labor and environment

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, October 8, 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:

• Paris: International Call out against COP21 - Staff Report, Contra Info, September 29, 2015
• Refocusing resistance for climate justice. COPing in, COPing out and beyond Paris - Staff Report, Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities, and Trade, September 29, 2015
• Why Climate Justice activists are preparing to hack the Paris climate summit - By Nick, Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities, and Trade, September 29, 2015
• Flood Wall Street West: March, Sit-in, Shut down the Climate Profiteers - Staff Report, Flood the System, September 28, 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
• 21st Century EcoSocialism Conference - October 9-11, 2015, University of California Santa Barnara 

Bread and Roses:

• Greenpeace: The Truth Behind the World’s Largest Tuna Company - By Greenpeace, EcoWatch, October 5, 2015
• Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child Slaves - By Abby Haglage, The Daily Beast, September 30, 2015
• Monsanto Sued by Farm Workers Claiming Roundup Caused Their Cancers - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, September 30, 2015
• Whole Foods To Stop Profiting From Prison Labor - By Carimah Townes, Think Progress, September 30, 2015
• PCC Natural Markets Actions to Support Farmworkers - By Admin, Boycott Sakuma Berries, September 29, 2015
• U.S. workers sue Monsanto claiming herbicide caused cancer - By Carey Gillam, Reuters, September 29, 2015
• After Decades of Discrimination, Farm Workers Get Pesticide Protections - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, September 28, 2015
• Global Alliance on Climate Smart Agriculture: Solution or Mirage? - By Rashmi Mistry, Common Dreams, September 28, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• SunEdison To Lay Off 15% Of Its Workforce - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, October 5, 2015
• 30,000 South African coal miners poised to strike - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, October 4, 2015
• Top Scientists Say That Political Pressure Is Undermining Their Research - By Sam P.K. Collins, Think Progress, October 3, 2015
• Common Solvent Keeps Killing Workers, Consumers - By Jamie Smith Hopkins, TruthOut, October 2, 2015
• WestConnex’s Asbestos Problem - By Wendy Bacon and Cathy Peters, Winston Close, October 2, 2015
• For Minnesota hazmat inspector, many railcars and not enough time - By Dan Gunderson, MPR News, October 1, 2015
• Amid Controversy, Johns Hopkins Quietly Drops Black Lung Program - By Matthew Mosk and Randy Kreider, ABC News, September 30, 2015
• Law center: Gulf Coast rig repair firm apologizes for mistreated workers in Katrina aftermath - By Associated Press, FuelFix, September 30, 2015
• Oakland Favors Bank Over Bus Riders - By Sam Levins, East Bay Express, September 30, 2015
• NUMSA General Secretary Cde Irvin Jim calls on commuters to boycott Intercape Bus services - By Irvin Jim, NUMSA, September 29, 2015
• Loopholes in national railroad policy take communities by surprise - By Isaiah Thompson, New England Center for Investigative Reporting, September 28, 2015
• Ruling: USW Miners’ Rep Has Right to Enter Sherwin Plant - Press Release, United Steel Workers, September 28, 2015
• Steelworkers Rally for a Fair Contract at Cliffs Natural Resources - Press Release, United Steel Workers, September 28, 2015
• BLET President Pierce challenges railroads on fatigue, attendance policies - By Staff Report, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, September 24, 2015

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, September 29, 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:

• Right to Work Is Coming to the Public Sector. The Only Way to Survive: Social Movement Unionism - By Ari Paul, In These Times, September 21, 2015
• Creative self-destruction: the climate crisis and the myth of ‘green’ capitalism - By Christopher Wright and Daniel Nyberg, The Conversation, September 20, 2015
• Australia: United mass action can win climate fight - By Pip Hinman, Green Left Weekly, September 18, 2015
• Sustainable Development: Something New or More of the Same? - By Charles Eisenstein, Huffington Post, September 14, 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
• 21st Century EcoSocialism Conference - October 9-11, 2015, University of California Santa Barnara 

Bread and Roses:

• You are destroying the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources - By Mauro Conti and Émilie Lapprand, La Via Campesina, September 25, 2015
• The Long, Strange Tale of a California Farm’s Attempts To Break Its Workers’ Union - By David Bacon, In These Times, September 24, 2015
• Statement from MST National Direction on the aggression against Stedile - By Landless Workers Movement (MST), La Via Campesina, September 24, 2015
• Via Campesina promotes international declaration on the rights of peasants in United Nations Human Rights Council - By Ndiakhate Fall, et. al., La Via Campesina, September 24, 2015
• Teamsters, Coalition Tell Whole Foods: Black Lives Matter - By Galen Munroe, Food Dive, September 22, 2015
• The Radical Roots of the Great Grape Strike - By David Bacon, The Reality Check, September 20, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Chevron sacks union organizers in Bangladesh - Press Release, IndustriALL, September 24, 2015
• Steelworkers Demand that Final Reports on 2014 Fatality be Released - By Marty Warren, Herb Daniher, and Sylvia Boyce, United Steel Workers, September 24, 2015
• Labor Department says Halliburton will pay $18.3 million in overtime to workers misclassified as exempt - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, September 22, 2015
• Former worker accuses Recology of discrimination, retaliation - Staff Report, ABC7 News, September 21, 2015
• Women of Steel Activist Dies in Workplace Incident - Press Release, United Steel Workers, September 21, 2015
• Cliff’s Proposals Would Turn Back the Clock on Our Contract - Press Release, United Steel Workers, September 18, 2015
• Victoria's transport chief resigns as trams, police and beer strikes loom - Australian Associated Press, The Guardian, September 16, 2015
• RN Response Network Mobilizes Volunteer Nurses to Care for Butte Fire and Valley Fire Evacuees - Registered Nurse Response Network, National Nurses United, September 15, 2015; [related] Nearly 4,000 People Fighting California's Fires Are Paid Just $1 an Hour - By S.E. Smith, Bitch Media, September 15, 2015
• Samsung is to blame' for cancers - By Sandra Bartlett, The Center for Public Integrity, September 11, 2015

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, September 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.

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

Lead Stories:

• The Leap Manifesto - By various, Rabble.Ca, September 15, 2015
• Leap Manifesto calls for radical changes to Canada's extractive economy - By Mick Sweetman, Rabble.Ca, September 15, 2015
• What we need is a giant leap forward - By Judy Rebick, Rabble.Ca, September 15, 2015
• Regeneration: Global Transformation in Catastrophic Times - By Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association, August 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
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate
• 21st Century EcoSocialism Conference - October 9-11, 2015, University of California Santa Barnara 

Bread and Roses:

• The European Coordination Via Campesina in solidarity with migrants - By Unai Aranguren and Paula Gioia, La Via Campesina, September 16, 2015
• Update on Driscoll’s Boycott - Staff Report, Boycott Sakuma Berries, September 15, 2015
• Checking all the boxes at Singing Frogs Farm - By Toby Hemenway, Toby Hemenway blog, September 14, 2015
• California to Put Four Pesticides on Cancer List - By David Schultz, Bloomberg, September 8, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Statement by Numsa and Labour Unions to Strike Against Corruption on 30 September 2015 - Press Release, NUMSA, September 16, 2015
• Transit Workers Win Victory Against Policy That Led to Bus Drivers in Handcuffs - Press Release, AFL-CIO, September 16, 2015
• Japan Railroad Workers Doro-Chiba And Other Unions To Rally On November 1 In Tokyo Against Abe, Nukes, Privatization and War - Press Release, Doro Chiba, September 15, 2015
• Wildfires ravage counties where SEIU 1021 members live and work - By Randy Lyman, SEIU 1021, September 15, 2015
• Australian tram drivers strike over jobs and conditions - By Margaret Rees, World Socialist Website, September 14, 2015
• Feds Wonder If Oil And Gas Workers Have To Die - By Elie Mystal, Breaking Energy, September 14, 2015
• Bloquean pepenadores ambos sentidos de la autopista del Sol [Es] - By Josué Guzmán, Quadratin Morelos, August 28, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Maersk Oil shedding U.S. jobs as Angola drilling plans stall - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 16, 2015
• GE to cut 100 jobs at East Houston manufacturing facility - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 15, 2015
• Is Your Retirement Invested in Fossil Fuels? - By Stefanie Spear, EcoWatch, September 15, 2015
• OPEC: "All eyes are on how quickly US production falls" - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, September 15, 2015
• A crude oil export ban primer - By Jonathan Thompson, High Country News, September 14, 2015
• Survey: Oil field services companies feeling pressure as cuts continue - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, September 14, 2015

Just Transition:

• Will PECO Be the Missing Piece? - By Duncan Wright and Christy Tavernelli, Earth Quaker Action Team, September 16, 2015
• Mississippi Taxpayers Subsidize Howard Industries - By Joe Atkins, PortSide, September 10, 2015
• Organizing for a true reconstruction in the Gulf Coast: An interview with labor leader Saket Soni - Saket Soni interviewed by Allie Yee, Facing South, August 26, 2015

Other News:

• Keep the Crude Oil Export Ban to Protect Jobs, Environment - By Kim Glas, Blue-Green Alliance, September 16, 2015
• What does Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour Leader mean for Greens, in Britain and across the EU? - By Rupert Read, Green European Journal, September 15, 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, September 15, 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:

• Greenhouse gas emission promises don’t even come close - By Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism, September 8, 2015
• The Six-State Steelworker Fight Back Against Corporate Lockouts and Exploitation - By Leo Gerard, In These Times, September 8, 2015
• Labor Day 2015: Uniting labor, climate, and racial justice movements our best hope for better future - By Aaron Mair, Estela Vazquez, and Lenore Friedlaender, Sierra Club, September 5, 2015
• Washington state sues feds over worker safety at Hanford - By John Stang, Crosscut, September 3, 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 - Chicago, Illinois Saturday, September 19, 2015 | #Railcon15
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate
• 21st Century EcoSocialism Conference - October 9-11, 2015, University of California Santa Barnara 

Bread and Roses:

• European Milk Plan: A single drop of water to put out a huge fire - By José Miguel Pacheco, et. al., La Via Campesina, September 14, 2015
• Labor Day Solidarity Action at Sakuma Processing Plant - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, September 11, 2015
• This ex-Black Panther started an urban farm to create jobs for ex-inmates - By Katie Herzog, Grist, September 9, 2015
• The grape strike that transformed a nation, 50 years later - By Stephen Magagnini, Sacramento Bee, September 6, 2015
• Protesters occupy Colombia’s agriculture ministry amid agrarian protests - By Grace Brown, Colombia Reports, September 2, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Air District set to release refinery emissions rules: Demand pollution caps now! - By Ratha Lai, The Yodeler, September 10, 2015
• Rail Giant BNSF Accused of Telling Arbitrator: ‘Our Way or The Highway’ - By Rick Schmitt, Fair Warning, September 10, 2015
• AC Transit Buses Lack Air Conditioning, Drivers And Commuters Complain of Unbearable Heat - By Sam Levin, East Bay Express, September 9, 2015
• Chinese oil company attacks workers in Kyrgyzstan - By staff, IndustiALL Union, September 9, 2015
• Chemical Safety Board Gets New Chief - By Jess Johnson, Chemical & Engineering News, September 7, 2015
• Half a Million California Students Attend School In Oil Train Blast Evacuation Zones - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, September 7, 2015
• Fired regulator: Governor pushed to waive oil safeguards - By Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press, September 4, 2015
• City of LA Votes to Protect Communities from Exploding Bomb Trains - By Diane Middleton, Portside, September 3, 2015
• Blankenship jurors asked about unions, coal mine safety - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, September 2, 2015
• MSHA proposes to expand ‘proximity detection’ mandate - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, September 1, 2015
• Switzerland: around one million people suffer (from) accidents and illnesses due to their work - Press Release, European Trade Union Institute, August 31, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Canfor announces permanent closure of Canal Flats sawmill - By Business Vancouver, CCF Group, September 11, 2015
• Marathon Oil trims jobs, $150 million from exploration spending - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 10, 2015
• MCC reassures workers we are here for you in these tough times - By staff, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, September 9, 2015
• Rural poor aren’t going to wait for centralised clean coal - By Anthony Hobley, Business Green, September 9, 2015
• 65,000 Jobs Lost in North Sea - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, September 9, 2015
• Energy job cuts approaching 200,000 worldwide - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 8, 2015
• Oil firms cutting another 700 Texas jobs - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 8, 2015

Just Transition:

• Everything Is Changing: Trade Union Approaches to the Climate Crisis in Turbulent Times - Press Release, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, September 11, 2015
• Smarter Cities Will Help Fight Climate Change - By staff, Blue Green Alliance, September 8, 2015
• Lock the Gate to expose misleading jobs claims at Warkworth public hearing - By staff, Lock the Gate Alliance, September 7, 2015
• SB 350 Myths and Facts - InfoGraphic, California Climate Leadership, September 7, 2015
• Labor Day 2050: How Unchecked Global Warming Threatens Labor Productivity - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, September 6, 2015
• Dispatches From the Edge of Change: Why Montana’s Fossil-Fuel Resistance Gives Me Hope - By Sarah van Gelder, Yes! Magazine, September 4, 2015
• Big Coal's war on its workers - By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest, August 27, 2015
• Our Resistance, Our Hope: Unity Statement of the International People’s Conference on Mining - By Acción Ecológica, et. al, Yes to Life No to Mining, August 1, 2015

Other News:

• Personal greed behind dirty proposal to bring coal through Bay Area for export out of Oakland - By Jess Dervin-Ackerman, The Yodeler, September 14, 2015
• California governor signs two-person train crew bill into law - By staff, Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation Union, September 10, 2015; [related] California enacts two-person crew legislation - By staff, Progressive Railroading, September 11, 2015
• Controversial tech shuttles on road to becoming part of The City’s transit ecosystem - By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, San Francisco Examiner, September 9, 2015
• Naomi Klein: ‘Toxic Ideology of Market Fundamentalism’ Is to Blame for the ‘Degradation of the Planetary System’ - By Cole Mellino, EcoWatch, September 8, 2015
• Ecuador: Behind the 'Indigenous Uprising' against Correa; divided left weakens struggle for change - By Federico Fuentes, Green Left Weekly, September 6, 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, September 6, 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:

• This Labor Day Instead of Taking the Day Off, Work for Justice for Farm Workers! - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, September 3, 2015
• When Did the Anthropocene Begin…and Why Does It Matter? - By Ian Angus, Monthly Review, September 2015
• My Work: Railroad Workers United - By J.P.Wright, Railroad Music, August 24, 2015
• Coal's Devastation - By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, August 12, 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 - Chicago, Illinois Saturday, September 19, 2015 | #Railcon15
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate
• 21st Century EcoSocialism Conference - October 9-11, 2015, University of California Santa Barnara 

Bread and Roses:

• Report Back Of International Week of Action - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, September 3, 2015
• Peasant agriculture is a true solution to the climate crisis - By Josie Riffaud, Edgardo Garcia, and Carlos Marentes, La Via Campesina, September 3, 2015
• European Dairy crisis: Demonstration during the extraordinary Agriculture Council meeting on Monday, the 7th of September - By European Coordination, La Via Campesina, September 1, 2015
• ‘Not gone away’: Tens of thousands rally in Irish capital against water charges - By staff, Russia Times, August 29, 2015
• ILWU supports Sakuma workers - By staff, ILWU Dispatcher, August 3, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Pittsburgh Company Craigslist Post: Looking for Scabs to Work 84 Hours/Wk. During Lockout - By Zaid Jilani, In These Times, September 2, 2015
• NUMSA mourns the death of those who perished in road accidents in the Eastern Cape - By Phumzile Nodongwe, NUMSA, September 1, 2015
• Stillwater miners working under imposed contract, NLRB investigates complaint - By MTN News, KTVQ, September 1, 2015
• Another Powerful Explosion at Chemical Factory in China - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, August 31, 2015
• 'Harperman' Protest Song Gets Performer Suspended from Job - By staff, VOCM, August 31, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• ION Geophysical to cut 25 percent of workforce - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 2, 2015
• Canada’s Penn West to cut workforce 35 percent, slash spending - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 1, 2015; [related] Penn West will scrap dividend, fire one-third of its workers - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, September 1, 2015
• ConocoPhillips to cut 10 percent of global workforce - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, September 1, 2015
• Alberta has lost 35,000 oilpatch jobs, petroleum producers say - By Tracy Johnson, CBC News, August 31, 2015
• Fossil Fools - By Branden Adams, The New Inquiry, August 31, 2015
• Canada’s driverless oilsands trucks; and the threat of big layoffs - By Geoffrey Morgan, Financial Post, June 8, 2015

Just Transition:

• No union mines left in Kentucky, where labor wars once raged - By Dylan Lovan, Associated Press, September 5, 2015
• The California state legislature just passed a coal divestment bill; what will this mean for the global divestment movement? - By Brett Fleishman, 350.org, September 4, 2015
• California forces pensions funds to divest from coal, but Future Fund digs in - By Sam Parkinson, REnew Economy, September 3, 2015
• California Passes Bill To Force Two Biggest Pension Funds To Divest From Coal - By Joshua S. Hill, Clean Technica, September 3, 2015
• California state pension funds to divest from coal - By Megan Darby, Responding to Climate Change, September 3, 2015
• The Nation’s Most Populous State Just Voted To Divest From Coal - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, September 3, 2015
• California Assembly Votes to Divest Public Pension Funds From Coal - By Brett Fleishman, Kevin de León, and Claire Conlon, Fossil Free USA, September 2, 2015
• Stronger Climate Regulations Make Their Way to State Assembly - By Michael Krasny, KQED, September 2, 2015
• Fight to preserve Blair Mountain, labor history, continues - By Paul J. Nyden, Charleston Gazette-Mail, August 24, 2015

Other News:

• New Manatee Safeguards Need to be Strengthened; Inadequate Enforcement Unless Refuge Adopts Video Monitoring System - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, September 3, 2015
• Shell Arctic Offshore Safety Data Still Under Wraps; Specifics Bolstering President’s Assurance Cannot Be Produced until after Drilling - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, September 3, 2015
• Over 1,000 Arrested in Bengal Amid Violence During Trade Unions’ Countrywide Strike - By Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad, Nagpur, and Chandhigarh, The Times of India, September 3, 2015
• Tactical Response to Incidents Involving Crude Oil - By Robert Burke, Firehouse, September 1, 2015

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

By various - Global Climate Jobs Network, September 2015

We have to stop climate change, and we have to do it quickly. To do it, we will need 120 million new jobs globally for at least twenty years.

There are now campaigns in several countries fighting for mass government programs for climate jobs. Most of them started with union support, and all of them are trying to build an alliance of unions, environmentalists, NGOs, and faith groups.This booklet has been produced by several of these campaigns, because we want people in other countries to do the same.

The first half of this booklet explains the idea of climate jobs in broad strokes. But each country is different, so the second half of this booklet sketches what climate jobs would mean in South Africa, Norway, Canada, New York State, and Britain.

Read the report (English PDF) | (French PDF) | (Spanish PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, September 1, 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 Colonial Origins of Conservation: The Disturbing History Behind US National Parks - By Stephen Corry, Truthout, August 25, 2015; [related] The Forgotten History Of 'Violent Displacement' That Helped Create The National Parks - By Julian Brave NoiseCat, Huffington Post, August 26, 2015
• The King is Dead!: In Appalachia, the Coal Industry Is in Collapse, but the Mountains Aren't Coming Back - By Laura Gottesdiener, Tom Dispatch, August 24, 2015
• Tianjin Explosion Highlights Profits Over People - By Preeti Kaur, Telesur, August 23, 2015
• Washington first state to price carbon by popular vote? The obstacle course - By Patrick Mazza, Cascadia Planet, August 23, 2015
• The Secret History of Jaywalking: The Disturbing Reason It Was Outlawed; And Why We Should Lift the Ban - By Ravi Mangla, Salon, August 22, 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 - Chicago, Illinois Saturday, September 19, 2015 | #Railcon15
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate

Bread and Roses:

• The Pacific Coast Farmworker Rebellion - By David Bacon, The Reality Check, August 28, 2015
• How Lebanon's rubbish spurred a budding revolution - By Nour Samaha, Al Jazeera, August 26, 2015
• Trash or Treasure? How to Repurpose Would-Be Wasted Food to Feed the Hungry and Create Jobs - By Alex McKechnie, Drexel Now, August 26, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Another Powerful Explosion at Chemical Factory in China - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, August 31, 2015
• Fracking-induced earthquakes could leave workers vulnerable, says geophysicist - By Betsy Trumpener, CBC News, August 27, 2015
• 2 crew members injured after pipeline ruptures in Gulf - Associated Press wire, FuelFix, August 27, 2015
• Union can hand out leaflets critical of bus system leaders, judge says - By John Agar, Michigan Live, August 27, 2015
• United Front welcomes conviction of the police who murdered Mido Macia - By John Appollis, Dinga Sikwebu, and Mazibuko Jara, NUMSA, August 26, 2015
• Railroads balk at making oil disaster plans public - By Tim Pugmire, MPR News, August 25, 2015
• Skepticism arrives with caulk removal at Malibu schools - By Chris Bashaw, Malibu Surfside News, August 25, 2015
• Local 6787 steelworker dies in fall at BH mill - By Staff, Chesterton Tribune, August 24, 2015
• When firefighters speak out on climate change, we ought to listen up - By Char Miller, The Guardian, August 24, 2015
• No Nooses in the Workplace! Daryle Washington IBT 350 Recology Worker Targeted For Exposing Hanging Noose Racist Incident - By Steve Zeltser, Transportworkers.Org, August 23, 2015
• Coroner identifies worker who died after accident at Beech Grove Amtrak facility - Staff Report, 13 WTHR, August 22, 2015
• Fracking Companies Put First Responder Lives at Risk by Refusing to Disclose Chemicals - Appeal, Dear President Obama, August 20, 2015
• 4,000 Prison Inmates Fighting California Wildfires For $2 Per Day - By Kit O'Connell, Mint News, August 18, 2015
• Skepticism arrives with caulk removal at Malibu schools - By Charles D. Ellison, The Root, August 17, 2015
• Spate of oil field deaths prompts new study of workplace hazards - By Jennifer Gollan, Reveal, August 14, 2015
• Interview with a Miner - By Rachael Charbonneau and John Newlands, Workers Struggle-Sudbury, August 2015

Just Transition:

• Canadian doctors divest from fossil fuels - By Jesse McLaren, Rabble.Ca, August 26, 2015
• Financial gatekeepers are blocking green investment - By Megan Darby, Responding to Climate Change, August 25, 2015
• No Gold, No Masters - Press Release, Beyond Europe, August 24, 2015
• Drawing a line in the sand: The movement victory at Ende Gelände opens up the road of disobedience for Paris - By laronceblog, The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, August 23, 2015
• Review: Alternatives to Capitalism - By Heather Blakey, Red Pepper, August 2015
• Review: The Collapse of Western Civilization - By Jonathan Cohn, Great Transition Initiative, August 2015
• Origins and delusions of green growth - By Gareth Dale, International Socialist Review, Summer 2015

Other News:

• NUMSA to also go for Prasa - By Andrew Chirwa, NUMSA, August 25, 2015
• Striking Chilean miners blockade themselves underground - By Staff, Khabar.Eu, August 25, 2015
• The 350.org and Hollaback! approach to distributed campaigning - By Tom Liacas, Mob Lab, August 4, 2015
• America’s First Red Scare: For many of its ideologues, a slaveholding Confederacy was meant to be a bulwark against radical politics of all stripes - By Andre Fleche, Jacobin, August 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, August 25, 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:

• Spending time in a controversial camp that’s blocking tar-sands pipelines - By Sam Bliss, Grist, August 21, 2015
• Why Public Transportation Is So Limited in the United States - By Daniel Faris, Truthout, August 17, 2015

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flood the System - Fall 2015: Flood, blockade, occupy and shut down the systems that jeopardize our future! | #FloodTheSystem
• Northern California Convergence - November 21, 2015
• People’s Climate Strike - November 26 - December 12, 2015
• Railcon15 - Chicago, Illinois Saturday, September 19, 2015 | #Railcon15
• Trade Union Climate Summit - September 14 & 15, 2015 Paris | #unions4climate

Bread and Roses:

• United Front salutes "Abahlali Basemijondolo (AbM)" for its court Victory - By Kwezilomso Mbandazayo, et. al., NUMSA, August 21, 2015
• Day Two of Work Stoppage at Sakuma Farms in Skagit - By moderator, Boycott Sakuma Berries, August 18, 2015; [related] FUJ Won 2 Victories Today - By moderator, Boycott Sakuma Berries, August 20, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Rail safety bill sent to Governor - Staff Report, Vallejo Times Herald, August 22, 2015
• In Victory for Corporations, Court Rejects Rule on Labeling Goods Containing "Conflict Minerals" - Zorka Milin interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now, August 21, 2015
• As oil train burned, firefighters waited 2 hours for critical details - Curtis Tate, McClatchy DC, August 21, 2015; [related] Fire Chief Criticizes CSX Over 2014 Virginia Derailment - By John Raby, Associated Press, August 21, 2015
• Fires That Killed 3 Firefighters Explode In Size - Staff Report, OPB TV, August 21, 2015
• JR East begins decontaminating tracks in areas affected by nuclear crisis - Staff Report, Mainichi, August 21, 2015
• $18 million lawsuit filed over coal-ash worker's death - By Bob Fowler, Knoxville News Sentinel, August 20, 2015; [related] The Truth About Coal - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, August 21, 2015
• EPA Stealth Rollback of School PCB Safeguards: Material and Exposure Testing Discouraged; Child Exposure Levels Loosened - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, August 20, 2015
• OSHA proposes cutting worker exposure to beryllium by 90 percent - By Mark Gruenberg, People's World, August 19, 2015
• Death on the Job: Putting Names and Faces on Fatality Statistics - By Sandy Smith, EHS Today, August 18, 2015
• Here’s why I won’t be buying anything from Amazon again - By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 17, 2015
• Workers protest against ‘return to apartheid’ at Rio Tinto in Namibia - Press Release, IndustriALL, August 17, 2015
• 70 Chilean Miners Block Themselves in Mine to Protest Wages - Staff Report, Telesur, August 14, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Oil settles below $40 per barrel amid wider rout - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, August 24, 2015
• Stock Selloff: Panic Time or a Blip on the Radar? - By Mike Whitney, CounterPunch, August 24, 2015
• Texas adds 35,800 jobs in July, but oil and gas employment still muddled in crude crash - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, August 24, 2015
• As oil industry reels from plummeting prices, layoffs stun, worry workers - By Rhiannon Meyers, Houston Chronicle, August 22, 2015
• Oil and gas listings on job websites fell by half after industry cutbacks - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, August 20, 2015
• Chevron gives notice to workers as it prepares to cut 950 jobs - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, August 17, 2015; [related] Chevron starts layoffs at Louisiana office - AP Wire, FuelFix, August 21, 2015

Just Transition:

• Greek protesters arrested in clash over Eldorado suspension of 2,000 workers - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, August 24, 2015
• New paper shows that renewables can supply 100% of all energy (not just electricity) - By Michael Sweet, Skeptical Science, August 20, 2015
• California lawmakers seek greater oversight of 'green jobs' spending - By Randy Lilleston, Utility Dive, August 18, 2015
• Can California turn the West green? - By Dan Morain, Sacramento Bee, August 12, 2015

Other News:

• Rio’s Olympic preparations under the spotlight - By Adam Talbot, RoarMag.Com, August 21, 2015
• How developing countries are paying a high price for the global mineral boom - By John Vidal, The Guardian, August 20, 2015
• Canadian miner profit hit by Codelco’s striking contractors, snow storm - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, August 19, 2015
• A hero of the Western Wobblies - By Avery Wear, Socialist Worker, August 19, 2015
• How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Keeps Working People Poor and Destroys the Environment - By Simon Swartzman, In These Times, August 19, 2015
• UD expert calls on oil train operators to step up safety measures - By Jon Hurdle, Delaware Public Media, August 18, 2015
• Oil exports would harm U.S. energy independence - By Leo W. Gerard, Philly.Com, August 17, 2015

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