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Senator Bernie Sanders visits Paradise, CA. Image: Justin Sullivan
As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s main union is pushing back forcefully against efforts to make the company, which is currently owned by investors, controlled by the public instead — something Sen. Bernie Sanders, state Sen. Scott Wiener and the city of San Francisco have proposed in various forms.
IBEW Local 1245 quickly responded to a political advertisement from Sanders that criticized PG&E for its role in causing deadly wildfires. The union, in return, criticized Sanders’ endorsement of a public takeover, saying it would be prohibitively expensive and misguided.
PG&E currently employs 24,000 workers and IBEW Local 1245 represents about half of them. While it’s far from California’s largest union, it’s one more example of how fractured unions are around the Green New Deal–event if many are starting to come around.
What’s Happening: As the Chronicle also explained,
“Taken together, the efforts demonstrate the kind of resistance that ideas for complete structural overhauls at PG&E will continue to encounter. Despite PG&E’s responsibility for fires that killed dozens of people and burned communities to the ground, utility labor leaders could prove a powerful supporter of keeping the company intact.”
Why This Matters: While union membership has been on the decline, California has seen the growth of union members in 2019. Since climate change will be a major issue for Democratic candidates this election, a story to watch will be if union workers embrace bold climate policy proposals like the Green New Deal. In Texas, the Sunrise Movement is betting big that union members will be sympathetic to progressive candidates and their climate plans. In California, evidence points to this not being the case.
This is all to say that workers aren’t uniformly hearing what role they might play in a clean energy future. Democrats up and down the ballot would be wise to rethink their climate messaging in order to build union support.
The Washington Post did a beautiful piece on the importance of preserving wildlife corridors in the face of climate change and other man-made threats. Interstate 80 is a vital transportation link that connects the east and west coasts, but it also blocks the historic migration routes through the Rocky Mountains for mule deer, elk, and pronghorn — some of the most iconic species of wildlife in the American West.
Congressional Democrats didn’t get the green strings attached for the airline industry bailout this week, but we can always hope for the next round of stimulus funding. At least the bill’s not bailing out the oil industry? Cartoon by Alex Bowman (check out more of her art here)
The $2 trillion stimulus package the Senate passed unanimously late last night contained neither the funding the President sought to fill up the tank on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve nor the provisions that would have required the airline industry to become more sustainable in exchange for large grants.
Why This Matters: The most important thing, in the end, was the aid for workers, small businesses, hospitals, and state and local governments so direly needed at this moment.
