February, 10 2019, 11:00pm EDT
Leading Progressive Organizations Back Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey's Green New Deal Resolution; Plan to Assemble Unprecedented Coalition.
Following Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey's release early Thursday morning of a Green New Deal resolution, leading labor, economic justice, racial justice, indigenous, environmental, and community organizations announced their joint support for the Green New Deal Resolution.
WASHINGTON
Following Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey's release early Thursday morning of a Green New Deal resolution, leading labor, economic justice, racial justice, indigenous, environmental, and community organizations announced their joint support for the Green New Deal Resolution.
"These organizations coming together to campaign for this resolution shows the momentum behind the Green New Deal and its ability to bring together an unprecedented political coalition," said Stephen O'Hanlon, Sunrise Movement Co-founder and Communications Director. "We're planning over 600 Congressional office visits this week to kick start our campaign to build the political and public support for the Green New Deal, which will include getting thousands of organizations signed on to back the resolution."
Statements from supporting organizations can be found below, including: Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, 32BJ SEIU, Green for All, 1199SEIU, Center for Popular Democracy, People's Action, Working Families Party, Dream Corps, Presente.org, Demos, Sierra Club, 350.org, CREDO, Bold, Organic Consumers Association, Honor the Earth, Seeding Sovereignty, American Sustainable Business Council President, and NextGen.
---
"In 2018, young people put the Green New Deal on the national agenda. The historic support for this resolution, especially among 2020 contenders, shows how far the movement has shifted the political conversation. The Green New Deal is now a litmus test for progressive leadership in 2019. Any politician who wants to be taken seriously on climate and earn the support of young people needs to support Ocasio-Cortez and Markey's resolution." -- Varshini Prakash, Sunrise Movement co-founder and Executive Director
"Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal represents an earthquake in the Democratic Party and American politics where a working class Latina bartender from the Bronx is now proposing and leading the most serious solution to rewrite America's social contract and stave off climate disaster. Any Democrat running for President who wants to be taken seriously on climate and economic policy needs to back Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal resolution. -- Alex Rojas, Justice Democrats Executive Director
"For labor unions like ours, climate change is an environmental issue, an economic opportunity and a political challenge that we know can destabilize our communities. This is an opportunity to tackle economic inequality, re-industrialize America with a green economy, with jobs that, with the right training, can provide career ladders for many low-wage workers who struggle to afford the high cost of living. For the first time, our elected officials recognize that our climate and economic crises are both intertwined and can only be solved with bold and effective government action. We reside in coastal cities that have been flooded by storms like Hurricanes Sandy and Maria, so we know this kind ambitious, large scale vision to reduce greenhouse gasses, switch to renewable energies is both doable and indispensable." -- Hector Figuero, 32BJ SEIU President
"Communities of color, who are the most impacted by climate pollution, and low-income families, who spend the highest percentage of their incomes on energy and transportation, have the most to gain from a Green New Deal. That's why Green For All is proud to support Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey in introducing a new resolution for Congress to act now and develop a Green New Deal that uplifts all Americans." -- Michelle Romero, Green For All National Director
"As healthcare workers and responsible citizens, we understand the importance of being good stewards of our natural resources. We also understand the necessity of ensuring that working men and women have the tools and training necessary to succeed in a changing, global economy. Our communities are becoming all too familiar with the devastating effects of hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other extreme weather patterns and events that claim innocent lives, and cause physical damage to buildings, roadways, and other important pieces of our infrastructure. We applaud Congressmember Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey for taking a stand to protect our planet from irreparable damage, while fighting to create good, family-sustaining jobs that will help protect working people and our communities for future generations." -- Maria Castaneda, 1199SEIU Secretary-Treasurer
"Our network is proud to endorse the Green New Deal because we know that now is the time to be bold and unapologetic in our demand for solutions to rampant economic insecurity and the climate crisis. The Green New Deal helps build climate resilience in communities of color who have been most impacted by climate change, and ensures that Black and Latinx people will have direct access to good, family-supporting jobs in the new green economy. " -- Jennifer Epps-Addison, Center for Popular Democracy Network President and Co-Executive Director.
"Rarely has an idea like the Green New Deal exploded into political consciousness so rapidly and I am excited to see this new resolution moving forward. Our country no longer has the luxury of time to debate the best strategies to reduce energy prices and economically help people, or what the right ecology for our planet might be. We need immediate action and bold leadership. I am grateful that Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey are taking this important step. It is time we deliver fully on the promise of a green economy that provides increased work, wealth, and health for cash-strapped, economically fearful families." -- Vien Truong, Dream Corps President
"Famed labor leader and trade unionist Eugene Debs once said, 'The earth is for all the people. That is the demand.' We couldn't agree more. Clean air, fresh water, and safe housing are fundamental human rights, which are under constant threat from the unrelenting climate crisis. Families across the country deserve to live in safe communities, free from climate devastation and harmful fossil fuel production; and we deserve a Congress who is not afraid to protect our climate and all the people. A strong Green New Deal would set us on a path toward the world we want and need." -- Matt Nelson, Presente.org Executive Director
"Finally we have real momentum around a solution that's big and bold enough to meet the scale of our current crisis. The Green New Deal could save our planet and transform our economy. A group of brave young leaders sparked this movement, and now working class people from racial, generational, and geographic differences are coming together to make their vision a reality." Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party National Director.
At a time when communities are already facing the real life impacts of climate change, when inequality is at record proportions, and America is falling further behind in the potential of an energy revolution - this is our chance to move the kind of legislation that could reshape the future of the United States. It also will ensure that these same communities are first in line to reap the benefits of the economic opportunities harnessed by a game-changing commitment to ending all extraction and dirty energy, and moving full throttle toward 100 percent renewables. -- George Goehl People's Action Director
Climate change poses an existential challenge to the planet, accelerated by a coalition of corporations, donors, and policymakers who have adopted a willful blindness toward these dangers to our communities and our planet. Combating climate change will require a radical transformation of our economy and our democracy, dramatically shifting our economic investments and empowering grassroots communities to have a stronger voice in our political system. The Green New Deal can accomplish this while meeting the needs of our most vulnerable communities - supporting health and resiliency, equitable renewable energy investment, inclusive job creation programs and community control over policy decisions. The Green New Deal not only addresses the urgent crisis of the moment, but also expresses a bold new progressive vision that is sweeping the country. -- K. Sabeel Rahman, Demos President
"These Green New Deal resolutions offer a bold plan to tackle the climate crisis and inequality -- two of the defining crises of our time -- at the speed and scale that science and justice demand. The Sierra Club applauds Senator Markey and Representative Ocasio-Cortez for outlining a Green New Deal vision that would create millions of high-paying jobs, counteract systemic injustices, ensure access to clean air and water, and support community-led efforts to prevent climate disasters. " -- Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director
The Green New Deal is a critical opportunity to stand up to fossil fuel billionaires while kickstarting a just transition to renewable energy and creating millions of family-sustaining jobs. For too long, we've seen legislative action fail to live up to the scale and scope of the climate crisis. We need bold policies that address climate change as an issue that is deeply rooted in health, prosperity, and justice for communities everywhere." -- May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org
"A Green New Deal that helps this country rapidly transition to a renewable future is the only way we can hope to tackle climate change. All communities and workers must have a chance to join in building that future, especially those negatively impacted by, and historically disenfranchised in, today's economy. Acting on this resolution isn't the only step we need to take to reach that future, but it's a giant step and we need to take it now." -- Brandy Doyle, CREDO Campaign Manager.
"Bold works with family farmers and ranchers who confront climate change every single day implementing solutions ranging from biofuels to installing wind and solar. Fossil fuel corporations have abused eminent domain for their private gain hurting farms and increasing climate change. Rural communities are proud to be at the table to ensure the Green New Deal lifts up all of our families on the frontlines and we stand with other communities like Tribal Nations ready to provide solutions for the climate crisis facing our nation." -- Jane Kleeb, Bold President
"Organic Consumers Association backs this resolution because it has the potential to both drastically reduce emissions and draw down and sequester carbon already in the atmosphere. The Green New Deal is the only solution that matches the scale of our multiple crises, including global warming, corporate control of our food system, income inequality and the general decline of our environment and our democracy." -- Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association International Director
"If we are to reorient ourselves from this disastrous course fueled by greed, we must steward our country with brave, diverse voices. Our trajectory is not immobile, but inertia must be overcome. Renewable energy by and for employed people is what we can build, together. Food systems that feed people and not climate change must be a priority. As future ancestors, we back the Green New Deal ten year plan for action today on climate, justice and for thriving communities that will set a course for generations to come." -- Janet MacGillivray, Seeding Sovereignty Executive Director
"The 'Green New Deal' is yet another wake-up call to take action now in order to prevent global heating from exceeding to 1.5C and to reduce greenhouse gases like carbon from oil pipelines by 40-60 percent in the next 10 years. That's not a lot of time! The 'Green New Deal' legislation will create real long-term jobs, replace aging infrastructure, protect volatile ecosystems and move us away from the extractive fossil fuel industry and other harmful and antiquated processes." -- Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth Co-founder and Executive Director
"The Green New Deal offers a bold, new opportunity to build our nation's infrastructure and tap American business innovation, while also addressing climate change and broadening economic prosperity. Investing in clean manufacturing, energy efficiency, renewable energy, quality water, transportation and agricultural systems will create more resilient communities, better jobs and a thriving economy. " -- David Levine, American Sustainable Business Council President.
"Our society needs to turn dramatically and immediately towards the shared goals of environmental justice, broad-based prosperity and health. The Green New Deal is that turn. While fighting the ravages of climate change, the Green New Deal simultaneously creates a more just and prosperous country. It proves that we can build a system where all Americans benefit from clean air and water, good paying jobs and the infrastructure of a sustainable future. Every day that we delay the transition to a sustainable future is an act of injustice against the most vulnerable members of our society." - Tom Steyer, NextGen America President
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LATEST NEWS
Biden Labor Department Finalizes Pro-Worker Rules on Overtime, Retirement Savings
"Democrats are delivering for working people!" declared Rep. Pramila Jayapal as the AFL-CIO noted that GOP ex-President Donald Trump "gutted the rules that required overtime pay for millions of workers."
Apr 23, 2024
Roughly 4.3 million U.S. workers will now be eligible for overtime pay under a new rule finalized Tuesday by President Joe Biden's Labor Department—in stark contrast to his Republican predecessor's rules that severely limited the number of workers who were eligible for required compensation when they worked more than 40 hours per week.
Under the new rule, employers will be required to pay overtime premiums to salaried workers who work more than standard full-time hours if they earn less than $1,128 per week, or about $58,600 per year.
Former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, may now have to defend his 2020 rule that set the overtime pay threshold at just $35,500 per year, leaving out millions of workers.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) noted that the updated rule was "a major piece" of the Executive Action Agenda released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which she chairs.
"This is a HUGE pro-worker initiative by President Biden," said Jayapal. "Democrats are delivering for working people!"
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who Biden has nominated to fill the role permanently, said it is "unacceptable" that lower-paid workers "are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay," while hourly workers are eligible for overtime pay.
"This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time," said Su. "The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity."
The Labor Department posted a chart on social media showing how under Trump's policy, only workers who earn less than $688 per week are eligible for required overtime pay. The full rule is set to go into effect in January 2025.
The chart offers a "good split screen with the GOP," saidSlate reporter Mark Joseph Stern.
"It isn't just that Trump's Department of Labor fought overtime pay—it's also that Trump appointed anti-labor judges who are about to block Biden's new rule," he said.
The former Republican president's appointed judges could also block a new Federal Trade Commission rule introduced on Tuesday, which blocks companies from including noncompete clauses in workers' contracts.
"Both reforms happened because of Biden and in spite of Republicans," said HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson.
Along with the overtime rule, the Labor Department announced a new policy aimed at safeguarding people's retirement savings from their financial advisers' conflicts of interest.
The finalized retirement security rule requires "trusted investment advice providers to give prudent, loyal, honest advice free from overcharges," said the department. "These fiduciaries must adhere to high standards of care and loyalty when they recommend investments and avoid recommendations that favor the investment advice providers' interests—financial or otherwise—at the retirement savers' expense."
"Under the final rule and amended exemptions, financial institutions overseeing investment advice providers must have policies and procedures to manage conflicts of interest and ensure providers follow these guidelines," the agency said.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said the nation's largest labor federation has "been pushing for the fiduciary and overtime rules since the Obama administration."
"It's really this simple," said Shuler. "Every worker deserves their fair share of the wealth they help create and every worker deserves to make sure their hard-earned money is secure."
Keep ReadingShow Less
More Than 4 Dozen Unions Demand 'End of Repression' of Columbia Protests
"The right to protest is necessary for every struggle, and the direct attack on this right is an attack on labor as well," said the labor groups. "An injury to one is an injury to all."
Apr 23, 2024
More than four dozen labor unions across numerous industries on Tuesday signed a letter expressing solidarity with students who have been suspended and arrested in recent days for protesting at Columbia University, including members of the on-campus labor group Student Workers of Columbia.
Unionized student workers in SWC-UAW 2710 were among the hundreds of picketers who have been protecting the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which students set up at Columbia on April 17 to pressure administrators to divest from weapons manufacturers, tech companies, and other entities that benefit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Ivy League institution, protesters say, will remain complicit in Israel's bombardment and blockade on Gaza, the killing of at least 34,183 Palestinians in the enclave since October, and the intentional starvation of dozens of people, until it entirely divests from Israel.
"As workers, we stand in solidarity with our union siblings in SWC-UAW 2710 who were arrested and face suspension," said the unions, including the Mother Jones Staff Union, Irvine Faculty Association, and Cleveland Jobs With Justice. "We call for their and their classmates' immediate reinstatement and for Columbia to drop all charges against them, both legal and academic. We deplore [Columbia president Minouche Shafik]'s actions and call for Columbia to immediately end the repression of protest."
The protests at Columbia—where more than 100 students were suspended, arrested for trespassing, and in some cases, evicted from their housing—have galvanized college students and faculty members at a growing number of universities in recent days.
Campus groups at the University of Minnesota and the University of Pittsburgh both announced early Tuesday that they were setting up their own encampments in solidarity with Columbia students and victims of the Israel Defense Forces' relentless attacks on Gaza, which the International Court of Justice said in January was "plausibly" a genocide.
After police arrested students at the University of Minnesota Tuesday afternoon and broke up the encampment, thousands of members of the school community rallied to demand that the university divest from all arms manufacturers.
Encampments were also erected Monday at University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan.
Jessica Christian, a photojournalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, reported that students were stopping to "ask what supplies the campers need as they walk by to class" at Berkeley, where roughly 50 tents were set up on Tuesday.
On Monday night, dozens of students at Yale University and New York University were arrested for protesting, setting up encampments, and "disorderly conduct."
The arrests at Columbia last week have not stopped students and educators from speaking out against the administration. A new encampment was set up last Friday and hundreds of faculty members staged a walkout Monday in support of the students.
In their letter, the unions on Tuesday warned that "the repression and criminalization of activists, students, professors, and academic workers across the country are violations of our elementary rights to free speech and protest."
"The right to protest is necessary for every struggle, and the direct attack on this right is an attack on labor as well," said the unions, "An injury to one is an injury to all—if the Columbia students can be repressed for protesting, Columbia workers and all workers could be too. Workers stand in full solidarity with this student movement."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Plastics Summit 'Die-In' Highlights Need to Cut Production
"This week governments have a choice: Stand up to this slash-and-burn approach by agreeing to radically reduce plastic output, or let the world be held to ransom by a dying industry."
Apr 23, 2024
As the fourth round of talks for a global plastics treaty kicked off in the Canadian capital on Tuesday, campaigners with the corporate accountability group Ekō staged a die-in at Ottawa's Shaw Centre to demand an ambitious plan to reduce production.
"Plastic pollution has reached the snows of Antarctica, the deepest oceans, even the clouds in the sky—and still fossil fuel corporations are trying to ramp up production," explained Ekō campaign director Vicky Wyatt. "This week governments have a choice: Stand up to this slash-and-burn approach by agreeing to radically reduce plastic output, or let the world be held to ransom by a dying industry. It's very clear to people across the planet which way they need to go."
Demonstrators—some wearing fish masks to highlight how plastic pollution impacts marine biodiversity—gathered in front of a 28-foot banner that used plastic trash bags to spell out: "Plastic is poisoning us. Cut production now."
(Photo: Ben Powless/Survival Media Agency)
Participants in the die-in—which followed the weekend's "March to End the Plastic Era" through the Canadian city—held smaller signs with similar messages, demanding that governments and industry "stop fueling climate chaos."
As Common Dreamsreported last week, new research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California shows that planet-heating pollution from the plastics industry is equivalent to that of about 600 coal-fired power plants, and 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production are released before the plastic compounds are even created.
The protesters also highlighted that more than 180,000 Ekō members have signed a petition urging action on plastic pollution. The petition specifically calls for banning all plastic waste exports from the European Union and fully implementing the Basel Convention within the bloc, while the summit has a global focus and the plan is to have a treaty by the end of this year.
After countries agreed to draft a treaty two years ago, the latest talks in Kenya last year were flooded by fossil fuel and chemical lobbyists and ended with little progress, increasing attention on the Canadian meeting that began Tuesday and is scheduled to run through Monday.
"It's a crucial moment of this process," Andrés Gómez Carrión, chair of the negotiations and an Ecuadorian diplomat in the United Kingdom, toldReuters on Monday. "One of the biggest challenges is to define where the plastics lifecycle starts and define what sustainable production and consumption is."
Petrochemical-producing countries including China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia "have opposed mentioning production limits" while E.U. members, island nations, and Japan aim to "end plastic pollution by 2040," the news agency reported. The United States supports that timeline but "wants countries to set their own plans for doing so" and submit pledges to the United Nations.
"We are facing a global plastics crisis that requires urgent, global action. Reducing plastic production needs to be a core component of the solution," Christy Leavitt, campaign director at Oceana in the United States, said in a statement. "Countries must act now to stop the flood of plastic pollution that is harming our oceans, climate, health, and communities by starting at the source to reduce its production."
"The U.S. should support a strong, legally binding plastics treaty that addresses the full life cycle of this persistent pollutant from extraction and production to use and disposal," Leavitt added. "Now is the time for the United States to show its support to reduce plastic production, eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics, prohibit hazardous chemicals in plastics, and establish mandatory targets for reuse and refill systems. The United States and the world must act before it's too late."
Greenpeace last month installed a 15-foot monument outside the U.S. Capitol to send President Joe Biden a message.
"He can be the president who put an end to the plastic pollution crisis, or he can be the one who let it spiral out of control," Greenpeace oceans director John Hocevar said of Biden. "We're calling on him to stand up to plastic polluters like Exxon and Dow and put us on a greener and healthier path."
The petrochemical industry, Reuters noted, "argues that production caps would lead to higher prices for consumers, and that the treaty should address plastics only after they are made."
Sam Cossar-Gilbert of Friends of the Earth International emphasized the need to resist corporate pressure in a statement Tuesday.
"A people-powered movement and some governments are proposing ambitious steps to address the plastic problem, like regulating the harmful waste trade, single-use bans, and reducing global plastic production," said Cossar-Gilbert. "But multinational corporations will also be lobbying with their false solutions, distractions, and delays. Only by stamping out corporate capture can we deliver a new global treaty to end plastic pollution."
Mageswari Sangaralingam from the green group's Malaysian arm, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, stressed the need for strong waste management policies, given that Global South countries have become dumping grounds for richer nations' discarded plastic.
"Waste colonialism, whether in the form of trade in plastic waste and other hidden plastics, perpetuates social and environmental injustice," said Sangaralingam. "However, ending the plastic waste trade without reducing plastic production will likely trigger more dumping, cause toxic pollution, and contribute to the climate crisis. The global plastics treaty is an opportunity to plug loopholes and address policy gaps to end plastic pollution."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular