green unionism

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 9, 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:

• Global warming: the ‘slowdown’ that never happened; New scientific analysis shows that the rate of global warming has continued without pause. The ‘hiatus’ simply didn’t happen - Press Release, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, June 4, 2015

Fracking the EPA:

• Don’t Be Fooled by Yesterday’s Headlines, EPA Finds Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water - By Wenonah Hauter, EcoWatch, June 5, 2015
• Fracking Does Cause ‘Widespread, Systemic’ Contamination of American’s Drinking Water - By Josh Fox and Lee Ziesche, EcoWatch, June 5, 2015
• EPA Study: Fracking Puts Drinking Water Supplies at Risk of Contamination - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, June 4, 2015
• Long-Awaited EPA Study Says Fracking Pollutes Drinking Water - By Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch, June 4, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Food sovereignty and agroecology-People’s Expo recipe to mend broken food systems - La Via Campesina, June 6, 2015
• Hands on the Land for Food Sovereignty - By Frederica Toscano and Elisa Caricato, La Via Campesina, June 6, 2015
• Peasants are under the thumb of free market - La Via Campesina, June 6, 2015
• Peasants from around the world: views on Expo 2015 - By Frederica Toscano and Elisa Caricato, La Via Campesina, June 5, 2015
• Africa's farmers fight the corporate takeover of seeds, land and food - By Chris Walker, The Ecologist, June 4, 2015
• Big Ag Claims Cancer-Causing Glyphosate No More Dangerous Than ‘Coffee or Working the Night Shift’ - By Mary Ellen Kustin, Environmental Working Group, EcoWatch, June 4, 2015
• G7, be warned: your 'New Alliance' threatens to destroy small-scale farmers; the Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles - By The Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles, The Ecologist, June 4, 2015
• People Should Control the Food System, Not Corporations; Why you should ditch the official EXPO and go to the People's EXPO instead - By Kirtana Chandrasekaran and Stanka Becheva, Common Dreams, June 1, 2015
• Marching on Monsanto and its Government Protectors - By Pete Dolack, CounterPunch, May 29, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Fire at Kentex footware factory kills more than 70 workers - By Jiselle Hanna Sam, rabble.ca, June 8, 2015
• Coal ash spill workers given second chance in court - By Staff, WBIR.COM, June 5, 2015
• Watch: Nancy Hutchison speaks at Justice for Injured Workers rally - By Rebel Sage, rabble.ca, June 4, 2015
• Communities Deserve A Say in Chemical Security - By Taylor Smith-Hams, GreenPeace Blog, June 3, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Norway confirms $900bn sovereign wealth fund's major coal divestment - By Damian Carrington, The Guardian, June 5, 2015
• Oil field services hit hard in jobs report - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, June 5, 2015

Just Transition:

• Jobs, justice, climate: A new climate movement is rising from below - By Naomi Klein, rabble.ca, June 8, 2015
• 1.2 Million US Green Jobs Reported In Q1. Here’s Why That’s A Problem - By Silvio Marcacci, Clean Technica, June 5, 2015
• Systemic Problems Require Systemic Solutions: Time to Talk About the Next System - By Gus Speth, The Leap, June 5, 2015
• If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!Potential Impacts of Privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority - By Joel Yudken, Economic Policy Institute, June 4, 2015

Other News:

• RMT responds to collapse in East Coast performance - By RMT Press Office, rmt.org, June 4, 2015
• Vast Federal Biological Collections at Risk; U.S. Geological Survey Shirks Responsibility for Managing Troves of Specimens - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 4, 2015
• Striking workers occupy Telefónica HQ in Barcelona - By Timothy Ginty, RoarMag, June 2, 2015
• Take over of the National Gallery: privatisation, oil sponsorship and Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ - Press Release, Reclaim the Power, June 1, 2015

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

By Harsha Walia - Ricochet, June 3, 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.

Dozens of social movement organizers recently gathered in Toronto at a meeting convened by the This Changes Everything team to envision a new economy centered on climate justice. With relentless extractions of labour and land harming all life on earth, cross-sectoral alliances are necessary.

But a number of predictable tensions bubbled up at the gathering, some related to land defence and workers’ rights. How do we shift from a petro-economy to prevent catastrophic climate change while safeguarding workers whose livelihoods depend on the resource economy? Over the past few decades a green economy, which would ensure jobs and equity within a low-carbon economy, has been posited as a solution.

Extending from this and in the context of reconciliation, I want to envision emancipatory possibilities of solidarity between workers’ movements for self-management and Indigenous struggles for self-determination.

By Paul Paz y Miño and Kevin Koenig - True Cost of Chevron, May 22, 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.

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 Megan Devlin - Rabble.ca, May 22, 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.

It was chilly in the shadow of the TD building at King and Bay Thursday morning as about 40 members of a coalition of grassroots organizations raised their red placards at the launch for the March for Jobs, Justice and the Climate.

The march will happen July 5 -- on the eve of the Pan American Climate Summit of the Americas -- but it was clear that the movement has already gained support.

The launch criticized the fossil fuel industry's power and called for a justice-based transition to a clean-energy-based economy.

"We're ready for the next economy," Naomi Klein said in her address. "Canadians are clearly getting tired of the fossil fuel roller coaster."

The march is a collaboration among a range of stakeholder groups including 350.org, Idle No More, No One is Illegal, GreenPeace, oil divestment activists from the University of Toronto and Canada's largest private sector union, Unifor, which represents many of Alberta's energy workers.  

By Kirsten Stade - Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, May 28, 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.

Washington, DC — Workplace chemical exposures are the nation’s eighth leading cause of death but the U.S. lacks any strategy for preventing the more than 40,000 premature deaths each year, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Today the group unveiled a Worker Right-to-Know website displaying 30 years of Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) chemical exposure readings from inspections back to 1984 so workers can see what substances they encountered and to help guide OSHA in improving safeguards for worker health.

Occupational exposures kill malignantly, from cancer, neurological breakdown, cardiopulmonary disease, and other chronic maladies. While this toll claims the lives of more than 10 times the workers killed in all on-the-job accidents combined, OSHA spends in excess of 90% of its budget on safety issues.

“More Americans die each year from workplace chemical exposure than from all highway accidents, yet we have no national effort to stem this silent occupational epidemic,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing out that allowed chemical exposure on-the-job is roughly 1000 times higher than in the general ambient environment. “In the U.S., environmental protection stops at the factory door.”

The new PEER database allows comprehensive workplace exposure data to be searched by year, by state, by establishment type and by substances detected. Individual inspection data may also be viewed. It also provides a geospatial display of all OSHA workplace monitoring sampling results. PEER hopes the readings will give workers and their doctors clues about the origins of otherwise mysterious illnesses.

These occupational risks may be on the rise as thousands of new chemicals are introduced in U.S. workplaces each year. Yet OSHA figures show a slow decline in health sampling. At its current rate of health inspections, it would take OSHA nearly 600 years to sample chemical exposure at half the nation’s industrial facilities that handle hazardous substances.

On a policy level, PEER is asking responsible agencies to come to grips with the problem by calling for –

• OSHA to start using its own air sampling data to pinpoint where health inspections are most needed and to increase the number of such inspections; and
• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to conduct an updated national survey of occupational exposures, a survey it last did thirty-five years ago.

“Reversing this long lethal trend requires a national commitment to ‘green’ the American workplace,” added Ruch. “Above all, OSHA needs to rediscover its ‘H’ by taking affirmative steps to sharply reduce the slow poisoning of American workers.”

By Richard Smith - World Economics Association - 2015

This book is a collection of five essays that deal with the prime threat to human life on Earth: the tendency of global capitalist economic development to develop us to death, to drive us off the cliff to ecological collapse. It begins with a review of the origins of this economic dynamic in the transition to capitalism in England and Europe and with an analysis of the ecological implications of capitalist economics as revealed in the work of its founding theorist – Adam Smith. I argue that, once installed, the requirements of reproduction under capitalism – the pressure of competition, the imperative need to innovate and develop the forces of production to beat the competition, the need to constantly grow production and expand the market and so on, induced an expansive logic that has driven economic development and overdevelopment, down to the present day.

In successive essays I explicate and criticize the two leading mainstream approaches to dealing with the ecological consequences of this over-developmental dynamic – décroisance or “degrowth”, and “green capitalism”. I show that the theorists and proponents of no-growth or de-growth – like Herman Daly or Tim Jackson – are correct in arguing that infinite economic growth is not possible on a finite planet, but that they’re wrong to imagine that capitalism can be refashioned as a kind of “steady state” economy, let alone actually “degrow” without precipitating economic collapse. There are further problems with this model, which I also investigate. I show that the theorists and proponents of “green capitalism” such as Paul Hawkin, Lester Brown and Frances Cairncross are wrong to think that tech miracles, “dematerialization”, new efficiencies, recycling and the like, will permit us to grow the global economy – more or less forever – without consuming and polluting ourselves to death. I show that while we’re all better off with organic groceries, energy-efficient light bulbs and so on, such developments do not fundamentally reverse the eco-suicidal tendencies of capitalist development, because in any capitalist economy the environment has to be subordinated to maximizing growth and sales, or companies can’t survive in the marketplace. Yet infinite growth, even green growth, is impossible on a finite planet.

In the final essays I argue that since capitalism can only drive us to ecological collapse, we have no choice but to try to cashier this system and replace it with an entirely different economy and mode of life based on: minimizing not maximizing resource consumption; public ownership of most, though not necessarily all, of the economy; large-scale economic planning and international coordination; and a global “contraction and convergence” between the North and the South around a lower but hopefully satisfactory level of material consumption for all the world’s peoples. Whether we can pull off such a transition is another question. We may very well fail to overthrow capitalism and replace it with a viable alternative. That may be our fate. But around the world, in thousands of locations, people are organizing and fighting against corporate power, against land grabs, against extreme extraction, against the incessant commodification of our lives. Here and there, as in Greece and China, ruling classes are on the defensive. All these fights have a common demand: bottom-up democracy, popular power. In this lies our best hope. This little book is intended as more ammunition for that fight.

Read the report (Link).

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