Unions for climate action! | Payton M. Wilkins (re-release)

0:00You know, the union movement is the only multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-gender movement in the world. We're talking about tens of millions of people united around a singular set of ideas.

0:16You are listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. What do labor unions have to do with climate change? According to environmental justice advocate Peyton M. Wilkins, they're related in more ways than you may think, especially when it feels like our existing systems often pit the Earth's future against our own. Think about it. In the long term, shutting down a coal mine or moving the world off fossil fuels means cleaner air and a healthier environment for everyone. But in the short term, for the workers whose jobs disappear in the process, it can be devastating.

0:53People eat bread, not data. And when a corporation shuts down a coal mine, as happy as some of us may be about cleaner air, the reality is that people lose paychecks. They lose pensions. They lose jobs that they thought were going to be there for their children. But Peyton believes we can protect both workers and the planet with an age-old solution, unions. In this talk from 2023, he argues the climate fight keeps stalling because it forgets the people whose livelihoods are on the line. Payton says the way forward isn't telling workers what's good for them. It's listening to them. At the end of the day, I'm not so much a tree hugger as I am a people hugger.

1:32And I don't really believe in this dichotomy of jobs versus the environment. We can protect both. Payton digs into the economic fallout of ditching fossil fuels and lays out how organized labor could become one of the most powerful forces driving the shift to clean energy, while making sure the workers aren't left behind. That's coming up right after a short break.

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3:54And now, our TED Talk of the day. Fossil fuels have got to go. We must put an end to these climate-destructive, loosely regulated, dirty businesses that are destroying the earth. We've done the math, we have the data, and we know that these dirty businesses are making it increasingly more uninhabitable on this planet. But when those jobs go away, they'll be green jobs, right? Again, we've run the numbers, we have the data, and we know that the more we invest in a green economy, the more jobs there'll be. Healthier, higher-paying jobs in the future than there are today. But here's the thing. People eat bread, not data.

4:37And when a corporation shuts down a coal mine, as happy as some of us may be about cleaner air, the reality is that people lose paychecks. They lose pensions. They lose jobs that they thought were going to be there for their children. Schools close, small businesses shutter, and homes are lost. Poverty sets in. There are no green jobs waiting for those folks. Shutting down a coal mine, a coal refinery, or most polluting facilities can devastate a community and a family. At the end of the day, I'm not so much a tree hugger as I am a people hugger, and I don't really believe in this dichotomy of jobs versus the environment.

5:18We can protect both, but we're not going to get it right if we just helicopter in and tell people what's right. That's where unions come in. Unions for generations have been fighting to protect workers' rights and justice. I grew up hearing people speak about justice all the time. My mom started the first environmental justice organization here in Detroit. Yes, Donnell Wilkins, Detroit, is working for environmental justice. She started the first environmental justice organization here in the city of Detroit, and yet I still didn't truly understand the intricacies of workers and the environmental movement until I was sitting off stage listening to a heated back and forth between a high-ranking member of the United Mine Workers of America, excuse me, and a panel of climate experts that I had assembled for the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists annual convention.

6:11On this panel, I had Cecil Corbin Mark, the late Cecil Corbin Mark, deputy director of WEAC, an environmental justice organization based out of Harlem, Jackie Patterson, the founder and director of the Shirley Chisholm Legacy Project, a climate justice resource hub, and Donnell Wilkins, CEO of Green Door Initiative, who also happens to be my mother.

6:36I thought everything was going well. I thought that regardless of politics, we all kind of agreed that climate change was a problem for human health, for our families, for our homes. So there I was, sitting in the first row. Cecil was moderating, and then this high-ranking leader from the United Mind Workers of America comes to the mic. and shit got heated. Like, really bad. I'm talking at this point, I'm flush red, sweat is beating down my face, and I'm thinking how best to update my resume because they're not going to let me keep my job after this shit. I look to my boss and he has this look on his face that says, get your ass on stage.

7:21That's a lot to say in the look, but I promise you this look said a lot. When the panel ended, my boss pulled me aside and he said, you need to fix this. So I quickly secured a room to have a private conversation with the mine workers and the panelists, and we listened. We heard the coal miners talk about their desires, their fears, their legacies, this dignity in their work. And we talked about the real reason why the coal industry was dying, which had more to do with profitability than it did with activists or policy. Coal is becoming more expensive, while the cost of renewable energy is falling.

8:04Investors are divesting from coal because of its impact on the climate and the risk associated with climate change. We all felt heard. We felt understood. The coal miners had an opportunity to separate the person from the problem. We talked about the history of environmental justice and its roots in the labor movement. Since that day, in the months and years following, I've started to see change in the coal miners. They, for a long time, have been actively opposition to any types of common policy. But now, they're open to exploring taxes and emission standards to regulate their industry. And while they aren't exactly where I would like them to be, They have come a long way.

8:51They've made progress. Unions have a long history of keeping the needs and priorities of workers in their mind, protecting workers' rights and fighting for justice. In Memphis, 1968, a union of sanitation workers had window strike after two African Americans had been crushed in a malfunctioning garbage truck. That strike ended in April of 1968 when the city of Memphis agreed to recognize their union and to meet the workers' demands. In South Africa in 1985, the Congress of South African Trade Unionists quickly became the strongest and most powerful union in South Africa by putting pressure on the apartheid government through protests, boycotts and strikes that led to negotiations in 1990 and the end of apartheid in 1994.

9:41And in Denmark, When the country was transitioning away from fossil fuels to wind energy, the Union 3F negotiated with the government and wind energy companies to secure jobs, retraining programs, and fair wages. Those workers were equipped to get employed in this new and growing wind energy sector.

10:08Those workers were equipped. You know, the union movement is the only multigenerational, multiethnic, multiracial, multigendered movement in the world. We're talking about tens of millions of people united around a singular set of ideas. So it makes so much sense that they're a part of this fight for a just transition. So how can we, those of us that are in the climate fight, properly work with unions? It starts with deep listening conversations, like the ones we had at CBTU's annual convention. And workers and those who are pushing for a green energy transition need to hear each other out. We need to hear each other's fears, each other's desires, each other's ideas for the future.

10:57There needs to be an education on both sides, one that allows us to learn about the livelihood of workers and for all of us to learn about the impact of the climate crisis. Since that conversation that I had at CBTU, I've started to actively invite the coal miners to meetings and to the conferences that I attend discussing just transition. My desire is for them to articulate a path towards green jobs before negative profitability and policies decides the fate for them. I want unions to secure federal dollars to aid in this transition to retrain their members. I want them to realize they don't have to choose between making a living and living in a safe and healthy environment.

11:44They can have both. Hell, they deserve both.

11:53I want them to realize that they can live in a community that generates renewable energy, that they can live in a community where they don't have to speculate what's in their water and their air, a community where people are valued over pollution. I want them... Thank you.

12:14I want them to realize that this isn't some distant, utopic future, but a reality that can be had in a few short years. If the U.S. government can bail out banks and the auto industry like they did in the financial crisis of 2008, surely they can bail out the American worker.

12:38Thank you. But I have a feeling that this isn't going to happen without a concerted push from the unions. To transition to a green energy economy, to protect our planet, we're going to have to make some tough changes. But I'm a serial optimist, and I believe we can make this change without too much pain. Thank you.

13:04That was Peyton M. Wilkins at the TED Countdown Summit in Detroit, Michigan in 2023. This talk was originally published in October of that year. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarnival. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Christopher Faze Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Ban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott. Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu.

13:44I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.

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