Clean Air and Good Jobs: U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Climate Justice

by Todd E. Vachon

Overview

The labor-climate movement in the U.S. laid the groundwork for the Green New Deal by building a base within labor for supporting climate protection as a vehicle for good jobs. But as we confront the climate crisis and seek environmental justice, a “jobs vs. environment” discourse often pits workers against climate activists. How can we make a “just transition” moving away from fossil fuels, while also compensating for the human cost when jobs are lost or displaced?

In his timely book, Clean Air and Good Jobs, Todd Vachon examines the labor-climate movement and demonstrates what can be envisioned and accomplished when climate justice is on labor’s agenda and unions work together with other social movements to formulate bold solutions to the climate crisis. Vachon profiles the workers and union leaders who have been waging a slow, but steadily growing revolution within their unions to make labor as a whole an active and progressive champion for both workers and the environment.

Clean Air and Good Jobs examines the “movement within the movement” offering useful solutions to the dual crises of climate and inequality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439923221
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	04/21/2023
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Todd E. Vachon is Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations and Director of the Labor Education Action Research Network at Rutgers University. He is the coeditor of Revaluing Work(ers): Toward a Democratic and Sustainable Future.

Editorial Reviews

"A call to scrap the notion that a healthy environment and a healthy economy cannot coexist.... Vachon advocates the so-called Green New Deal, which would remake the economy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy.... Vachon argues for a brand of activism that pushes beyond the bounds of 'Jobs vs. the Environment,' and instead holds out for the 'clean air and good jobs' premise of his title, which, by transforming the energy economy, will necessarily demand workers skilled in growing fields.... [T]he overall argument is worth hearing out.... [T]his book will appeal to climate and clean-energy activists."— Kirkus Reviews

“Vachon’s deeply-researched look at the history and present of labor-climate relations makes the case that a truly just transition can only be achieved with radical solidarity, building a unified labor and climate justice movement that moves us past failed neoliberal policies. Clean Air and Good Jobs is an important read for anyone hoping to create a future where we all thrive.”—Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

"Vachon discusses the emerging labor-climate movement, in which workers and US labor organizations seek to replace fossil fuels to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.... A unique idea in this book is a labor-climate spectrum that shows the attitudes and activities of unions from different industries.... Summing Up: Recommended."—Choice

"The book is timely.... Vachon has boldly begun the project of recentering labor in sociological discussions of climate change. This should be instructive for environmental sociologists and social movements’ scholars alike, but also for cognate fields.... Readers will therefore find much to like in Vachon’s monograph, from its arguments and analysis, to the model of scholarship it represents."—Social Forces

"On the whole, Vachon’s book offers a well-researched and timely look at the intersection of climate and labor, helping to make sense of a wide array of perspectives within the labor movement and offering a tempered but hopeful outlook on U.S. labor’s capacity to take up the cause of climate justice in the coming years."—Journal of Labor and Society

"Vachon's book provides valuable information for anyone interested in accelerating the massive sociotechnical challenge of transitioning from a fossil fuel economy to a renewable energy economy over the next 30 years.... Those coming from an economic perspective that see themselves as allies with the interests of labor can learn much regarding labor's implicit disillusionment with the discipline."—Economic Development Quarterly

"Vachon gives us an eminently accessible and useful account of the sociopolitical context, composition, and goals of the labor-climate movement (LCM).... Clean Air and Good Jobs delivers an essential read for those interested in the US labor movement’s relationship with environmental issues and contemporary LCM efforts."—ILR Review

"The book does a good job of giving a historical overview of the origins of the labor-climate movement and clarifying the major structural factors that make a pro-labor energy transition so daunting. The numerous featured interviews with labor-climate activists give readers a window into how trade unionists are thinking through these issues and the process of moving the needle in the broader labor movement.... Readers of Clean Air and Good Jobs will get important background about the origins of the term 'just transition' and how trade unionists are unpacking its problems."—Jacobin

From the Publisher

2023-01-18
A call to scrap the notion that a healthy environment and a healthy economy cannot coexist.

Labor union activist and scholar Vachon advocates the so-called Green New Deal, which would remake the economy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy. He notes that the labor unions associated with service, such as nurses and communications workers, are most likely to favor this transition, while those involved in extractive industries are naturally inclined to oppose it. For example, even though coal is declining as a power source, “the workers and their unions…blamed the devastation not on the forces of capitalism but rather on the government—in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency and its pollution and emission regulations.” Vachon argues for a brand of activism that pushes beyond the bounds of “Jobs vs. the Environment,” and instead holds out for the “clean air and good jobs” premise of his title, which, by transforming the energy economy, will necessarily demand workers skilled in growing fields. To do so, writes the author, activists will in turn necessarily work “to attempt to redefine the situation, shift the ideological perspective of unions, and build a movement to create an alternative path forward.” Vachon writes from a neo-Marxist point of view, addressing the modern alienation of producer from product while battling the “entire edifice of support for the fossil fuel regime” that is undergirded by “neoliberal, capitalist ideology.” The author too often deploys the bloodless prose of post-postmodernism (“the Green New Deal itself has become a political space where the nested but competing frames of just transition described in this book—protective, proactive, and transformative—are being discussed and debated”), making his text a chore to read at times. Still, the overall argument is worth hearing out.

Arid language notwithstanding, this book will appeal to climate and clean-energy activists.

Kirkus Reviews