California Labor Principles
on Climate Change and Assembly Bill 32
(Adopted by the California Labor Federation
Executive
Committee on April 7, 2008)
Global Warming is an indisputable fact that will thoroughly change our economy, our labor markets, and many aspects of our daily lives. How labor responds will determine, in large part, whether these changes support our ability to organize new members and grow or whether our strength is undermined. Moreover, efforts currently underway to fight global warming, such as AB 32 which calls for a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, cannot succeed without an engaged Labor Movement.
Building
Alliances and Regional
Partnerships.
Addressing global warming provides labor the opportunity to
build new
alliances and strengthen bonds with environmental, community, and
business
allies. Furthermore, in order to reach the target called for by AB 32
to
mitigate global warming, we call upon employers to step up their
efforts to
reduce their own emissions and to partner with union representatives
and
community leaders in efforts to seriously address global warming.
Sustainability. Climate stabilization can only be
accomplished if economic and social life is structured around the
notion of
sustainable development and fair trade. For unions, sustainable
development requires a commitment to decent working conditions,
including a
voice at work, the right to organize and to a safe work environment as
well as access
to prevailing and self-sufficient wages.
Green Jobs
Must be Union Jobs with a
Future.
The struggle against global warming is an opportunity to address
unsustainable patterns of development, production, and consumption, and
to
create new and well paying “green” jobs throughout California in
renewable
energy, the construction trades, public transportation, sustainable
farming,
and much-needed manufacturing for California workers. It is not enough
for a
job to be with a clean tech or green employer for it to be truly green. Green jobs include any job that has been
upgraded to address the environmental challenges facing the state or
nation. A
green job is one with good wages and benefits, an upward career
pathway, and a
voice on the job: in short, the protections only guaranteed by union
membership.
Just
Transition. With the industrial transition that a green
economy brings, workers in many traditional industries will experience
major
changes, including dislocation or other impacts. We
support the concept of “just transition”
-- no worker should suffer economic hardship or insecurity as a result
of the
changes required to address climate crisis or other environmental
challenges. Provisions shall be made for
education, training, retraining, or as necessary, re-employment in
comparably
good jobs or bridges to retirement.
Equity for
Communities. People in the poorest communites of our
state, who have shouldered much of the burden of our carbon-based
economy in
terms of poor air quality, health hazards, lower wages, and longer
commute
times, must be among the first included in job-creation, programs,
community
development and pollution mitigation efforts.
Worker
Training and Coordination of
Resources. Greening the economy will require
a workforce with new skills. Policy-makers must support, enhance, and
leverage
union apprenticeship programs, labor-management training partnershsips,
career-technical education initiatives, community colleges, local
workforce
investment boards, and other education, training and worker supports to
train
new and incumbant workers and to build career pathways for the green
economy.
Global Warming is a Global Problem. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require action on many fronts. Industry, agriculture, transportation, electric generation and land use policies all must change. The regulatory system must ensure that these changes occur comprehensively and fairly. A carbon emissions fee should be levied on carbon emitted in the manufacture of any product sold, used, or imported for sale or use. Emission permits should be auctioned, and state government should administer the market with a majority of the proceeds used to benefit the public including substantial investment in workforce development. Domestic manufacturing and other industries must not be asked to compete against unfair foreign or out-of-state competitors that are able to circumvent California’s regulatory scheme. Reducing our at-home global warming footprint when that reduction actually contributes to increased global GHG emissions in another part of the world is counterproductive.