Update, March 20: UE and our partner organizations are suspending organization of public activities for the proposed 10 days of action from Earth Day to May Day for climate, jobs and justice, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As organizations, we understand that the time to fight for immediate and bold climate action is now, but that the needed economic transition will not take place without strong guarantees for worker rights and good jobs for all.
We call on all those across North America with similar concerns to engage in a series of actions from Earth Day to May Day that demonstrate the interconnection of climate justice and worker justice and the power that we have when we bring these movements together.
We will bring the voices of working people and their organizations to the mobilizations for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day from April 22 to 24 and we will bring the voices of environmental and climate justice activists to the worker and immigrant rights events on May 1.
In the days in between, we will support the organizing of events that address climate change, worker rights and the interrelated issues of runaway corporate power, deteriorating health and safety on the job, environmental racism, forced migration, the targeting of immigrants and the destruction and impoverishment of working class communities.
And we will lift up solutions, like the Green New Deal, which facilitate a rapid transition from a carbon-based economy while guaranteeing all workers jobs with good pay and benefits and full union rights in the new green industries and in the rebuilding of our communities.
We call on unions, worker centers, environmental and environmental justice organizations and broader civil society to endorse this initiative by organizing or participating in actions connecting the future of working people to the fight for climate justice between April 22 and May 1.
The actions can be local, regional or national, big or small, protests or educational events, but all will help galvanize public momentum to push through the changes needed to salvage a livable future for our planet.