Sean Sweeney, Author at New Labor Forum

Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th 2017 saw unions and activist groups from numerous social movements take to the streets and declare an all-out war of resistance to both his presidency and his agenda.
As is now clear, some union officials have not only dodged the draft but have actually joined the

climate-change-Environment_Project_01_by_moure

Featured The Environment

Corporations Call for “Net Zero” Emissions: Do They Know How to Get There?

August 2016June 2018 Sean Sweeney capitalism, climate change, corporations, environmental movement, Fall 2016, neoliberalism

In the months leading to the December 2015 Paris Climate Conference, representatives of global institutional investors and multinational corporations made

Featured The Environment

Earth to Labor: Dispatches from the Climate Battleground

May 2016June 2018 Sean Sweeney energy policy, environmental, jobs, Keystone XL, labor movement, labor unions, LiUNA, pipeline, Sean Sweeney, Spring 2016

Contested Futures: Labor After Keystone XL by Sean Sweeney The extraordinary story of the political battle over the Keystone XL

Featured The Environment

Earth to Labor: Dispatches from the Climate Battleground

December 2015June 2018 Sean Sweeney Winter 2016

Corbyn’s Class Act is a Climate Game Changer On September 12, 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected the leader of the

Featured The Environment

Trade Unions and Climate Change: A Conversation with Naomi Klein and Jeremy Corby (Video)

December 2015June 2018 Sean Sweeney climate change, energy, trade unions

Sean Sweeney was in Paris during COP21 where Unions are fighting for a reference in the final agreement to “a just

White and African American males hold signs that read: "The Dress Shipping Clerks' Won't Cross the Picket Line. We Stand United with the Dressmakers Union!" 1958.

Featured On the Contrary The Environment

Green Capitalism Won’t Work

June 2015June 2018 Sean Sweeney austerity, capitalism, climate change, democracy, environmental, Spring 2015

For the last 20 years, unions in the U.S. and internationally have generally accepted the dominant discourse on climate policy, one that is grounded in assumptions that private markets will lead the “green transition,” reduce emissions, and stabilize the climate over the longer term. Indeed, unions began attending the climate negotiations convened by the UN in the early 1990s, a time when the “triumph of the market” went unchallenged and the climate debate was awash with neoliberal ideas. Unions therefore focused on articulating the need for “Just Transition” policies.