Unions for climate action! | Payton M. Wilkins (re-release)

Payton M. Wilkins (0:00)

You know, the union movement is the only multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-gender movement in the world. We're talking about tens of millions of people united around a singular set of ideas.

Elise Hu (0:16)

You are listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. What do labor unions have to do with climate change? According to environmental justice advocate Payton M. Wilkins, they're related in more ways than you may think, especially when it feels like our existing systems often pit the Earth's future against our own.

Think about it. In the long term, shutting down a coal mine or moving the world off fossil fuels means cleaner air and a healthier environment for everyone. But in the short term, for the workers whose jobs disappear in the process, it can be devastating.

Payton M. Wilkins (0:53)

People eat bread, not data.

And when a corporation shuts down a coal mine, as happy as some of us may be about cleaner air, the reality is that people lose paychecks. They lose pensions. They lose jobs that they thought were going to be there for their children.

Elise Hu (1:10)

But Payton believes we can protect both workers and the planet with an age-old solution, unions.

In this talk from 2023, he argues the climate fight keeps stalling because it forgets the people whose livelihoods are on the line. Payton says the way forward isn't telling workers what's good for them. It's listening to them.

Payton M. Wilkins (1:28)

At the end of the day, I'm not so much a tree hugger as I am a people hugger. And I don't really believe in this dichotomy of jobs versus the environment. We can protect both.

Elise Hu (1:37)

Payton digs into the economic fallout of ditching fossil fuels and lays out how organized labor could become one of the most powerful forces driving the shift to clean energy, while making sure the workers aren't left behind. That's coming up right after a short break.

And now, our TED Talk of the day.

Payton M. Wilkins (2:04)

Fossil fuels have got to go. We must put an end to these climate-destructive, loosely regulated, dirty businesses that are destroying the earth. We've done the math, we have the data, and we know that these dirty businesses are making it increasingly more uninhabitable on this planet. But when those jobs go away, they'll be green jobs, right? Again, we've run the numbers, we have the data, and we know that the more we invest in a green economy, the more jobs they'll be. Healthier, higher-paying jobs in the future than there are today. But here's the thing. People eat bread, not data. And when a corporation shuts down a coal mine, as happy as some of us may be about cleaner air, the reality is that people lose paychecks, they lose pensions, they lose jobs that they thought were going to be there for their children. Schools close, small businesses shutter, and homes are lost. Poverty sets in. There are no green jobs waiting for those folks. Shutting down a coal mine, a coal refinery, or most polluting facilities can devastate a community and a family. At the end of the day, I'm not so much a tree hugger as I am a people hugger. And I don't really believe in this dichotomy of jobs versus the environment. We can protect both, but we're not going to get it right if we just helicopter in and tell people what's right. That's where unions come in. Unions for generations have been fighting to protect workers' rights and justice. I grew up hearing people speak about justice all the time. My mom started the first environmental justice organization here in Detroit. Yes, Danielle Wilkins, Detroit's Worker for Environmental Justice.

She started the first environmental justice organization here in the city of Detroit, and yet I still didn't truly understand the intricacies of workers and the environmental movement until I was sitting off stage listening to a heated back and forth between a high-ranking member of the United Mind Workers of America, excuse me, and a panel of climate experts that I had assembled for the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists annual convention. On this panel, I had Cecil Corbyn-Mark, the late Cecil Corbyn-Mark, deputy director of WEACT, an environmental justice organization based out of Harlem, Jackie Patterson, the founder and director of the Shirley Chisholm legacy project, Climate Justice Resource Hub, and Donnell Wilkins, CEO of Green Door Initiative, who also happens to be my mother.

I thought everything was going well. I thought that regardless of politics, we all kind of agreed that climate change was a problem for human health, for our families, for our homes. So there I was, sitting in the first row. Cecil was moderating, and then this high-ranking leader from the United Mineworkers of America comes to the mic. And shit got heated. Like, really bad. I'm talking at this point, I'm flushed red, sweat is beating down my face, and I'm thinking, how best to update my resume because they're not going to let me keep my job after this shit.