Labor anger over Green New Deal greets 2020 contenders in California

[DonViejo]

By CARLA MARINUCCI and DEBRA KAHN 06/01/2019 09:00 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES — Blue-collar union workers in solidly Democratic California are rejecting "Green New Deal" politics, a possible preview of troubles for 2020 presidential hopefuls in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched his "Green New Deal LA" plan last month amid cheers from environmentalists, hundreds of jeans-wearing, tattooed union members outside the event chanted “Garcetti’s gotta go” and denounced the move as a betrayal. The Garcetti protest was followed by disputes in the state capital this month over a large buffer zone that would block new oil and gas wells, as well as a massive hydro project near Joshua Tree.

Robbie Hunter, president of the state Building and Construction Trades Council — which represents more than 400,000 workers — says that dozens of his members plan a major “Blue Collar Revolution” demonstration Saturday morning at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, which will be attended by 14 of the Democratic presidential contenders and 5,000 delegates and guests.

The effort aims to send a message that the party is in danger of eroding a critical base if it continues to back the Green New Deal resolution being pushed in Washington, D.C. by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her allies. Hunter argues the measure's goals could endanger thousands of jobs in the Southern California oil industry alone.

more
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2019/06/01/labor-anger-over-green-new-deal-greets-2020-contenders-in-california-1027570

[shanny]

1. Politico weighs in on behalf of the oil industry and against progressives

of course

[DonViejo]

2. Did you read the article? eom

[shanny]

4. Skimmed it, which is about all I ever do with them.

[DonViejo]

7. What's your opinion of Jessica Levinson, from the Los Angeles Ethics Commission

and a Prof at Loyola U? Also, your thoughts about the comments from Rusty Hicks, from the LA Labor Federation as well as a candidate for chair of the California Dem Party?

[Politicub]

20. Self delete

[LibFarmer]

3. Green New Deal

A list of bullet points of what the ultimate dream would look like.

No plan about how to get there.
No idea about what it will cost.
No discussion of what it will do to the economy.
No attempt at consensus building with stakeholders - just "this is what we want and get in line or else."

[shanny]

5. offs

it is not a plan, it is a 14-page aspirational goal

It would be a huge driver of new jobs and therefore the economy and btw, not dealing with climate change will be far costlier than dealing with it. As can be amply demonstrated by the cost of the ever-more-frequent weather disasters we are dealing with now. As a farmer, lib or otherwise, I would think you would relate to that.

[LibFarmer]

6. I stand by my crticism of the GND

I won't be swayed by talking points -- only hard data.

No economic impact study of the GND has been done by any reputable economic body.

"Aspirational goals" are called "wish lists" in colloquial terms and they don't qualify as legislation or policy proposals.

[shanny]

23. so by your own admission you are criticizing something

that doesn't exist yet. your concern is noted.

[MineralMan]

9. As always, current jobs are an important issue for those in those jobs.

In fact, any policy proposal that threatens people's current livelihoods is not likely to generate a great deal of support from those whose jobs are threatened.

Long-term goals need to be tempered with short-term solutions or they run the risk of never being realized.

[MineralMan]

8. It sounds to me like some additional efforts will be

needed to educate people about why we need a GND. If it is generating this kind of opposition among labor groups, then the appropriate response will not be to dismiss their issues. Instead, meeting with them to learn their concerns and finding ways to address those concerns will be far more effective than simply saying, "But it's what we need."

The Democratic Party needs to continue being the "Party of Labor."

[ancianita]

10. I think Gov. Inslee's got the accomplishments, arguments about job creation to change workers' minds

[MineralMan]

12. Well, Inslee's an interesting person, but will not succeed in his

quest for the Presidency in 2020. He's way down the list of possibilities.

The group that is protesting the GND push is far more likely to support Joe Biden, frankly. His message is not going to appear threatening to such groups that might be adversely affected by GND. He's not going to take public positions that piss off labor groups, I guarantee. On the other hand, he is deeply concerned with global climate change. He's not stupid enough, though, to openly threaten people's current jobs.

Politics is about winning elections, and doing that requires support and votes. Every time a candidate alienates a bloc of voters, that candidate's chances of being elected go down.

[ancianita]

14. Agree. But in debates he can make the case for increased jobs, which should bring labor over.

He knows he won't win, either, but if he can make the compelling case for workers' economic gains through
the GND -- that ending current jobs is in no way a zero sum problem -- he adds to Democrats' voters in the General.

[MineralMan]

15. Well, we're a helluva long way from next year's General Election.

So far, in fact, that nothing that is happening now is going to have much impact on that.

Here's the thing about long-term jobs generation: It's long-term. In the meantime, people have to keep earning money to pay their bills and plan for the future. That is an overriding issue that can't be dismissed.

People can't eat promises. Promises won't pay the mortgage, either.

Most folks, frankly, have been living paycheck to paycheck for too long already. Anything that might threaten next month's or even next year's paycheck is a critical concern.

That's the thing the long-term planners often don't remember. Or, if they remember it, they figure people will understand the long-term benefits. They're wrong. People understand today, tomorrow, next month and next year. Beyond that, they merely have hope that things will continue to keep them working.

In the Midwest, where I live, farmers are shutting down operations and getting ready to sell their land. That's not any Democrat's fault, but it is the reality. Between this year's weather and punishing trade policies, they can't pay their bills or their mortgages. They don't see a solution down the road, either, in any time-frame that makes sense. It's a one crop at a time thing.

Voters don't look at long-term plans. They want to know how they're going to survive now. They vote on that basis.

[ancianita]

16. I'll look up his numbers, but here's Inslee himself:

"... we have developed the best economy in the United States which has the fastest GDP growth and the fastest wage growth, not despite the fact that we're embracing clean energy, but because we are embracing clean energy. But we're not done yet. There's more to do. Now we need it to repose in the White House."

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/31/727841929/gov-jay-inslee-says-washington-state-is-a-template-for-success-for-the-u-s

Please understand that I'm not campaigning for him, but for his ideas which need to go mainstream in Washington.

[ancianita]

19. Maybe not. But the trending of numbers shows oil's 1st to market competitive edge

that "sells" the idea that job growth under Inslee's Green New Economy project is a non-starter.

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/04/jay-inslees-green-jobs-claim/

The bureau’s list of the top 30 “fastest growing occupations” also includes four oil industry occupations: Roustabouts, oil and gas; service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining; rotary drill operators, oil and gas; derrick operators, oil and gas. Collectively, those four occupations are projected to add 28,900 jobs, while the two clean energy occupations cited by Inslee would add 17,400

.

Inslee doesn't claim he's beaten energy jobs with green, but that his job numbers are trending.

Inslee would enlist labor, and the unemployed, to join in making oil pollution jobs less desirable than green jobs.

[Historic NY]

27. Falls short on Green Jobs....

maybe they should go back over to coal company and see if they have changed their minds about green jobs.

[shanny]

24. I take issue with the word "continue"

We haven't been honoring that commitment for decades...which is a big part of the reason we are where we are.

[George II]

11. The "green new deal" - it's only a resolution and, as noted, essentially a vague wish list:

RESOLUTION
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.

Whereas the October 2018 report entitled “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment report found that—

(1) human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change over the past century;

(2) a changing climate is causing sea levels to rise and an increase in wildfires, severe storms, droughts, and other extreme weather events that threaten human life, healthy communities, and critical infrastructure;

(3) global warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius beyond preindustrialized levels will cause—

(A) mass migration from the regions most affected by climate change;

(B) more than $500,000,000,000 in lost annual economic output in the United States by the year 2100;

(C) wildfires that, by 2050, will annually burn at least twice as much forest area in the western United States than was typically burned by wildfires in the years preceding 2019;

(D) a loss of more than 99 percent of all coral reefs on Earth;

(E) more than 350,000,000 more people to be exposed globally to deadly heat stress by 2050; and

(F) a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 of public infrastructure and coastal real estate in the United States; and

(4) global temperatures must be kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrialized levels to avoid the most severe impacts of a changing climate, which will require—

(A) global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from human sources of 40 to 60 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; and

(B) net-zero global emissions by 2050;

Whereas, because the United States has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological capacity, the United States must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation;

Whereas the United States is currently experiencing several related crises, with—

(1) life expectancy declining while basic needs, such as clean air, clean water, healthy food, and adequate health care, housing, transportation, and education, are inaccessible to a significant portion of the United States population;

(2) a 4-decade trend of wage stagnation, deindustrialization, and antilabor policies that has led to—

(A) hourly wages overall stagnating since the 1970s despite increased worker productivity;

(B) the third-worst level of socioeconomic mobility in the developed world before the Great Recession;

(C) the erosion of the earning and bargaining power of workers in the United States; and

(D) inadequate resources for public sector workers to confront the challenges of climate change at local, State, and Federal levels; and

(3) the greatest income inequality since the 1920s, with—

(A) the top 1 percent of earners accruing 91 percent of gains in the first few years of economic recovery after the Great Recession;

(B) a large racial wealth divide amounting to a difference of 20 times more wealth between the average white family and the average black family; and

(C) a gender earnings gap that results in women earning approximately 80 percent as much as men, at the median;

Whereas climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction have exacerbated systemic racial, regional, social, environmental, and economic injustices (referred to in this preamble as “systemic injustices”) by disproportionately affecting indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to in this preamble as “frontline and vulnerable communities”);

Whereas, climate change constitutes a direct threat to the national security of the United States—

(1) by impacting the economic, environmental, and social stability of countries and communities around the world; and

(2) by acting as a threat multiplier;

Whereas the Federal Government-led mobilizations during World War II and the New Deal created the greatest middle class that the United States has ever seen, but many members of frontline and vulnerable communities were excluded from many of the economic and societal benefits of those mobilizations; and

Whereas the House of Representatives recognizes that a new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal era is a historic opportunity—

(1) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in the United States;

(2) to provide unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States; and

(3) to counteract systemic injustices: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—

(1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal—

(A) to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;

(B) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States;

(C) to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century;

(D) to secure for all people of the United States for generations to come—

(i) clean air and water;

(ii) climate and community resiliency;

(iii) healthy food;

(iv) access to nature; and

(v) a sustainable environment; and

(E) to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to in this resolution as “frontline and vulnerable communities”);

(2) the goals described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of paragraph (1) (referred to in this resolution as the “Green New Deal goals”) should be accomplished through a 10-year national mobilization (referred to in this resolution as the “Green New Deal mobilization”) that will require the following goals and projects—

(A) building resiliency against climate change-related disasters, such as extreme weather, including by leveraging funding and providing investments for community-defined projects and strategies;

(B) repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including—

(i) by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible;

(ii) by guaranteeing universal access to clean water;

(iii) by reducing the risks posed by climate impacts; and

(iv) by ensuring that any infrastructure bill considered by Congress addresses climate change;

(C) meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including—

(i) by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources; and

(ii) by deploying new capacity;

(D) building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and “smart” power grids, and ensuring affordable access to electricity;

(E) upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification;

(F) spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible, including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing and investing in existing manufacturing and industry;

(G) working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including—

(i) by supporting family farming;

(ii) by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health; and

(iii) by building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food;

(H) overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in—

(i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing;

(ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and

(iii) high-speed rail;

(I) mitigating and managing the long-term adverse health, economic, and other effects of pollution and climate change, including by providing funding for community-defined projects and strategies;

(J) removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reducing pollution by restoring natural ecosystems through proven low-tech solutions that increase soil carbon storage, such as land preservation and afforestation;

(K) restoring and protecting threatened, endangered, and fragile ecosystems through locally appropriate and science-based projects that enhance biodiversity and support climate resiliency;

(L) cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites, ensuring economic development and sustainability on those sites;

(M) identifying other emission and pollution sources and creating solutions to remove them; and

(N) promoting the international exchange of technology, expertise, products, funding, and services, with the aim of making the United States the international leader on climate action, and to help other countries achieve a Green New Deal;

(3) a Green New Deal must be developed through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses; and

(4) to achieve the Green New Deal goals and mobilization, a Green New Deal will require the following goals and projects—

(A) providing and leveraging, in a way that ensures that the public receives appropriate ownership stakes and returns on investment, adequate capital (including through community grants, public banks, and other public financing), technical expertise, supporting policies, and other forms of assistance to communities, organizations, Federal, State, and local government agencies, and businesses working on the Green New Deal mobilization;

(B) ensuring that the Federal Government takes into account the complete environmental and social costs and impacts of emissions through—

(i) existing laws;

(ii) new policies and programs; and

(iii) ensuring that frontline and vulnerable communities shall not be adversely affected;

(C) providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States, with a focus on frontline and vulnerable communities, so that all people of the United States may be full and equal participants in the Green New Deal mobilization;

(D) making public investments in the research and development of new clean and renewable energy technologies and industries;

(E) directing investments to spur economic development, deepen and diversify industry and business in local and regional economies, and build wealth and community ownership, while prioritizing high-quality job creation and economic, social, and environmental benefits in frontline and vulnerable communities, and deindustrialized communities, that may otherwise struggle with the transition away from greenhouse gas intensive industries;

(F) ensuring the use of democratic and participatory processes that are inclusive of and led by frontline and vulnerable communities and workers to plan, implement, and administer the Green New Deal mobilization at the local level;

(G) ensuring that the Green New Deal mobilization creates high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, hires local workers, offers training and advancement opportunities, and guarantees wage and benefit parity for workers affected by the transition;

(H) guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States;

(I) strengthening and protecting the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment;

(J) strengthening and enforcing labor, workplace health and safety, antidiscrimination, and wage and hour standards across all employers, industries, and sectors;

(K) enacting and enforcing trade rules, procurement standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and environmental protections—

(i) to stop the transfer of jobs and pollution overseas; and

(ii) to grow domestic manufacturing in the United States;

(L) ensuring that public lands, waters, and oceans are protected and that eminent domain is not abused;

(M) obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples for all decisions that affect indigenous peoples and their traditional territories, honoring all treaties and agreements with indigenous peoples, and protecting and enforcing the sovereignty and land rights of indigenous peoples;

(N) ensuring a commercial environment where every businessperson is free from unfair competition and domination by domestic or international monopolies; and

(O) providing all people of the United States with—

(i) high-quality health care;

(ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing;

(iii) economic security; and

(iv) clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and access to nature.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text

[zentrum]

13. I'll bet Warren

...."has a plan". She'd never let workers be carelessly hurt by an essential policy.

We have 10 years.

[IndyOp]

17. Thousands of jobs or billions of lives - IF we have to select one or the other

SOMETIMES - then the choice is obvious.

We need feds coming in to support local and state government when they do this sort of thing - to ease short-term pain

[LibFarmer]

18. The billions of lives don't vote

The thousands of jobs do.

[JI7]

21. one of the non bigot reasons the blue collar working class

does not vote for Democrats is their opposition to regulations over the environment and other reasons.

[elleng]

26. Oh right, because the 'blue collar working class' is so well-informed about

'regulations over the environment and other reasons.'

SADLY they've been co-opted by the $$$$ class, big oil etc (AND Russkies,) who see it in THEIR interest to maintain the 'status quo.'

[Voltaire2]

22. Best we do fuck all about climate change

because you know, somebody might get upset so it’s too risky. Fuck it, the kids can just deal with later when it is too late to do anything.

[shanny]

25. ...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

28. Labor resists every time when it's not included in discussions about legislation

that directly affects its members. At the same time, organized labor has always to deal with the tension between conservative and more radical factions/unions within its ranks, and this is an example of that tension.

[Hortensis]

29. Somebody's troublemaking, but what's new?

Do these clueless reactionaries call themselves "Know-Nothings" and support Trump's immigration policies by any chance?