Labor Briefing

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left with a Pew poll showing that a big majority of the American Association for the Advancement of mate scientists, Dr James E. Hansen—have in utter desperation shown conditional support for nuclear tricity. But their advocates ignore the vast amounts of emissions resulting just from mining, refining, and transporting their fuel. The fuel is not renewable—it grating this scourge—socially and environmentally nium. They are anything but safe. Reactor accidents harmful in so many ways—into the American Dream can be catastrophic. And there’s no known proven method for safe disposal of waste that can remain dangerous for centuries. These objections are not urbia and instead renovate, rebuild, and repopulate our collapsed urban cores—and reclaim the forests, wetlands, and farmland that used to surround and nourish our cities before being wrecked by irrational “development”—will not be an easy sell. Tougher yet destructive pursuit of profits even while hailing the will be winning them over to the fact that we can’t signing of agreements negotiated at the Paris COP21 sustain each individual’s having their own personal car, truck, or SUV. Electric powered public transit in ized that deal as “bullshit.” But we don’t have to wave the cities, and plug-in electric vehicles in rural areas, will need to become our dominant forms of daily crash program to completely replace fossil fuels we will require more than new fuels. Some messes serves of wealth produced by our labor, they can live will need decades of remediation—such as General with some reforms they don’t like. But they know the Electric’s settlement obligation to keep dredging the steps needed to survive the climate crisis they have Hudson River until it is completely free of the PCBs created put the future of their very system of rule by (polychlorinated biphenyl) they routinely dumped from the now closed, UE-organized Hudson Falls difficulties—I have confidence we can educate and ized hot spots continue to pop up. An April 28 Wall port but lead the struggle to satisfactorily resolve the Street Journal article begins, “About a mile from greatest crisis humanity has yet faced. My optimism is two-fold. It is in the material interest of our class tive hot spot with contamination levels hundreds of times above federal safety guidelines. But there are nomic clout to defeat the climate-wrecking bosses no plans to clean it up. That is because the location, tainted with waste from atomic-weapons work done in local factories decades ago, has been deemed by ment. On a global scale, there is Trade Unions for the federal government to be effectively inaccessible Energy Democracy, with affiliates representing 4.6 million workers in 17 countries on every inhabited continent—nine of them in the United States. They ist, including a former senior official of the Clinton tion, introducing workers to climate change—and administration’s Energy Department, is challenging what can be done about it—suitable for showing at those assurances. They say a recent sampling they did suggests contamination from the radioactive hot Why Detroit Teachers Are So Sick— In January, so many Detroit teachers and paraprofessionals called in sick, the entire DPS system had to be shut down. For legal reasons, the Detroit Federa­ tion of Teachers did not officially sanc­ tion that job action but did help explain why dedicated educators were in the streets rather than classrooms. It was a desperate measure to call attention to desperate conditions of overcrowded classes in crumbling buildings, many infested with rats.

And they made no bones about who they held responsible—the same aus­ terity, privatizing, union-busting state government responsible for poisoning Flint’s water system. As it turned out, the then Emergency Manager of DPS appointed by Governor Rick Snyder had earlier been the overseer of the Flint outrage and has since resigned from state employment in disgrace and un­ der investigation for possible criminal charges.

Since the January teacher warnings ... Climate (continued from page 1: “Capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis”)

He bolsters his attack on an alleged anti-science Science favors more nuclear power.

Some scientists, of course—even the dean of cli­ power as an emergency stop-gap measure due to in­ action on replacing fossil fuels with safe, clean, re­ newable energy, available free of charge.

It is true that nuclear power plants produce negligi­ ble greenhouse emissions where they generate elec­ depends on a dwindling supply of extractable ura­ political bias—they are based on solid science. Polluted hot spots The oil and gas sectors continue to prolong their summit last December. Hansen concisely character­ the white flag just yet.

There are credible estimates that an emergency with clean, renewable energy could be could be ac­ complished in 20-25 years.

To completely clean up the environmental mess, plant.

Some newly revealed even more dangerous local­ homes in Missouri’s St. Louis County lies a radioac­ and not a threat.”

But they quickly follow, “However, a group of pri­ vate researchers funded by an environmental activ­ that received sympathetic public re­ sponse, things have gotten worse. Even the starvation funding in the contrived financial crisis imposed by the state are running out. When the governor’s current managers said they would not be able to make scheduled salary pay­ ments in July and August, and that summer sessions would be canceled, the union called everybody out sick spot is entering a nearby stream, known as Coldwater Creek, and then traveling downstream into the yards of homes. The con­ tamination involves thorium, a radioactive material that can increase a person’s risks for cer­ tain cancers if it gets inside the body, according to the Environ­ mental Protection Agency.”

In the U.S. overall, we have an even bigger challenge. If we are to build an ecologically sustain­ able society providing a good standard of living for all, we have to halt and reverse the urban sprawl that has been the linch­ pin of post-World War II domes­ tic ruling-class strategy. They have done a thorough job of inte­ of the vanishing “middle class.” transportation.

A key role for labor right thing is a fool’s errand. Because of their vast re­ the rich at mortal risk.

organize the working-class majority to not just sup­ to do so, and only our class has the social and eco­ and bankers.

have produced an excellent short YouTube anima­ union meetings or any gathering of workers.

Carlos Osorio / AP again for two days, starting on May 2.

Over 1500 teachers did not show up for work, and the district closed 94 of its 97 schools.

Although the teachers returned to work, the union blasted legislation pending in the Michigan House that would advance money to restructure the district. The proposed bill would forbid existing labor agreements from Convincing workers that we need to phase out sub­ York.

Trying to reason with the Establishment to do the On the other hand—with no illusions about the Wing Planet.”

There are already hopeful signs in the union move­ The Labor Network for Sustainability is a U.S. affili­ Teachers President Ivy Bailey speaks at May 3 rally outside school district headquarters. being transferred to the new district, and would restrict collective bargaining over work schedules and school calen­ dars.

Like their sisters and brothers in Chi­ cago, the Detroit teachers need to de­ velop solidarity in action of all those who are facing the same fight through­ out the city, state, and nationally, as governments serving the banks impov­ erish the public sector.

Widening Generation Gap—Con­ tinuing a pattern imposed by the top leadership of the International Associa­ tion of Machinists at Boeing and other highly profitable companies, the IAM has concluded an agreement with Unit­ ed Technologies, covering a thousand workers in Connecticut. While provid­ ing for a 12 percent raise, and bonuses totaling $4500 over the next five years, the pact also establishes a sub-tier for new hires, who will be frozen out of the union’s pension plan. n If you have a suggestion for “Labor Briefing,” please send it to billonasch@ kclabor.org and mention “Labor Brief­ ing” in the subject.

Union, National Nurses United, and the Service Em­ Victories of American social movements, such as of these were assisted by support from wings of or­ ganized labor. Building a broad climate action move­ ment through such tactics is needed right now.

But the scope and urgency of the climate crisis— deportation, austerity, and a host of other ills—re­ biosphere so that we can all “Make a Living on a Liv­ But this is the Achilles Heel of the American labor republic has at least one mass working-class party— class itself through reasoned civil discourse.

Reviving the movement for a class-based labor par­ concentration of the super-rich. n