Public Impact

In Texas and West Virginia, unions are having tough conversations about the future of fossil fuels. Lara Skinner explains that the way forward includes finding new ways to support workers transitioning from oil and coal to cleaner jobs.

Lara Skinner, director of the ILR Worker Institute’s Labor Leading on Climate Change, will be honored Sept. 21 by the Alliance for a Greater New York with a 2021 Movement Builders Award.

At the Texas AFL-CIO’s annual convention on July 27th, 121 unions voted in favor of a resolution for a green jobs plan. The proposal was written by the Texas Climate Jobs Project, a project of the state labor federation and Cornell University’s Worker Institute in consultation with 27 unions statewide.

Skinner, Labor Leading on Climate Director, says “there’s been a real focus on the carbon impact of proposals and not enough emphasis on what type of jobs are these activities going to create, what are the quality of these jobs, are they actually going to help reverse inequality.”

The UMWA local in Alabama has been on a five-month strike against Warrior Met Coal. Zach Cunningham, from Cornell's Labor Leading on Climate, proposes focusing on making the transition to renewable-energy sources one that provides good-paying jobs, rather than a narrative of “good jobs versus the environment.”

Lara Skinner, Director of Cornell’s Labor Leading on Climate Initiative, provided insight into the number of jobs that could be created in various aspects of growing the renewable energy and climate tech industries in Texas.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm requested Lara Skinner's research on renewable energy labor standards as a possible model for the federal government,

Lara Skinner, Director of the Worker Institute's Labor Leading on Climate, provides insight on the importance of including labor standards on clean energy work.

Skinner, director of the Labor Leading on Climate, and member of the Just Transition Working Group in support of the Empire State’s climate goals. Earlier this year she drew an optimistic picture of the nation’s ability to grow a vigorous wind industry workforce, especially in the offshore area.

“It’s great to get the construction work to put the turbines up, but there’s a lot of work—most studies say twice as much work—in the manufacturing and assembly,” says Lara Skinner, director of Cornell University’s Labor Leading on Climate Initiative.

"Climate change impacts working people. There are some major opportunities here for labor if we can get ahead of this thing. What we’ve done is a very investment-led strategy, a very jobs-led strategy,” says Lara Skinner.

The New York State Climate Action Council has chosen Lara Skinner, director of the Labor Leading on Climate Initiative at the ILR School, to serve on the Just Transition Working Group.

“We brought together more than a dozen unions, and said things are not good at the national level in terms of how unions are relating to environmental organizations and the climate movement,” said Lara Skinner

The labor movement has to be central to winning a Green New Deal and reversing climate change. Recent labor victories show how we can do just that, from the ground up, and quickly.

At a time when non-standard work arrangements and technology are rapidly changing the economy, and more people are engaging in unprotected “gig” work, the need for robust labor protections is stronger than ever, says Lara Skinner.

“Our carbon footprint is a lot smaller than it could be because we move around millions of people on public transport rather than car, but mass transit is often overlooked,” said Lara Skinner.

“The national debates on climate change are often defined as ‘jobs versus the environment' or ‘workers against environmentalists,’” said Lara Skinner, director of the Labor Leading on Climate Initiative.

Lara Skinner, associate director of The Worker Institute at Cornell, noted a “historic breakthrough” in the global effort to combat climate change.

“The national debates on climate change are often defined as ‘jobs versus the environment’ or ‘workers against environmentalists,’” said Lara Skinner

As the U.S. enacts agreements made at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in December 2015 in Paris, Skinner said that New York state can lead the country to societal equity in a low-carbon economy.

Lara Skinner will provide opening remarks on “Paris Climate Talks and 80 Percent-Renewable New York by 2030.