The emergence of intra-labor organizing: A case study analysis of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center movement in the USA

Abstract

The emergence of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center and the support from several unions for the Inflation Reduction Act are recent examples of the US labor movement supporting climate action. Given the historical tension between labor movements and environmental/climate movements, does this recent support for climate policy from US unions signify a new era in Blue-Green relations? We argue that the marked increase in climate advocacy does not signal a fundamental shift in values or tactics. Rather, by applying Dimitris Stevis’ idea of “relational labor-environmentalism,” we posit that as green capital expands, labor unions advocate for policies that will create jobs for their members within green capitalism versus an explicit commitment to ending fossil fuel use. While not indicative of a fundamental shift, the importance of these types of policy campaigns is not diminished. In discussing these new labor-climate developments, we introduce the idea of intra-labor coalitions, where a coalition of unions advocate for climate policies, specifically labor standards in renewable energy legislation to help contexualize this new development in labor-climate organizing. We draw a contrast between these efforts and more traditional Blue-Green coalitions in order to understand and position these recent advancements within the broader discussion on labor movements and climate change.