green unionism

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, August 23, 2023

By Dan DiMaggio and Keith Brower Brown - Labor Notes, August 17, 2023

The clock is ticking toward September 14 at midnight, when the Auto Workers’ contracts with the Big 3 automakers expire. The new leaders of the UAW have come out swinging, and in quickly growing numbers, members are stepping up to prepare for a strike.

The agreements cover close to 150,000 workers at Ford, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis.

In early August President Shawn Fain presented a list of “the Members’ Demands” to the companies, calling them “the most audacious and ambitious list of proposals they’ve seen in decades.” These bargaining goals are aimed at undoing concessions extracted by the companies from previous union administrations since before the Great Recession. A major goal is to ensure that the transition to electric vehicles is not used to further undermine auto workers’ standards.

Entering this round of bargaining, the Big 3 have reported a combined $21 billion in profits in the first half of 2023. This comes on top of profits of $250 billion over the last 10 years. “Our message going into bargaining is clear: record profits mean record contracts,” Fain told UAW members on Facebook Live August 1.

Instead of the UAW’s past tradition of targeting just one auto company in bargaining, then basing contracts for the others off that model, Fain warned all three companies to consider themselves targets, keeping them guessing about which one may ultimately be struck—or whether union members might walk out at all three. In 2019, 49,000 UAW members struck GM for six weeks.

By Sydney Ghazarian - Labor Network for Sustainability, August 17, 2023

Welcome everyone! My name is Sydney, I am an organizer with the Labor Network for Sustainability, and I am honored to facilitate tonight’s Solidarity Call for United Auto Workers Union, which is currently bargaining for a fair contract with the Big 3 Automakers- Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. 

What makes tonight’s call so special is that it’s a solidarity call by and for the climate movement because we recognize that UAW’s fight is our fight too.

What I love about the climate movement is that we are fighters. And our fight has spanned decades and across generations, and for the last several years, hundreds and thousands of us have rallied, door knocked, made calls, and done sit ins and direct actions to fight for a Green New Deal– which is a society-wide mobilization and just transition to decarbonize the economy while repairing historic harm and creating millions of high-paying, union jobs.

And I want to be clear: Without us fighting for a Green New Deal, there would be no Inflation Reduction Act and its historic investments in clean energy. But we also know that the IRA is not a Green New Deal, and falls desperately short of the Green New Deal’s vision of the world we are trying to build. Rather than massive investments in the public sector, frontline communities, and good, green, union jobs that uplift working people, the IRA invests primarily in private corporations– often the same ones responsible for perpetuating the climate crisis in the first place. 

Unlike the IRA, the Green New Deal understands that the implementation of climate policy, and how resources are distributed to achieve it, are key to ensuring climate justice and ensuring that millions of people are equipped to take that leap of faith away from fossil fuels and into a green economy. 

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - The Valley Labor Report, August 16, 2023

By Julia Conley - Common Dreams, August 15, 2023

The president of the United Auto Workers on Tuesday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to use his position of power to help ensure a just transition to electric vehicles—pushing for a major investment in green technology that would also guarantee that workers in the U.S. can earn a decent living in the evolving auto industry.

Biden's actions on the electric vehicle (EV) front, Shawn Fain toldThe Guardian, have been "disappointing."

It has been a year since the president signed his signature climate and jobs law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes incentives for car companies to ramp up manufacturing of EVs and for consumers to purchase them.

The law has paved the way for the "Big Three" automakers—Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors (GM)—to build EV battery plants in joint ventures with companies such as Samsung, SK On, and LG Energy Solution, but the federal incentives and loans have been given to the firms without the guarantee of fair pay and working conditions for the people who will work in the plants.

By Andrew Glasford, Lucy Burke, and Keir Milburn - Green New Deal Media, December 19, 2023

By staff - AFGE, August 14, 2023

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a heat hazard alert and announced more enforcement as a reminder to employers that they have the duty to protect workers. 

OSHA’s heat hazard alert comes as most states are experiencing record-breaking heat that puts workers at risk.

“It’s the law! Employers have a duty to protect workers against heat,” OSHA said in the alert. “Employers have a legal and moral responsibility not to assign work in high heat conditions without protections in place for workers, where they could be literally worked to death.” 

“The department [of Labor] also announced that OSHA will intensify its enforcement where workers are exposed to heat hazards, with increased inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture,” the Department of Labor said. “These actions will fully implement the agency’s National Emphasis Program on heat, announced in April 2022, to focus enforcement efforts in geographic areas and industries with the most vulnerable workers.

OSHA’s alert applies to both workers in the public and private sectors. AFGE members are voicing concerns on the heat issue as well. To date, we heard from locals representing TSA, EPA, and Ft. Belvoir employees. 

“They talked about TSA workers passing out. They filed an OSHA complaint, and TSA did the right things for about three days. Then it went back to the same old -- meaning no heat protections for workers,” said AFGE Health and Safety Specialist Milly Rodriguez. 

According to OSHA, employers should provide cool water, breaks, and a cool rest area for employees. They should train employees on heat illness prevention and what to do if they see another employee suffering from heat illness. They should also allow employees to become used to working in hot temperatures.

Under the OSHA Act, if workers don’t feel their working conditions are safe, they can file a confidential complaint with OSHA online or call OSHA at 800- 321-OSHA. It’s illegal for an employer to retaliate against a workers who exercises their legal rights and file a complaint with OSHA.

By Staff - ILWU, August 11, 2023

On August 10, the Humboldt Bay Harbor District approved a project labor agreement (PLA) for the construction of an offshore wind terminal at the Port of Humboldt Bay that also secures the ILWU’s traditional, historic, and geographic jurisdiction at the Port.

More than 40 ILWU members from ILWU Locals 14, 18, 34, 54, and the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) came to the meeting and spoke in favor of the agreement. Longshore work is not a part of the PLA, which only covers the construction of the terminal, however, the ILWU and the California State Building Trades Council negotiated an amendment in the agreement that ensures that loading and unloading of cargo “shall remain the sole jurisdiction of the ILWU.”

The ILWU Executive Board’s Offshore Wind Subcommittee, chaired by Local 34 President Sean Farley, has been working with the ILWU Organizing Department and Washington, D.C. Legislative Department for more than two years. They have been meeting with officials at the federal, state, and local levels, offshore wind developers, and the California State Building Trades Council to protect ILWU jurisdiction and to make it clear that ILWU members will be loading and offloading all cargo and that the members of the IBU will also be performing their traditional work on these projects.

Members of Local 14 in Eureka have been meeting with Humboldt Bay Harbor District Commissioners for more than a year and attending Harbor District meetings monthly to learn about this new industry, build relationships, and protect the ILWU’s jurisdiction.

Construction on the terminal is not expected to start until 2025 and could take up to three years to complete. The offloading of any cargo could be at least 7 years away but it is essential to be involved in the process early to protect longshore work and the work of IBU mariners.

“The Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind project will be the first, but not the last offshore wind project on the West Coast,” said ILWU International Vice President Bobby Olvera, Jr. “Securing our jurisdiction on this first project sets an important precedent as we continue to fight to protect our work on future offshore wind projects.”