This past Climate Week, unions and allies highlighted labor’s critical role in advancing a bold vision for climate action, jobs, and affordability. On Monday September 22nd, Climate Jobs National Resource Center presented Facing Challenges, Seizing the Moment: A Climate Action Agenda for Working Families, a panel discussion featuring leaders driving bold new strategies in the states that will deliver for working families on affordability, union jobs, and climate ambition – turning a moment of crisis into one of lasting opportunity. Audience members heard from John Podesta, U.S. Senator Sheldon White house, U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski, and Patrick Crowley of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and Climate Jobs Rhode Island.
And on Thursday September 25th, we heard from labor leaders and researchers from Cornell University’s Climate Jobs Institute at a panel and reception unveiling a forthcoming report, Key Interventions: How New York Can Still Achieve Its Climate Mandates. New York State can continue to drive ambitious action to meet its climate goals while delivering for working families with union jobs and lower costs. The report identifies ten immediate interventions the state can implement to meet climate targets, build worker power and advance efforts to address historic environmental injustice. Among the evening’s panelists were Christopher Erikson Jr., Sr. Assistant Business Manager, IBEW Local 3 and Esther Rosario, Executive Director of Climate Jobs NY. Together these events showed how Labor can lift up solutions that deliver for workers, communities, and the planet
