labor and environment

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 1, 2015

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

Lead Stories:

• Protest Ban? What Protest Ban? - By Danny Chivers, New Internationalist, November 29, 2015
• Can a WA State climate policy train wreck be averted? - By Patrick Mazza, Cascadia Planet, November 27, 2015
• “We Need Not Be Polite” Hears First National Conference On Oil Train Threats - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, November 25, 2015
• Dhaka: Climate refugees and a collapsing city - By Sohara Mehroze Shachi, UNDP, November 23, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future! - December 12, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Road to Paris:

• Why the Paris climate talks are doomed to failure, like all the others - By Steffen Böhm, The Conversation, November 30, 2015
• COP21 actions go ahead: 'We are not defending nature - we are nature defending itself' - By Nadine Bloch, The Ecologist, November 28, 2015
• Environment activists plan to defy Paris ban on protests at UN Climate Conference - By Larissa Dubecki, The Age, November 28, 2015
• Climate change rally: Tens of thousands gather in Melbourne ahead of UN talks - By Sara Phillips, Australian Broadcasting Company, November 27, 2015
• Paris climate activists put under house arrest using emergency laws - By Arthur Neslen, The Guardian, November 27, 2015
• If 'Life Must Go On,' say Groups, France Must Lift Ban on Climate Protests - By Jon Queally, Common Dreams, November 26, 2015
• Climate Jobs Activities in Paris - By Jonathan Nancy, Global Climate Jobs, November 25, 2015
• Our call for climate justice will be heard - By Ragina Johnson, Socialist Worker, November 25, 2015
• “Filthy Foxes” Guard the Paris COP Hen House - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, November 24, 2015
• It’s Too Late to “Save” the Climate, But Not Too Late to Save Ourselves - By Aaron Lehmar Craig, World Shift Vision, November 23, 2015
• Mainers will head to Paris as they push for Obama to make climate deal - By Randy Billings, Portland Press Herald, November 23, 2015
• 'Now More Than Ever': In Paris and Beyond, Climate Movement Will Be Heard - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, November 23, 2015
• Thousands of protesters demand action on climate change - By Oakland North, San Francisco Chronicle, November 23, 2015
• What’s really at stake at the Paris climate conference now marches are banned - By Naomi Klein, The Guardian, November 20, 2015
• Why climate activists should support nationalisation and direct public investment - By Zane Alcorn, Green Left Weekly, November 20, 2015
• Is the Paris Climate March Cancellation a 'Gift to the Movement'? - By Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone, November 19, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• A farmers´ climate appeal to policy - By Georg Janßen, et. al., La Via Campesina, November 30, 2015
• Water can't be for sale - By Mike Gonzalez and Nick Evans, Socialist Worker, November 30, 2015
• ‘Fruits of Justice’ – Activists & Lawyers in Support of Familias Unidas por la Justicia - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, November 26, 2015
• Food for Thought on Thanksgiving Eve… - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, November 25, 2015
• Thousands protest in Seoul against the government policies - By Staff, La Via Campesina, November 25, 2015
• What's Missing From Our Thanksgiving Menus? Justice for Farm Workers - By Jennifer S. Hirsch, Huffington Post, November 25, 2015
• Behind Your Holiday Sweet Potato Dish, Hard Work In The Fields - By Dan Charles, NPR, November 24, 2015
• Salmon Fishermen and Consumer Groups Criticize FDA Approval of Frankenfish - By Dan Bacher, East Bay Express, November 23, 2015

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, November 24, 2015

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

Lead Stories:

• "Environmental Goods." Really? - By Lee Anderson, Blue Green Alliance, November 23, 2015
• Obama’s trade deal is in trouble - By Ian Swanson and Bob Cusack, The Hill, November 17, 2015
• Thanksgiving and the Slanderous Myth of the Savage Savage - By John Horgan, Scientic American, November 24, 2014

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future! - December 12, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Road to Paris:

• Prelude to Paris: Four Tragic Tactics by President Obama and Four Climate Justice Proposals He Must Support - By Eric Mann, Huffington Post, November 23, 2015
• France Cancels Major Climate March, Groups Say They Won’t Be Silenced - By Nadia Prupis, EcoWatch, November 19, 2015
• The Paris attacks make climate protests more important than ever - By Nick Dearden, The Ecologist, November 19, 2015
• Climate Activists Vow to Continue with Protests Ahead of Paris Talks - Alix Mazounie interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzáles, Democracy Now, November 18, 2015
• France forbids massive climate march in wake of Paris attacks - By James West, Grist, November 18, 2015
• Paris Attacks Complicate Upcoming UN Climate Talks - By Kieran Cooke, EcoWatch, November 18, 2015
• Climate Movement, Don't Back Down at Paris #COP21 - By Tim DeChristopher, timdechristopher.org, November 17, 2015
• Climate Activists Vow to Demonstrate During Paris Talks - By Katherine Bagley, Inside Climate News, November 16, 2015
• After the massacres of Paris: dread, revolt, action: statement from Attac France - By Attac France, Reclaim the Power, November 14, 2015
• 'False Solutions' Won't Save Mother Earth: Tom Goldtooth on COP21 - By Dominique Godrèche, Indian Country Today, November 5, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Costco Warehouse in Sacramento Target of Pre-Thanksgiving Protest - By Staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, November 21, 2015
• Kao Bart Village, Thailand: Peasant Women in Struggle for Land Rights and Well Being - By Staff, La Via Campesina, November 20, 2015
• Let’s talk about the rights of women farmers! - By Maria Vogt and Monika Thuswald, La Via Campesina, November 20, 2015
• Farmworkers, allies march on Big Apple Headquarters of Wendy’s Board Chairman, Nelson Peltz! - By Staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, November 19, 2015
• Syngenta convicted in Brazil - By Staff, La Via Campesina, November 19, 2015
• A chance for the EU to amend bad policies in the milk sector - By Genevieve Savigny and Jose Miguel Pacheco Gonçalves, La Via Campesina, November 18, 2015
• Greek Farmers Protest Austerity Measures - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, November 18, 2015
• Unlikely bedfellows on the Liverpool Plains - By Tom Morton, Australian Broadcasting Company, November 17, 2015
• After Decades in a Food Desert, These Neighbors Are Building a $2 Million Co-op—And They Own It - By Liz Pleasant, Yes!, November 12, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Morale Charades at Chemical Safety Board: Managing Director Scapegoated as CSB Stalls Mandatory Morale Survey Analysis - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 20, 2015
• When Temp Workers Die While Being Taken to the Job, Who’s Responsible? - By Spencer Woodman, In These Times, November 20, 2015
• Manslaughter charges filed in deadly 2012 platform blast - By Associated Press, FuelFix, November 19, 2015
• Second train worker sues BNSF over Casselton oil train explosion - By Emily Welker, Inforum, November 19, 2015
• USDA Sued to End Scientific Censorship: Unconstitutional Restraints on Publishing and Weak Integrity Protections at Issue - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 19, 2015
• [TRIGGER WARNING] Mongolian trade unionist burns himself alive in a shocking act of protest (VIDEO) - By Staff, Russia Times, November 17, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Union Pacific to close Burnham repair yard in Denver - By Alicia Wallace, The Denver Post, November 17, 2015
• Worldwide oil job losses climb to 233,000, recruiter says - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, November 17, 2015
• Enbridge to cut 5 percent of workforce amid slump - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, November 16, 2015

Just Transition:

• Major Poll Shows African Americans Support Clean Energy, Clean Jobs, & Clean Power Plan - By Cynthia Shahan, Clean Technica, November 23, 2015
• Is your pension fund in climate denial? - By Marc Lee, Rabble.Ca, November 19, 2015
• New Report on "Connecticut’s Clean Energy Future" - By Marc Lee, Labor Network for Sustainability, November 19, 2015
• Blockade of Chicago Petcoke Facility Calls for Green Jobs Instead of Toxic Fossil Fuels - By Will Reynolds, Huffington Post, November 16, 2015

Other News:

• The Ticking Climate Bomb - By Jay Youngdahl, East Bay Express, November 18, 2015
• ‘Keep It in the Ground’ Victory: BLM Utah Halts Oil and Gas Lease Sale - By Sage Grouse Rebel, Canyon Country Rising Tide, November 17, 2015
• Big Coal Comes to Oakland - By Catherine Schuknecht, Sierra, November 16, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, November 17, 2015

Mural of Karen Silkwood (depicted, right) by Mike Alewitz

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

Lead Stories:

• Oakland's Toxic Failure - By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, November 11, 2015
• Environmental Groups Aren’t Buying The TPP’s Wildlife Provisions - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, November 10, 2015
• Labor, Environmental Leaders Call on Congress to Reject Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement - By Eric Steen, Blue Green Alliance, November 10, 2015
• Trans-Pacific Partnership deal "an act of climate denial - By Charles Mandel, National Observer, November 10, 2015
• The TPP Won’t Just Cost Workers Jobs—It Could Cost Them Their Lives, Too - By Leo Gerard, In These Times, November 10, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future! - December 12, 2015
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

The Road to Paris:

• After the Attacks: A Climate Organizer's Notes from Paris - By David Solinit, The Indypendent, November 15, 2015
• Paris attacks: COP21 and the war on terror - By Oliver Tickell, The Ecologist, November 14, 2015
• Lack of ambition before Paris Climate Conference - By John Dillon, Rabble.Ca, November 12, 2015
• Will the Paris Climate Talks Deliver the World We Need? Not likely - By Janet Redman, Foreign Policy in Focus, November 12, 2015
• Agri-Corporations Attempt to Hijack COP21 - By Vandana Shiva, EcoWatch, November 11, 2015
• Corporate agenda threatens to straightjacket Paris COP 21 proceedings yet again - By Brad Hornick, Rabble.Ca, November 11, 2015
• University fossil fuel divestment doubles ahead of Paris climate talks: Press Release - By admin, People and Planet, November 10, 2015
• Two Significant Steps Forward; One Step Back Towards Paris - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, November 9, 2015
• World Pledges to Increase Emissions - By Johnathan Nancy, Global Climate Jobs, November 9, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Canfisco Cannery Line Closure: UFAWU Response - By Riley Caputo, West Coast Native News, November 16, 2015
• BREAKING: CIW, allies to march on NYC offices of Wendy’s Chairman Nelson Peltz! - By Gerardo Reyes Chavez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, November 13, 2015
• Nov. 21st: “Uniting for Fair Food” National Day of Action for the Thanksgiving season - By admin, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, November 11, 2015
• Will the EPA Ban a Pesticide That’s Been Lowering Children’s IQs for Years? - By Elizabeth Grossman, In These Times, November 10, 2015
• Workers Speak Up After Being Told To Go Back To Work After Chemical Spill - By Esther Yu-Hsi Lee, Think Progress, November 6, 2015
• Bolivian Urban Farming Coop Empowers Migrant Women - By Anna Bergren Miller, Shareable, November 3, 2015
• How California Birthed the Modern Right Wing - By Chris Lehmann, In These Times, October 6, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Accused in Lac-Mégantic derailment plead not guilty on federal charges - By staff, Montreal Gazette, November 12, 2015
• BHP Billiton drops 10-year-run with Teekay for non-unionized upstart - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, November 11, 2015
• Big Oil Brown Strikes Again: The governor's hypocrisy on climate change deepens - By Robert Gammon, East Bay Express, November 10, 2015; [related] Oil and gas regulator lodged complaint over work for Gov. Brown - By AP Wire, FuelFix, November 10, 2015
• Why the United States Leaves Deadly Chemicals on the Market - By Valerie Brown and Elizabeth Grossman, In These Times, November 2, 2015
• Marikana Massacre Represents the Beginning of the End of the African National Congress - By Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, Black Agenda Report, October 28, 2015
• Workers win settlement, back pay from Alaska fuel distributor - By staff, The Stand, October 26, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Job losses continue across the state as oil field services firms cut back - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, November 16, 2015
• Why fossil fuel stock prices are doomed - By Brett Fleishman, 350.org, November 16, 2015
• Oil crash job losses in Texas may be steeper than previously thought - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, November 12, 2015
• North Dakota oil patch town moves closer to banning crew camps in city limits - By AP Wire, FuelFix, November 11, 2015
• Noble begins second round of layoffs, 180 jobs on the chopping block - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, November 10, 2015
• Why the oil sands no longer make economic sense - By Jeff Rubin, The Globe and Mail, November 9, 2015
• Political Climate Shifting Against The Oil And Gas Industry - By Nick Cunningham, OilPrice.Com, November 8, 2015
• What is happening in the steel industry? - By Walton Pantland, Union Solidarity International, October 27, 2015

Just Transition:

• Climate Jobs in Portugal - By Jonathan Nancy, Global Climate Jobs, November 12, 2015
• It's Already Happening: A Message to COP 21 - By John Thackara, Doors of Perception, November 11, 2015
• Moving to renewable energy would create millions of jobs, study finds - By Katie Herzog, Grist, November 11, 2015
• New Program Aims For 1000 New Solar Jobs For US Veterans - By Tina Casey, Solar Love, November 10, 2015
• The Left should embrace degrowth - By Giorgos Kallis, The New Internationalist, November 5, 2015

Other News:

• Alaska Seabird Reintroduction Boondoggle - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 16, 2015
• Sierra Club and community partners keep pressure on Oakland City Council to ban coal exports—Join Dec. 8 teach-in and action - By Jeremy Gong, Sierra Club Yodeler, November 13, 2015
• Capitalism vs. Climate: Naomi Klein’s New Film Takes Us From the Current Crisis to the World We Want - By Kate Aronoff, Yes!, November 5, 2015
• Collective action gets Guangzhou sanitation workers direct employment contracts - By staff, China Labor Bulletin, November 5, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Article and Image by Dahr Jamail - TruthOut, November 13, 2015

(Depicted: right) Coyne Gibson and Alyce Santoro are part of a grassroots resistance movement opposing a massive gas pipeline project between Mexico and the US. (Photo: Dahr Jamail)

If a couple of billionaires get their way, a 143-mile-long, 42-inch high pressure natural gas transmission pipeline will be built right through the heart of Texas' starkly beautiful and remote Chihuahuan desert. Plans are currently in the works for the pipeline, which would be larger in diameter than the infamous Keystone XL.

Although it has garnered far less media attention than the Keystone XL, this West Texas project has already sparked a massive grassroots resistance movement that has unified ranchers, Tea-Partiers, artists, environmentalists and the vast majority of the residents in this sparsely populated corner of the country.

Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren, the head of the Dallas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) which now boasts former Texas governor Rick Perry on its board of directors, and Carlos Slim of Mexico, who is reportedly the second-richest person on earth, are the core partners behind the Trans-Pecos pipeline project. The aim of the pipeline is to deliver natural gas from Texas to Mexico, where it is in high demand.

Transporting gas from a plant in Coyanosa, near Fort Stockton, Texas, down to the border, the line is supposed to be built underneath the Rio Grande River, after which it will connect into Mexico's gas infrastructure.

Slim and Warren promise that the pipeline will be both safe and environmentally friendly.

But Coyne Gibson, who worked for a decade in the oil and gas industry as an electrical and control systems engineer, vehemently disagrees with that claim.

"I used to do this kind of work, so I admit to past crimes, so to speak," Gibson told Truthout in Alpine, Texas, where signs of the pipeline's construction are already evident.

"I've seen firsthand what this [pipeline] does to the places it touches," he said. "It is horrifically environmentally impactful. The immediate impact is the absolute environmental destruction of every living thing in its path. And that's just to get started."

It is information like this coming from Gibson, coupled with what people are perceiving as an arrogant and bellicose attitude of Energy Transfer, that has created what has now become a battle for the land in Far West Texas.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, November 10, 2015

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

Lead Stories:

• The inside story of how the Keystone fight was won - By Ben Adler, Grist, November 6, 2015
• Fed Regulators Accuse Murray Energy Of Trying To Silence Whistleblowers, Creating 'Atmosphere Of Intimidation' At 5 West Virginia Coal Mines - By Cole Stangler, International Business Times, November 4, 2015
• Petrobras output cut by oil workers striking against austerity - Bloomberg, FuelFix, November 3, 2015
• Lifting oil export ban could bring more revenue, hurt refineries and jobs in Wyoming - By Laura Hancock, Casper Star Tribune, October 17, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Jobs, Justice, Climate: Rally to Defend New England's Future! - December 12, 2015
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

Keystone X-L Rejected:

• UpFront: Antonia Juhasz on Keystone XL; Meera Subramanian on India’s Environment [audio] - By Brian Edwards Tiekert, KPFA 94.1 FM, November 9, 2015
• In Huge Win For Environmentalists, Obama Rejects The Keystone XL Pipeline - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, November 6, 2015
• 'It Is Sickening' And Other Outrageous Responses To Obama’s Keystone Decision - By Kara Moses, Think Progress, November 6, 2015
• Nurses Applaud President’s Decision to Reject Keystone XL - Press Release, National Nurses United, November 6, 2015
• Obama: Keystone XL Pipeline 'Would Not Make a Meaningful Long-Term Contribution to Our Economy' - By Stefanie Spear, EcoWatch, November 6, 2015

The Road to Paris:

• "Peasant Agroecology for Food Sovereignty and Mother Earth, experiences of La Via Campesina". Now available! - Press Release, La Via Campesina, Novmeber 9, 2015
• COP21 101: The Ecologist Guide to the Paris mobilisations - By Kara Moses, The Ecologist, Novmeber 3, 2015
• Jobs That Will Be Most Affected by Global Warming - By Diana Crandall, Attn, October 31, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Canada-wide migrant worker coalition calls on Trudeau to MoVE for Real Change - Press Release, Migrant Workers Alliance, October 27, 2015
• What happens when 100+ Monsanto employees crash your presentation on GE crops and pesticides - By Ashley Lukens, Center for Food Safety, October 19, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Columbia Valley economy takes big hit with closing of Canfor mill at Canal Flats - By Nelson Daily, The Boundary Sentinel, November 8, 2015
• Will Pakistan Change Its Safety Standards After Another Deadly Factory Collapse? - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, November 5, 2015
• Malibu School District Sics Cops on Parents: Vandalism Complaint for Taking PCB-Laden Caulk Samples for Lab Testing - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 4, 2015
• Massey insider wanted to share warning - By Ken Ward Jr., Coal Tattoo, November 4, 2015
• NLRB to Prosecute Asarco for Unfair Labor Practices - By Mariana Padias, United Steelworkers, November 4, 2015
• New Transparency is Opaque at Chemical Safety Board: Basic Information on Investigations, Procurement and Private Emails Still Missing - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, November 4, 2015
• Fukushima Gets A Lot Uglier - By Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, November 3, 2015
• Audit finds railroad safety lacking during high oil traffic - By Matt Volz, Associated Press, October 31, 2015
• Luanshya Miners put on forced leave riot over K900 monthly allowances - By Staff, Lukaka Times, October 30, 2015
• Strike begins at Turkey's largest copper mine - By Staff, Daily Sabah, October 30, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Bankruptcy expected for Arch Coal, a reflection of industry woes - By Elizabeth Shogren, High Country News, November 7, 2015
• Highland Valley Copper announces layoffs - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, November 5, 2015
• Layoffs announced at B.C. open-pit copper mine - Canadian Press, The Star Phoenix, November 5, 2015
• Steel tension: Granite City workers fear tough holiday ahead - By Scott Cousins, The Telegraph, November 4, 2015
• Chile’s Codelco lays off over 4,000 workers - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, November 3, 2015
• North Sea fields face more job cuts as slump impairs viability - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, November 3, 2015
• Oil Companies Have Cut Back Everything Except Crude Production - By Dan Murtaugh and Naureen Malik, Bloomberg, October 29, 2015

Just Transition:

• Investing in Clean Energy Will Create Millions of Jobs, Increase GDP and Raise Household Incomes - By NextGen Climate America, EcoWatch, November 9, 2015
• SF voters give city leaders a clear mandate on clean energy - By Jeremy Gong, The Yodeler, November 6, 2015
• California ballot initiative would eliminate IOUs, establish statewide public utility - By Herman K. Trabish, Utility Dive, November 3, 201
• Europe’s energy transformation falling behind in spite of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions - Staff Report, European Trade Union Institute, November 3, 2015
• How Will We Reach an Ecological Civilization and Who Will Build It? - By Chris Williams, Truthout, October 31, 2015

Other News:

• Portland Oil Resolution Passed Unanimously; Fossil Fuel Goes to Vote - Press Release, Columbia Riverkeeper, November 4, 2015
• University of Calgary's relationship with Enbridge slammed by faculty associations - By Staff, CBC News, November 2, 2015
• In Quest for Revenue, Los Angeles Times Creates Oil Industry Propaganda Website - By Andrew Seifter, Media Matters, October 30, 2015
• Recycling Workers Fight Firings and Win a Union - By David Bacon, The Reality Check, October 18, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, October 27, 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:

• Life and Death on the Line as Rich Nations Evade Climate Obligations - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, October 22, 2015
• For Big Railroads, a Carload of Whistleblower Complaints - By Stuart Silverstein and Brian Joseph, Fair Warning, October 21, 2015
• Death by Fracking - By Chris Hedges, Truth Dig, October 18, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

Bread and Roses:

• Mexican Farmers Accuse Mining Companies of Shady Tactics in Chiapas - By Renata Bessi and Santiago Navarro F, TruthOut, October 20, 2015
• Women fight to reclaim and use traditional seeds - By staff, La Via Campesina, October 20, 2015
• Polish 'farm defenders' arrested, imprisoned - By staff, The Ecologist, October 13, 2015
• Monsanto to Cut 2,600 Jobs as World Rejects its Products and Practices - By staff, Anti-Media, October 9, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Vestas investigates fatality at plant - By David Weston, Wind Power Monthly, October 26, 2015
• Deadline for train safety technology undercut by industry lobbying - By Ashley Halsey III and Michael Laris, Washington Post, October 25, 2015
• ExxonMobil Targets Journalists and Activists After Climate Change Investigation - By Melissa Cronin, Vice, October 24, 2015
• Apple's Supply-Chain Workers May Be Risking Cancer to Build Your iPhone - By Nicki Lisa Cole, TruthOut, October 23, 2015
• Retired Templeton fire chief: Do not understate risk of oil trains - By Greg O’Sullivan, San Luis Obispo Tribune, October 23, 2015
• Rana Plaza: safety undermined by lack of workplace democracy - By staff, European Trade Union Institute, October 21, 2015
• Feds probing death of worker on Gulf drillship - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, October 20, 2015
• Fukushima worker diagnosed with "acute" leukaemia due to radiation exposure - By Justin McKeating, Greenpeace, October 20, 2015; [related] Recovery Worker Is First To Be Diagnosed With Cancer From Fukushima Meltdowns - By Sam P. K. Collins, Think Progress, October 20, 2015; [related] Japan admits first possible case of cancer linked to Fukushima - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, October 20, 2015
• Indefinite Leave at Chemical Safety Board Prompts Complaint - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, October 20, 2015
• The People vs. the Koch-Funded Asbestos Industry - By Alex Formuzis, EcoWatch, October 20, 2015
• Occupational cancer: an expert reminds the EU of its responsibilities - By J Takala, European Trade Union Institute, October 15, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Maersk cutting up to 12 percent of oil jobs - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, October 26, 2015
• Vantage Drilling Co. lays off 135 workers in the Gulf of Mexico - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, October 26, 2015
• A Global Chill in Commodity Demand Hits America’s Heartland - By Nelson D Schwartz and Julie Creswell, New York Times, October 23, 2015
• Are the fracking vampires going bust? That's how it looks - By Joshua Frank, CounterPunch, October 23, 2015
• 56 people left on site as Myra Falls mine lays off nearly 100 workers: Vancouver Island - By Business in Vancouver, Mining.Com, October 23, 2015
• Bakken Reality Check - By J David Hughes, Resilience, October 21, 2015
• CSX To Close Mechanical Shops In Corbin, Kentucky - CSX Press Release, KFDA News Channel 10, October 21, 2015 [Note: as one would expect, this press release presumes that the capitalist "market" is innocent of any cause in this effect]
• Weatherford plans to cut 3,000 more jobs by the end of 2015 - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, October 21, 2015
• Nobody knows exactly how many oil jobs have been lost in Houston - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, October 19, 2015
• Two Aussie mines start moving all their iron ore with driverless trucks - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, October 18, 2015

Just Transition:

• Electrical workers union is first intervenor to back NextEra-HECO merger - By Robert Walton, Utility Dive, October 22, 2015
• Jobs - By Roy L Hales, The Eco Report, October 21, 2015
• Sweden Experiments With A 6-Hour Work Day - By David Morris, Institute for Local Self Reliance, October 21, 2015
• Meaningful Work - By Brian Miller, The South Roane Agrarian, October 18, 2015
• Paris climate summit: Not saving the world - By Alex Scrivener, Red Pepper, October 2015

Other News:

• With Traditional Unions on the Decline, Can Members-Only Unions Breathe Life Back Into Labor? - By Moshe Marvit and Leigh Anne Schriever, In These Times, October 21, 2015
• Interview: Oakland torn between coal cash and good health - By Ben Trefny, KALW 91.7 FM, October 20, 2015
• Amazon's Female Defenders Denounce 'Macho' Repression and Demand Rights - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, October 19, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, October 21, 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:

• Unless You’re a Corporation, Nothing Good Will Come of the Trans-Pacific Partnership - By Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers President, In These Times, October 15, 2015
• With the threat of coal exports, Oakland piles more pollution on a polluted community - By Raven Rakia, Grist, October 13, 2015
• 'Capitalism is Mother Earth's Cancer': World People's Summit Issues 12 Demands - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, October 12, 2015
• Activists promise largest climate civil disobedience ever at Paris summit - By Arthur Neslen, The Guardian, October 8, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

Bread and Roses:

• "Together, we can cool the planet!" [video] - By Staff, La Via Campesina, October 16, 2015
• Trade agreements and food sovereignty don’t mix, says NFU - By Jan Slomp, Ann Slater, and,Terry Boehm, La Via Campesina, October 16, 2015
• No TTIP For Food Sovereignty - By Hanny van Geel, La Via Campesina, October 15, 2015
• Small Scale Food Producers Launch the first ever Joint Vision for Agroecology - By the Secretariat of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, La Via Campesina, October 15, 2015
• Statement on Current Repression of Farmers in Poland - By the European Coordination of Via Campesina, La Via Campesina, October 15, 2015
• Brazil: MPA holds a historic peasant congress to build food sovereignty - By the communication team of the MPA Peasants Congress, La Via Campesina, October 14, 2015
• S. Africa's main coal union accepts wage offer, ends strike - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, October 13, 2015
• From Serra to Syrah: The Bloody Roots of California's Vineyards - By Frances Dinkelspiel, Indian Country Today, October 8, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Brazil: Rising profits do not prevent layoffs: Fibria Celulosa in Mato Grosso do Sul - By various, World Rainforest Movement, October 15, 2015
• Malaysia: Human trafficking and workers’ abuse in palm oil plantations [video] - By various, World Rainforest Movement, October 15, 2015
• The Seed Treaty Undermined by the Gangrene of Biopiracy - By Guy Kastler, et. al., La Via Campesina, October 15, 2015
• Sniffing out the evidence - By Frances Ruth Harris, The Pike County Courier, October 15, 2015
• An Open Letter - Threats in Colombia: Serious Concern regarding lack of guarantees - By various, La Via Campesina, October 13, 2015
• California May Change Rules So They Can Keep Fighting Fires With Prison Labor - By Alan Pykeen, Think Progress, October 13, 2015
• Four dead, two injured in a Bosnian coal mine accident - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, October 13, 2015
• Workers at B&H Photo Video, Citing Hazards, Move to Unionize - By Colin Moynihan, New York Times, October 13, 2015
• OSHA Dismisses Majority of Whistleblower Cases Agency Investigates - By Vicky Nguyen, NBC Bay Area, October 12, 2015
• EPA Draft Plan Would Perpetuate Environmental Racism, Critics Say - By Kristen Lombardi, The Center for Public Integrity, October 9, 2015
• DuPont knew La Porte plant threatened community, workers alike - By Mark Collette and Lauren Caruba, Houston Chronicle, September 30, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Repsol could cut hundreds of Alaksa jobs amid restructuring - Bloomberg, FuelFix, October 14, 2015
• Frac sand plants announce layoffs - By Joe Taschler, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, October 13, 2015
• Shell Is Reeling After Pulling Out of the Arctic - By Antonia Juhasz, Newsweek, October 13, 2015
• Statoil cuts Houston workforce - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, October 13, 2015
• UK local council pensions lose over $1 billion with coal crash - By Platform London, Mining.Com, October 13, 2015
• How to survive the bust - By Neil LaRubbio, High Country News, October 12, 2015
• Oil Sands Boom Dries Up in Alberta, Taking Thousands of Jobs With It - By Ian Austin, New York Times, October 12, 2015

Just Transition:

• CoCo County Launches Plan to Replace PG&E with Green Energy System - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, October 15, 2015
• Labor and the Clean Power Plan: More Jobs, More Justice - By Dean Hubbard and Alejandra Núñez, Clean Energy Footprints, October 15, 2015
• 150+ Events Across America Demand Bold Climate Action in Paris - By Cole Mellino, EcoWatch, October 14, 2015
• The decoupling debate: can economic growth really continue without emission increases? - By Mark Burton, DeGrowth, October 13, 2015
• Contra Costa Considers Replacing PG&E with Green Power Program - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, October 12, 2015
• Three Years Ago, These Chicago Workers Took Over a Window Factory. Today, They're Thriving - By Sarah van Gelder, Yes, October 9, 2015

Other News:

• Groups Call for Public Inquiry on Investissement Quebec’s Arnaud Mine Fiasco - By Coalition Québec meilleure mine, Mining Watch, October 16, 2015
• Hundreds march on API against TPP, climate catastrophe - By Luke, DC Indymedia, October 14, 2015
• Keep the oil trains out - By Brian Huseby, Socialist Worker, October 14, 2015
• The Untold Story of When Labor Linked Arms With Occupy Wall Street - By Michael Gould-Wartofsky, In These Times, October 13, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, October 13, 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 Driscoll’s Boycott, the Capitalist Hydra and the TPP: Dispatches from Washington State - By Káráni, Káráni: Escribir o Volar, October 11, 2015
• Two more unions have joined TUED - By Sean Sweeney, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, October 10, 2015
• Another Case of Whistleblower Retaliation: This Time at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - By Kay Matthews, La Jicarita, October 9, 2015
• Having the Hard Conversations - By Jane McAlevey & Michal Rozworski, Jacobin, October 4, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Northern California Climate Mobilization - November 21, 2015
• People's Climate Movement - October 14, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Next Conference TBA | #Railcon15

Bread and Roses:

• 16th October: International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty and against transnational corporations - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 12, 2015
• Peasants’ rights belong to peasants! Don’t take a single one away! - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 10, 2015
• Whole Foods Co-opts Revolutionary Rhetoric but Mistreats Employees - By Alice Merrill, Truth Out, October 10, 2015
• Monsanto Fights Back Against Cancer Lawsuits as Company Eliminates 12% of Workforce - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, October 9, 2015
• Monsanto slashing 2,600 jobs, buying back shares as sales fall - By Carey Gillam, Reuters, October 7, 2015; [related] Monsanto Slashes Jobs as Confidence in Future of Company is Shaken - By Sustainable Pulse, Sustainable Pulse, October 7, 2015
• Via Campesina and other social movements in Rome to warn against threat of new patents - By Ivan Mammana, La Via Campesina, October 6, 2015
• Victory of the peasants’ movement in the struggle for the recognition of their rights within the UN - Press Release, La Via Campesina, October 6, 2015
• Black farmers’ lives matter: Defending African-American land and agriculture in the deep south - By Beverly Bell, Other Worlds, October 5, 2015
• 'Exxons of Agriculture' Wielding Power to Block Real Climate Solutions - By Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, September 30, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• South Africa gold companies face massive lung disease suit - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, October 12, 2015
• Unions Wait 36 Hours to Bargain, BART a No Show - By Admin, We Make BART Work, October 12, 2015
• "Glencore responsible for extension of coal strike in S. Africa" - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, October 9, 2015
• Setting the Record Straight on Oil Trains - By Eric de Place and Ben Stuckart, Sightline Institute, October 8, 2015
• 3 workers missing after explosion at gas facility in Louisiana - Staff Report, Associated Press, October 8, 2015; [related]: One person reported killed at pipeline explosion at Williams Gas Plant in Louisiana - Staff Report, Russia Times, October 8, 2015
• Weather Service Employees Tethered By Illegal Gag Orders - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, October 8, 2015
• The ETUI hosts a meeting of WHO experts on nanomaterials - Staff Report, European Trade Union Institute, October 7, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• UK Pension Funds Have Lost £683 Million To Failed Coal Investments - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, October 12, 2015
• Almost $1bn wiped off the value of UK pensions’ coal investments [PayWall] - By Bob Burton, Financial Times, October 11, 2015
• Man Camp Ghost Towns - By Chip Northrup, No Fracking Way, October 9, 2015
• Nine U.S. oil rigs sidelined this week, Baker Hughes says - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, October 9, 2015
• Congress Is Trying To Lift The Oil Export Ban. This Is Why They Will Fail - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, October 6, 2015
• Fracking firms face hard times - By Nova Safo, Marketplace, October 5, 2015
• Why Another Big Bank Is Jumping On The Anti-Coal Bandwagon - By Alexander C Kaufman and Ben Walsh, Huffington Post, October 5, 2015
• Coal crash: How long can Australia ride in the coal wagon? - By Paul Cleary, The Monthly, October 2015

Just Transition:

• 'Big Win' for Divestment Movement as California Public Pensions Dump Coal - By Jon Queally, Common Dreams, October 8, 2015
• Is recycling as awful as the New York Times claims? Not remotely - By Ben Adler, Grist, October 6, 2015
• Trade union leaders call for social-ecological transition at Paris Congress - Staff Report, European Trade Union Institute, October 6, 2015

Other News:

• Coal Attorneys Investigate Oakland City Council - By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, October 7, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW