• People

ODP Interview with John Gray of the SEIU on Union Support for the Environmental Movement

• climate change
• Environmental Justice
• frontline workers
• SEIU
• unions

This week we talked with John Gray, the Director of Legislation for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), about the union’s strong support for climate action and environmental justice.

• Energy

Ørsted Works to Bring More Union Labor to Offshore Wind

• AFL-CIO
• offshore wind
• renewable energy
• unions
• wind energy

On Wednesday, Danish energy company Ørsted joined with North America’s Building Trades Unions (formerly known as the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department) to create a program that trains wind energy workers in hopes of deploying more offshore wind along the East Coast. In doing so, these groups have piloted a new way to create […]

• Politics

Labor in the 2020 Election

• Joe Biden
• Labor Day
• labor rights
• unions

Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s climate change plan aims to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050 through major investments in building out national clean energy infrastructure. The plan is very much a jobs plan and Biden emphasizes that an American under his leadership will “fulfill [its] obligation to […]

• Health

Coronavirus: Every State for Itself is No Winning Strategy

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• labor
• unions
• workers

We’re seeing the tension increase between public health experts, the governors who are listening to their advice, and the conservative voices who keep pushing the narrative that mandates to keep people home aren’t worth the risk to the economy. This comes as White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the United […]

• Politics

PG&E Union at Odds With Sanders Plan to Make Utilities Public

• 2020
• Bernie
• Califorina
• California
• unions

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 […]

• Energy

Green Jobs Employ 10X As Many Americans as Fossil Fuel Jobs

• green jobs
• Green New Deal
• labor
• renewable energy
• unions

In the United States, the green economy generates $1.3 trillion in annual sales revenue while creating 9.5 million full-time jobs (4% of the working-age population).

However: If Democrats want to win in places that have seen worker layoffs (like Ohio) they have to start talking about these jobs that their vision of the future uniquely supports.