition of community organizations that established standards for training, supporting and hiring job candidates from nontraditional backgrounds. They give them a chance at skilled union jobs in the growing field of green manufacturing.

By Béla Galgóczi and Paolo Tomassetti - European Trade Union Institute, April 25, 2022

The die is cast. The worst scenario of an ‘unjust transition’ materialized with the Russian invasion and devastation of Ukraine. A scenario that brought back to Europe the spectre of the Third World War and the reconsideration of the EU strategy for a just transition.

As the quintessence of the domination of nature by man, war is a minor ecological activity that humans might engage in. Not just for the most evident externalities of war on the natural environment. The very notion of the domination of nature by man “stems from the real domination of human by human” (Bookchin 1982, at 9) – i.e., what the essence of war is about. To accommodate humanity to war, exploitation, and political obedience “involves the undoing not only of human “first nature” as an animal but also of human “second nature” as a child who lives in dependency and protective custody under the eyes and the arms of its mother” (Ivi, at 421).

Out of the philosophical language and drama that the people of Ukraine and Russian dissidents live in, this war comes with shattering consequences for vulnerable workers and households from all around Europe. Due to the energy supply uncertainty associated with the enduring dependency on Russian oil and natural gas, many EU countries are experiencing an escalation of energy prices that exacerbates the post-pandemic inflation crisis. This is causing a series of dramatic economic effects – an erosion of the standard of living of low-income families and uncertainties about investments in new production – all of which depress the EU economy, worsen unemployment, and further disempower labour.

By various - European Trade Union Institute, April 23, 2022

By staff - Just Transition Partnership, April 22, 2022

The dramatic rise in the prices of oil and gas, compounded by the reductions in supplies as a result of the war in Ukraine, have demonstrated the failings of our broken energy system. The social and environmental damage it causes have underlined the case for a just transition to renewable sources of energy, giving people power over the energy system. This must be planned to create good and secure new jobs and to protect the living standards of the poorest, the wellbeing of all and the health of the planet.

Consequences of fuel price rises for citizens and corporations

Wholesale gas prices quadrupled in the last year, according to Ofgem’s statement¹ made on 3 February when it announced that the energy price cap (the maximum prices which energy retailers can charge) would rise by 54%. Further rises are anticipated in September.

On the same day , Shell announced profits of $19.3bn for 2021. In the last few months profits made by oil corporations have soared. “The largest oil and gas companies made a combined $174bn in profits in the first nine months of the year” reported the Guardian².

National Energy Action said that in the UK the number of households in fuel poverty is expected to go up from four million in October 2021, to 6.5 million after April’s price rise³. That would go up again to 8.5 million in October this year, if the typical bill increases to £3,000.

As Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said on 3 February:“The energy price cap rise will turn the cost-of-living crisis into a catastrophe for millions of people. This will plunge at least one in four families in Britain into fuel poverty”.⁴ With rates of inflation higher than wage increases and benefit upgrade, living standards are under threat.

The consequences for employment of rising prices and falling incomes have been predicted to be negative across the economy as a whole. In the energy sector there may be some stronger recruitment where production can be increased in the short-term in response to higher wholesale prices but in a volatile market the longer-term consequences are probably going to be determined mainly by the direction of government policies on both energy efficiency and fossil fuel licensing , with the prospect of largest employment rises in energy efficiency.