Although Labor Day is celebrated by many as merely a long weekend, it’s important to look back on the long history of movements for fair labor practices, which continue today. Intense struggles for safe workplaces, worker-friendly policies, and fair wages are in fact in full swing right now, and we have even been seeing the weakening of child labor laws in many states.

The fight for fair labor intersects with many other social and environmental movements. Join us as we uncover the powerful connections between these movements and shed light on the shared vision of a just and equitable world and future for families and communities.

In this week’s newsletter, we explore the parallels between the fight for climate justice and the modern-day struggles for fair labor policies, the creation of clean energy jobs, the need for child labor laws, and how to stay up-to-date with current labor actions.

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Saru Jayaraman – The Great Revolution: What A Worker Power Moment Can Mean for Climate Justice

Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center and launched One Fair Wage to end subminimum wages in the US. In her keynote presentation, Jayaraman speaks about her work organizing food service and other low-wage workers over the last 20 years and the incredible moment of historic worker revolt currently underway in the United States, one that could have enormous implications for both climate justice and for our democracy.

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A Just Transition: Workforce Development and Jobs for a New Clean Economy

We know that the climate imperative in front of us is to transition as rapidly and comprehensively as possible from a fossil fuel based economy to a global economic system that runs on clean energy. Among the thornier questions involved in this shift is how the bold new economic visions for this large-scale transformation can support working-class families whose livelihoods are currently tied to the fossil fuel-based economy.

“Just Transition,” is the phrase frequently invoked as the answer to this question. In this panel conversation, four leaders answer the question, “What does a Just Transition mean?” and outline the need for and progress toward proactive labor policies to ensure an equitable future for families and communities.

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Danny Kennedy – The Charging 20s

Danny Kennedy, entrepreneur and founder of New Energy Nexus,  has become one of the nation’s leading figures in clean-technology entrepreneurship and the capitalization of the transition to a “green” economy. In his keynote presentation, Danny delves into the race to the finish line of the transition away from fossil fuels and a plan to build out the full potential of clean energy — energy that is not just distributed, but decentralized in ownership and democratized in control.

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YES! Magazine – Pushing Back Against Loosening Child Labor Laws

Child labor is making headlines in the United States following a wave of Republican-led efforts to roll back protections in several states, most recently in Iowa. Proponents of the legislation claim that extending working hours for children, eliminating work permit requirements, and lowering the minimum age for teens to work in certain industries would reduce red tape and protect the rights of parents without putting children at risk. In this article, experts explore this deceptive narrative and the reality of child labor in the nation, which has been grim for decades and is only worsening.

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Upcoming Bioneers Learning Courses & Community Conversations

Through engaging courses and conversations led by some of the world’s foremost movement leaders, Bioneers Learning and Community Conversations equip engaged citizens and professionals like you with the knowledge, tools, resources and networks to initiate or deepen your engagement, leading to real change in your life and community.

Upcoming Bioneers Learning Courses:

• Design Thinking for Leaders: Making Innovation a Habit | Starting September 6 | Practical training for leaders in any field to learn how to apply the design thinking process individually and with their teams to systematically build innovation into their problem-solving approaches.
• Slowing Down: Cultivating Healing Spaces of Belonging | Starting September 26 | An experiential session featuring mindful and creative practices designed to help us slow down, heal and collectively receive our greatest wisdoms.
• The Rights of Nature | Starting October 19 | A full background on the emerging “rights of nature” movement in the United States and internationally and how to develop, adopt, and enforce local rights of nature laws in your own communities.
• Honoring Your Emotional Ecosystem | Starting November 14 | A grounded and surprising exploration of the healing genius in your emotional realm.

Upcoming Community Conversations:

• Origins, Evolutions, and Practice: Exploring Rights of Nature | Starting September 6 | A one day group discussion about what Rights of Nature is, how it is a significant shift in how humans protect nature, and where and how it’s becoming binding law.
• More coming soon!

Payday Report Interactive Strike Tracker

Keep track of strikes around the country with Payday Report’s Interactive Strike Tracker. This comprehensive database of strike and labor protest activity across the United States was created to better inform and support labor movement activists, policymakers, and scholars.

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