We Support Unionizing Tesla Workers
Power Shift Network staff stand in unanimous solidarity with workers that have announced a unionization drive at the Tesla factory in Buffalo, New York.
As staff members supporting a network of 80+ organizations focused on youth-centered leadership, fighting for a vision where communities own their power, whether that power is electric, economic, social, or political, we know that fighting for good union jobs will be a crucial fight in the struggle for a just economic transition.
One of our key guiding principles as a network is, “we must resist climate impacts, pollutants, and the fossil fuel industry AND seed and spread community-based solutions that foster social, economic, and environmental justice.” With that in mind, we cannot condone hostile workplace conditions -- even if that workplace’s production could mitigate greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We call on Tesla to show good faith in allowing workplace organizing efforts from USW and IBEW to move forward in the short term, and to cease resisting unionization efforts more broadly.
The United Steelworkers also point to local coalition building efforts with the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, and the Coalition for Economic Justice. We stand with the strong support statements of our member organizations, like 350.org and Sunrise Movement, and we call on other organizations fighting for climate justice to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in the labor movement by releasing statements of their own, and working to build local coalitions with unions fighting for a just transition (in line with the vision put forward by Climate Justice Alliance).
In Solidarity,
- Jay Carmona, Interim Executive Director
- Sean Estelle, Network Director
- Akilah Sanders-Reed, Oil Free Organizer
- Meagan Lyle, Network Organizer
- Adam Greenberg, Digital Coordinator
- Eddie Junsay, Environmental Justice Network Organizer
- Hope Ghazala, Trainings Coordinator