Resolution No. 24: Securing Our Future: Advancing Industrial Policy to Grow Manufacturing and Protect the Environment

WHEREAS, the U.S., Canada, and the global economy continue to experience economic and environmental challenges with complex causes, yet these challenges also present great opportunities; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. and Canadian manufacturing sectors have served as a vital path to the middle class and have been the backbone of each of our countries' economies that have helped to grow a robust energy sector; and

WHEREAS, irresponsible employers have created serious environmental problems in the communities here and abroad in which they operate – one of several ways they have treated their workers unjustly; and

WHEREAS, responsible employers who have invested in pollution control and efficiency technologies have increased their ability to compete in the global marketplace; and

WHEREAS, global demand for manufactured goods produced with less pollution is growing, and U.S. and Canadian-made products are among the cleanest in the world; and

WHEREAS, the clean technology economy presents a tremendous opportunity not just for the global environment, but for American and Canadian workers in the manufacturing, construction and service sectors; and

WHEREAS, environmental programs, such as pollution control, carbon dioxide and methane mitigation, toxic use reduction, safer chemical processes, recycling, energy efficiency and improved maintenance also have the potential to create and maintain jobs; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered, which would have a devastating effect on the global economy, food supplies, human health and biodiversity; and

WHEREAS, countries from around the world continue to implement the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 at the United Nations Conference of the Parties, with the goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which will necessitate deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades; and

WHEREAS, unprecedented international cooperation is required to address climate change, acid rain, ozone depletion, deforestation, and the loss of biodiversity because these impacts recognize no borders and pose critical threats to both our economic and environmental sustainability; and

WHEREAS, many nations, states, provinces, local jurisdictions, and companies must develop plans to meet their stated goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and interim emissions reduction goals prior to 2050; and

WHEREAS, well-designed energy and environmental policies and investments in clean technologies are making our communities healthier, creating and maintaining family-sustaining jobs in the U.S. and Canada, driving innovation and helping manufacturers be more energy efficient and globally competitive; and

WHEREAS, it is essential that American and Canadian workers play a role in both designing energy, environment and manufacturing policies and in the clean technology economy itself; and

WHEREAS, workers can ensure the added economic and environmental benefits of these policies by helping policy-makers focus their economic development efforts on retaining existing jobs and growing new jobs in communities that have been devastated by job loss and facility closures; and

WHEREAS, revitalizing our economy in pursuit of energy independence requires a strategic approach by the U.S. and Canadian governments centered on domestic investment in mining, manufacturing, and domestic energy production; and

WHEREAS, investment in our energy, technology, and transportation sectors, and the associated supply chains, will create and maintain jobs and supply parts used in clean technologies such as carbon capture and management, nuclear, wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, hydrogen, batteries, and liquid fuels; and

WHEREAS, workers are uniquely impacted by environmental policies, particularly those workers in the energy, manufacturing, transportation, and related industries; and

WHEREAS, innovation in safer chemicals provides even further job opportunities due to advances in inherently safer technologies and safer chemical substitutions that promise to create and maintain thousands of jobs producing and using less toxic and less polluting alternatives to the chemical products and processes in use in our workplaces, hospitals and schools; and

WHEREAS, updating and improving the water, electricity, communications, and transportation infrastructure systems in the U.S. and Canada are necessary to ensure economic growth and environmental safety and health in our communities, workplaces and nations now and in the future; and

WHEREAS, the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. made a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s physical infrastructure and invested billions of dollars in the future of existing and new manufacturing; and

WHEREAS, in Canada, the USW fought for the inclusion of union representatives on the Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council after successfully advocating to amend and pass the Sustainable Jobs Act, providing industrial unions with direct involvement in planning for a cleaner economy; and

WHEREAS, the USW has led the labor movement in linking environmental issues with economic impacts. Our union has continued to affirm our commitment to environmental activism outlined in the USWA’s 1990 Report of the Task Force on the Environment, the USW’s 2006 Policy Statement “Securing Our Children’s World” and in our continued work on energy and environmental policies; and

WHEREAS, our union has helped create alliances between union members and environmental activists, united in a commitment to good jobs and a clean environment, including the National Clean Air Coalition, the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, the Apollo Alliance for Good Jobs and Clean Energy, as well as dozens of regional and local coalitions. In 2006, the USW co-founded the BlueGreen Alliance, a powerful U.S.-based strategic partnership consisting of unions and environmental organizations fighting together for union jobs and environmental protection.  In 2008, our union in Canada entered into the BlueGreen Canada Alliance with Environmental Defense Canada, which has grown to include other organizations working together in key areas including: global trade, the use of toxic substances in commercial activity, the creation of clean technology manufacturing jobs, the development and implementation of strategies to address climate change, the use of critical minerals strategically as we shift towards a lower-carbon economy, and protecting Canadian jobs and resources.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that:

1. In the wake of economic and environmental changes, the USW will continue to fight to protect its members and their industries and will work to future-proof our workplaces to be safer, cleaner, and ready to supply the needs of the future economy.
2. The USW will oppose all attempts to roll back the laws and regulations that protect our health, safety, and environment and that invest in USW-represented industries.
3. We will embrace and support balanced approaches to address climate change and other pollution that maintain and create family-sustaining, union jobs and advance our societies toward energy independence.
4. Our union supports international efforts, such as the process led by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which requires all nations to do their part in combating climate change and ensuring justice for workers in the process, as we seek to reach net zero emissions globally by 2050.
5. The USW supports an “all-of-the-above” policy that includes the cleaner production and use of traditional fuels and innovation and deployment of nuclear, hydro, wind, biomass, solar, geothermal, hydrogen, battery storage, and other clean energy sources.
6. We will advocate for and protect industrial policies that center on revitalizing manufacturing, developing critical minerals strategies, building resilient supply chains, protecting U.S. and Canadian jobs, and trade reform to responsibly mine, manufacture, build, and operate critical technologies. We will support policies that expand economic development and job training in communities that have been devastated by job loss.
7. Our union will continue to call for public and private investments in clean technology innovation and deployment that include industrial energy efficiency and decarbonization; re-industrialization of nuclear sites and inclusion of nuclear power in clean energy initiatives such as Canada’s Green Bond Framework; carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration technology (CCUS) for both industrial and power generating facilities; carbon dioxide removal technologies; enhanced oil recovery and advanced fossil fuel development; expanded combined heat and power; improvements to critical transportation, energy communications, and water infrastructure; tax credits for consumer home improvements; domestic production of clean energy and transportation technologies; renewable energy; advanced nuclear technologies; direct air capture (DAC); fuels innovation, including clean hydrogen and biofuels; building resilient supply chains from raw materials to end-of-life; procurement of cleaner building materials; and building retrofits for energy savings. Public investments in private companies must be conditioned on companies’ demonstrated commitments to protecting workers’ rights, including forming a union and collectively bargaining without interference or fear of retaliation.
8. USW will push for governments and companies to develop their greenhouse gas mitigation programs with labor to ensure that plans are transparent, achievable, and require all parties to come to the table.
9. Our union supports attaching worker, community and industry transition assistance to environmental and energy policies. Where jobs are lost, workers should have access to wage assistance, healthcare, retraining and job search benefits, a bridge to retirement for older workers, and other supports.
10. Attached to any national or federal climate change policy, our union supports a cost adjustment mechanism enforced at the border through a trade regime to equalize the carbon costs of domestic and imported products from energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries, thus ensuring that national legislation does not result in the transfer of jobs and carbon emissions to other countries.
11. Our union will continue to fight to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals and the production of toxic waste, prevent catastrophic chemical incidents, promote recycling, protect whistleblowers who report health, safety and environmental crimes, prevent pollution impacting workers and communities, and establish trade policies that protect the environment.
12. We will continue to advocate that our employers invest in new technology to remain globally competitive, reduce pollution, and employ our members long-term. We will work to incorporate environmental issues at the bargaining table and create joint environment committees with our employers to obtain full disclosure to our union of all corporate environmental data.
13. Our union will seek to grow in the clean technology economy by assisting workers who want to join a union and collectively bargain with their employers.
14. We will continue to engage with labor federations, other unions, environmental groups and other organizations that share our vision and values, to prevent pollution, invest in our industries to create and sustain millions of jobs, achieve energy independence and leave a better planet and strong economic legacy for future generations.