The UFCW 3000 Climate Justice Advisory Board
Climate Justice Advisory Board Statement of Purpose:
Our core purpose is to build power for UFCW 3000 members and our communities so that we have safe workplaces, good jobs, and strong, resilient communities. We also want to ensure that the natural world that we all depend on for our lives, our health, our food, and our well-being, is protected. We will identify key policies and practices that best engage our membership and move our employers, and our elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to forward changes that both respect the voices of working people and ensure that climate policies reflect our principles as adopted by the Climate Justice Advisory Board.
For decades UFCW 3000, and our preceding local unions, have been involved in working on issues that directly impact our workplaces, and go beyond those workplaces. These have ranged from positions against the Apartheid regime in South Africa in the 1980s, demonstrating against the Iraq war in the 1990s, and fighting to protect voting rights that were increasingly under attack in the late 2010’s. It has become increasingly clear that climate change is not only a threat to our planet's health and all the natural systems that support life on earth, but that workers, and in particular workers of lower and middle incomes and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities are disproportionately impacted by the various side effects of climate change as well. These impacts include extreme temperatures, wildfires, increasing air pollution, rising sea levels and flooding, crop failures, the hazards of extraction and processing of fossil fuels, and on and on.
In 2015 UFCW 3000 helped found the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy with many leading environmental protection, BIPOC Climate Justice, labor, faith, public health, and many other organizations. We helped develop the Climate Initiative I-1631, gathered signatures, and eventually helped get it on the ballot in the fall of 2018 with the support of over 75 organizations statewide. Unfortunately, after a record-setting $30 million anti campaign of lies funded by Big Oil, the initiative was defeated. But the process for how that initiative was developed, and the policy content itself are both still recognized as ground-breaking models.
After a series of problems within the Alliance and a breakdown of trust and violation of the Guiding Principles (see below), in 2021 UFCW 3000 realized our members’ interests would be best served by leaving the Alliance and partnering more directly with BIPOC Climate justice groups. At the same time, throughout 2021 our Executive Board began discussions on how to best work on this critical issue within the union. After significant conversation and deliberation, the Executive Board decided in January of 2022 to launch the UFCW 3000 Climate Justice Advisory Board – a member-led effort to help guide our organization’s work in this area as well as to develop ways to best engage the membership of our union.
Principles of the UFCW 3000 Climate Justice Advisory Board
These are intended as a package of principles that stay connected with each other as a united set of values. They were reviewed, edited and approved by the Advisory Board at our inaugural 5/9/22 meeting.
Passing policies and making investments that effectively and deeply reduce climate pollution;
Ensuring that communities hardest hit by pollution and climate change have equitable representation at the decision-making table, receive an equitable share of investments and benefits, and see a tangible reduction of carbon emissions in their communities;
Ensuring that policies to reduce pollution do not increase costs for people with lower incomes and providing financial assistance and options to families with lower incomes to make low-carbon options available and accessible to all;
Ensuring a truly just transition for workers and impacted communities during the transition to a clean energy economy, including through the creation of family sustaining jobs;
Keeping energy intensive and trade exposed industries in our state, rather than driving their business and pollution offshore;
Making sure every community – urban and rural – has a stake in the benefits of a clean energy future;
Recognizing tribal sovereignty and abiding by the law of free, prior, and informed consent for projects impacting tribal lands; and,
Advocating for changes in our workplaces, by our employers and in our communities to pursue actions for individual members, our employers, industries and communities.
How the Climate Justice Advisory Board works: During our first two years – 2022 and 2023.
The work of the Climate Justice Advisory Board is evolving as the nature of member-led leadership models require involvement, deliberation, and time. We had our 1st meeting in May of 2022. We set a goal at that time to create an understanding for our work in this area, develop a core leadership team of members to drive the process forward, set up a framework for our efforts, and communicate this basic information out to the membership. In 2023 our goal was to begin the deep work of beginning to take actions to achieve our overall goals.
We meet at least three times a year and send updated information to Advisory Board members in between meetings. Given the Board’s focus on, and belief in the values of equity, and the historic and present-day disproportionate impacts of climate change on BIPOC communities, the participation of BIPOC members in the Board will be prioritized although an expressed effort will be made to assure the Advisory Board is reflective of the membership as a whole.
At meetings of the Climate Justice Advisory Board we aim to:
Build trust with each other and build unity around what it means to work for Climate Justice.
Deepen our understanding of the breadth of issues covered by Climate Justice and listen to each other as well as our BIPOC community partners and others who we partner with on Climate Justice.
Discuss both individual and collective actions we can take to combat climate change and effectively engage members to help build a broader movement for change on this issue.
Consider support of certain specific policy proposals, and possibly recommend taking a position in favor of these proposals to the Executive Board.
Develop member Leaders for Climate Justice to go out and speak to members in worksites, with elected officials, with partnering organizations, and other entities as we decide makes sense, and as time and resources allow.
“We must build alliances within labor and the community to take on issues of affordable housing, workplace safety, racial and gender discrimination, climate justice, and the future of work.” —Ana Alvarez, Washington Beef; Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer; Patricia Brown, Multicare
While the Climate Justice Advisory Board has a very long way to go and many years of work ahead of us, we wanted to let you, as a member of our union, know that this Board is up and running and beginning to do the important work necessary to make an impact. Since the Advisory Board was created, we have accomplished much including: member trainings on how to incorporate these ideas into our collective bargaining; developed and helped pass resolutions at the 2023 UFCW International Convention on these topics; and, partnered more deeply with some of our closest community partners who are leaders on climate justice work.
Getting More Members Involved
We are confident that among the more than 50,000 members of our union – from Bellingham to northeast Oregon, from Aberdeen to northern Idaho – in hundreds of workplaces, there are additional members, maybe you, who would like to find out more and maybe get involved yourselves.
We need more members to join the dozens of other members who have already become involved in this Advisory Board. You don’t need to be an expert to participate, just be interested in the issues, committed to being a thoughtful and respectful partner with others, and willing to dedicate an hour or so a month to the effort. Meetings are held usually about every two to three months and are made to be as accessible as possible for members.
If you’d be interested in finding out more about getting involved, email: ClimateJustice@UFCW3000.org.