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Outten and Golden, LLP, a law firm dedicated to employees’ rights, is sponsoring an upcoming event for Workplace Fairness.
climate change
The Climate Crisis Is Coming for Undocumented Farmworkers First
Facing deadly heat waves and few protections, undocumented agricultural workers are being pushed to their limit. In July 2020, Claudia Durán felt compelled to complete her shift harvesting blueberries in the fields of Allegan County, Mich., before driving to the local hospital’s emergency room to be treated for dehydration, where she arrived dizzy, with an acute …
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Billionaires Can Have the Cosmos—We Only Want the Earth
Fleeing is what the rich do best. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz fled Texas last winter, abandoning millions to freezing temperatures. But some have tired of the Earth altogether. Billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson are fleeing to space on rockets with stratospheric price tags. Branson was the first to venture forth July 11, in a gambit to launch a commercial space …
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We Have a Jobs Crisis and an Environmental Crisis. The Answer to Both Is a Civilian Climate Corps.
From Bernie Sanders and AOC to the Sunrise Movement, progressives are working to establish an updated version of a New Deal program to meet the challenges of economic and climate upheaval. Its time has come. The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal embraced by President Joe Biden appears to be a dud. Instead of taxing the rich to …
Historic heat wave highlights the need for farmworker protections
Summer heat is a danger for farmworkers every year, with heat deaths happening steadily. But with climate change and heat waves like the one that hit the Pacific Northwest in recent weeks becoming more frequent, the need for legal protections for farmworkers is becoming more urgent. At least one worker died during that heat wave. California farmworkers have a right to shade when …
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The Heat Wave Shows Climate Change Is a Workers’ Rights Issue
The workers laboring outside in this extraordinary heat are on the front lines of the climate crisis. The end of June saw temperatures soar all around the United States, with historic heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest and excessive heat advisories, watches and warnings elsewhere. The heat is not just uncomfortable, it’s deadly, buckling roads and …
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Why Climate Plans Must Include Farmers of Color
Proposed legislation would give farms resources to fight climate change. Will farmers of color get equal access? Marvin Frink looks out at his Black Angus cattle farm as the sun is coming up and ponders what’s on the horizon. He and his wife Tanisha started Briarwood Cattle Farm in Raeford, N.C. 10 years ago after Marvin was …
A Debate Over Carbon Capture in the Infrastructure Bill Could Test the Labor-Climate Alliance
In late March, President Joe Biden unveiled a $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, the American Jobs Plan, that his administration hopes to move forward this year. The plan would make major investments in improving physical infrastructure such as roads, schools and bridges while also creating good-paying jobs, expanding collective bargaining rights and funding long-term care services under Medicaid. …
How Unions Can Bridge the Gap Between Climate and Labor Movements
While U.S. union density hit an all-time low in 2019, the nonprofit sector appears to be one area where workers are unionizing. The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU) brought seven new workplaces into their union during a 16-day period in April, including the environmental organization Friends of the Earth. And while there is no official data on …
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Climate Activists Can’t Afford to Ignore Labor. A Shuttered Refinery in Philly Shows Why.
In the early morning hours of June 21, 2019, a catastrophic explosion tore through the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery in the southwest section of Philadelphia. The training and quick thinking of refinery workers, members of United Steelworkers Local 10-1, averted certain disaster and saved millions of lives. One month later, on July 21, …
