https://socialistaction.org/2019/03/25/brothers-sisters-in-the-building-trades-time-is-running-out-for-the-planet/
Brothers & sisters in the building trades: Time is running out for the
planet
/ 17 mins ago
April 2019 Demolish houses (Douglas R. Clifford:AP)
New houses in Florida demolished by Hurricane Michael last October.
Warming oceans are making hurricanes more severe. (Douglas R. Clifford /
Tampa Bay Times / AP)
By A WORKING CARPENTER
I’ve been a carpenter my whole adult life. I worked nonunion before I
joined the Carpenters’ Union—easily the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
For a working-class person, a union is still the best anti-poverty program.
Recently, the heads of the Building Trades unions, alongside the leaders
of the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers (UMWA), spoke out
against the proposed Green New Deal. They claim that the GND will “cause
immediate harm to millions of our members and their families.”
Right-wing climate deniers immediately seized on union opposition to the
GND as proof that proponents are out of touch with reality.
The science is irrefutable: Climate change is real. The energy companies
spend millions of dollars trying to convince you that the science isn’t
definitive. (Just like the tobacco companies tried to tell us that
cigarettes are not a danger to your health.) Politicians crack jokes in
the wintertime to downplay the seriousness of the situation.
The dangers are real. We’re already seeing the effects—melting ice caps
and rising sea levels, extreme weather, flooding in the Midwest, more
intense hurricanes, wildfires in the West, and refugee crises that will
only become more dire. Famine is a real threat. Wars may be fought over
water and arable land. Democracy could be threatened as a result of
social unrest. If left unchecked, climate change could mean the end of
life on Earth.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If corporate interests, and the richest
1%, are left in control of the economy and government, they will balance
the cost of the climate crisis on our backs. The rich will stop at
nothing to keep their wealth and power. This means playing working
people against each other, inciting fear of immigrants, and fanning the
flames of conspiracy theories about socialists wanting to take away your
hamburgers.
The bosses want you to believe that environmental protections are bad
for jobs. It’s a lie. Too often, our union leaders put the interests of
the bosses ahead of the members, and the rank and file have little or no
say in the decisions.
Are you willing to let the same union busters who have tried to shove
right-to-work laws down our throats lead the way on climate crisis?
The current economic and political system, in which the rich get tax
breaks and accumulate wealth while the rest of us get the scraps, is
unworkable. The majority of the jobs created in the U.S. are low-wage
with few benefits. The majority of U.S. workers have no pensions or
retirement savings. Many new jobs are part-time. Millions in the U.S.
lack access to affordable health care, and student debt threatens the
future of younger generations. Worldwide, millions live without basic
sanitation and clean water.
We can do better. The Green New Deal is just an initial step. We have to
take emergency measures as a society to convert to sustainable,
renewable sources of energy. We also have to re-imagine how work itself
is organized. Do rich people need more luxury apartments, while
thousands sleep in their cars or on sidewalks? How many strip malls do
we need, when schools and infrastructure are in disrepair? Who decides?
The money and resources are there to create good jobs, decent housing,
education, secure retirement, and health care for all. But the truth is
that this money is squandered on handouts to the rich and endless wars
overseas.
Critical infrastructure is needed to secure our coastlines against
rising sea levels. Improved and expanded mass transit must be built to
reduce our dependence on cars. Working people have the skills. We can
democratically plan and run the economy in the interests of working
people. We can make the decisions necessary to save the planet. For
humanity to survive, we have to get beyond the idea of growth for the
sake of growth. We can put a stop to climate change, wars, and poverty.
Solidarity and democracy are key. We can’t let the bosses and their
politicians, in both major parties, turn us against each other. The
solutions the bosses offer will surely preserve their wealth and
privilege at our expense.
Ask yourselves, what sort of planet do we leave behind for our kids and
grandkids?
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March 25, 2019 in Environment, Labor. Tags: climate change
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Carl Sagan
“ The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be
counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be
consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not
determine what's true. ”
― Carl Sagan
