CLIMATE, JOBS, JUSTICE
Edition 1
SEIU members and worker leaders in the Fight for $15 and a Union are confronted daily by the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice. This newsletter offers a snapshot of how we’re combating climate change and fighting against environmental injustice in our workplaces and communities as well as calling on major industries, corporations, and governments to protect the health, safety and long-term economic well-being of all working people across America.
It’s time to take a stand for jobs, care and justice.
Join us on July 13!
Working people and allies in the Green New Deal Network across the country are taking action on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 to declare Care is Essential. Why? As we worked through a deadly pandemic and ongoing climate disasters like wildfires, we were reminded how vital care and service jobs are to our country. While these jobs are essential, the people doing the work are paid low wages, have no benefits or paid leave.
Enough is enough. This is why we’re demanding that Congress pass bold, transformative solutions including investments in our nation’s care infrastructure that will allow us to truly build back better.
FIND AN ACTION IN YOUR COMMUNITY and SIGN UP TODAY
No Climate, No Care, No Justice, No Deal—SEIU and ALLIES call for Bold Action.
As Congress debates parts of President Biden’s Build Back Better roadmap, climate and environmental justice advocates, including SEIU, are calling for bolder action. In a recent letter to Congress, the nation's leading progressive organizations urged lawmakers to swiftly pass legislation to invest at least $4 trillion through 2024, bound by high-road labor, equity and climate standards.
SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry explained in a joint blog with Michael Brune of the Sierra Club and Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party that these investments lead to “an inclusive, resilient country where every family can thrive no matter what color we are, where we’re from, or what we do for a living.” They would also create millions of good-paying union jobs in sustainable infrastructure and buildings, clean energy and transportation, advanced clean manufacturing, care work, community resilience, and more.
Now is the time to raise our voices loud and strong for Climate, for Care, for Justice! Are you ready to tell Congress No Climate, No Care, No Justice, No Deal? Take action now!
Did you know?
Extreme heat kills more people each year in the U.S. than any other kind of natural disaster! These weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Rising temps have left many home care providers, librarians and public facilities workers serving a dual role as climate workers as people look for relief.
Want to see how bad extreme heat could get in your area in upcoming years? Check out this interactive tool from the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of SEIU’s partners in the Blue Green Alliance.
News from the states:
CALIFORNIA: SEIU-USWW members are calling on the City of Los Angeles to rethink plans for airport expansion after a report, Turbulence Ahead, revealed the serious environmental and equity impacts of the proposal. It also shows why an expansion at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) must be done in a way that properly reckons with issues of environmental justice and equity, front and center. Read more here.
ILLINOIS: SEIU Local 1 members joined a June 30th #NoClimate, No Care, No Justice, NoDeal event in Chicago with the Green New Deal Network.
MASSACHUSETTS: 32 BJ SEIU members joined Mass Renews Alliance, 350 Mass, and Sunrise Boston on June 30 to demand that members of Congress support a budget resolution that invests in Black and brown communities impacted greatly by the climate crisis and environmental racism.
NEW YORK: SEIU 32 BJ and 1199 members along with allies from Climate Jobs New York are fighting to make sure that offshore wind development not only produces clean energy but also results in good union jobs, including those in operations and maintenance.
