just transition

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, May 8, 2024

By Nicole González, et. al. - Green New Deal Media, May 7, 2024

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, May 7, 2024

By Union Jake, Adam Keller, et. al. - Valley Labor Report, May 3, 2024

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, May 1, 2024

By Veronica Wilson - Labor Network for Sustainability, April 30, 2024

On May 8, 2024, California Labor for Climate Jobs (CLCJ) will rally for a Day of Action at the California state capitol. As legislators head into final days of committee hearings and Governor Gavin Newsom prepares to announce his 2024-2025 State Budget revisions, CLCJ will turn up the volume to voice their pro-worker and pro-climate demands. Now with 15 unions on board, the coalition already has some wins like EV manufacturing block grant programs in the state to prioritize high road employers to enhance labor standards, community benefits and labor peace agreements.

Adding to that momentum, the coalition’s manufacturing, home care, service, education, food and commercial, and public employees unions will link arms to call for climate resilient schools, Cal OSHA staffing, indoor and outdoor heat protections for workers, and more. Track #workerledtransition and #labormustleadonclimate and please help amplify the worker-led transition to a climate-safe economy. You can follow these and more on CLCJ social media, including CLCJ Instagram, CLCJ Facebook, and CLCJ Twitter/X.

By Chris Litchfield - Labor Network for Sustainability, April 30, 2024

In conjunction with the US Climate Action Network and RE-AMP Network, LNS convened thirty community leaders and union activists in Chicago, April 11th and 12th, to discuss regional solidarity in the fight for just transition. Grounded by RE-AMP’s technical analysis on current state of emissions in the Midwest and updates from USCAN’s international and regional campaigns (both the Fast, Full, Fair Fossil Fuel Phase-Out and the Power 4 Southern People, NOT Southern Company campaigns, respectively), just economic and social transition, and the importance of labor’s engagement in that transition, took center stage.

What really came through was the necessity to embrace a broader framework for just transition, rooting our understanding in the history of the United States. As there has yet to be a truly just transition from the underpinnings of the US economic system, namely slavery and settler colonialism, it was agreed upon that same system cannot be expected to equitably transition from fossil fuels, and any struggle for a sustainable future has to proactively address those previous unjust transitions. A visit to the site of the Haymarket Square Rally and the resting place of the Haymarket martyrs was a further reminder of the long struggle for an equitable, sustainable future we carry forward despite violence from the right wing and the state.

By Chris Litchfield - Labor Network for Sustainability, April 30, 2024

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

For two years, the GKN auto parts plant in Florence, Italy, has been occupied by laid-off workers. In late March, thousands of people from all over Italy marched in solidarity with workers from the plant. The call for the March 25 demonstration was signed by hundreds of organizations.

The workers issued a plan for “reindustrialization from below” with reconversion toward sustainable mobility and renewable energy. A Reindustrialization Group has identified the skills of the workers, mapped the factory’s layout, and inventoried its machinery and infrastructure. It is now seeking projects to make use of their machinery and skills. The workers are negotiating with a company that specializes in clean energy production to explore the possibility of producing cutting-edge photovoltaic panels and batteries at the plant. Meanwhile, an “Ex GKN for Future” crowdfunding campaign is laying the groundwork for a future based on “popular shareholding.” It raised nearly 60,000 Euros in the first two weeks – anyone can invest.

To learn more: https://jacobin.com/2023/04/italy-gkn-factory-occupation-transform-production-workers-jobs-climate-change

For the crowdfunding campaign portal (in English, French, German, and Spanish, and Italian): https://www.produzionidalbasso.com/project/gkn-for-future/

By Union Jake and Adam Keller - Valley Labor Report, April 29, 2024