[MCN] Green New Deal : In Maine, labor unions get it right

[Lance Olsen]

Maine’s Green New Deal bill first in country to be backed by labor unions

"It's basically an economic and job growth strategy for Maine."

KYLA MANDEL <https://thinkprogress.org/author/kyla-mandel/>

APR 16, 2019
https://thinkprogress.org/labor-union-support-maine-green-new-deal-bc048eea1c91/ <https://thinkprogress.org/labor-union-support-maine-green-new-deal-bc048eea1c91/>

1st 4 paragraphs

The Maine American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which represents over 160 local labor unions across the state, announced its support Tuesday for the state’s recently introduced Green New Deal legislation.

This is the first Green New Deal-branded proposal to be backed by a state AFL affiliate.

“We face twin crises of skyrocketing inequality and increasing climate instability. Climate change and inequality pose dire threats to working people, to all that we love about Maine and to our democracy. The work of moving towards a renewable economy must be rooted in workers’ rights and economic and social justice,” Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, said in a statement, emphasizing the need for workers and unions to “have a seat at the table in crafting bold climate protection policies.”

This endorsement comes after members of the national arm of AFL-CIO’s Energy Committee, the country’s largest union federation, criticized the federal Green New Deal resolution proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), calling it <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/afl-cio-criticizes-green-new-deal-calling-it-not-achievable-or-realistic/2019/03/12/842784fe-44dd-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html?utm_term=.4a7dfc077c3b> “not achievable or realistic.”



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"Forests of the Americas and the Caribbean are undergoing rapid change as human populations increase ….. 80% of the forest types and 85% of the current forest area is potentially threatened”

Open access article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12623

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