National Nurses United

DeMoro in making clear how important it is to take the concerns of the pipeline workers seriously. "These five thousand workers on the pipeline," he told Common Dreams, "are very reasonably concerned about their jobs." However, he continued, "we have to be clear that's not what most of this is about. These workers are also pawns in a much larger game." One very important thing to know about NABTU, explained Brecher, is the close ties it has formed with the fossil fuel industry, specifically the American Petroleum Institute (API). According to Brecher, in the context of the Dakota Access Pipeline—a joint proj- ect spearheaded by two API-affiliated companies, Enbridge Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners—the heads of the building trade unions and McGarvey are "essentially acting like a paid mouthpiece for the oil and gas industry." Brecher called it a "horrendous thing" to have the AFL-CIO act- ing in such a "callous way toward both the needs of Native American people and to the needs of all workers and all people in terms of pro- tecting the climate." So McGarvey's rhetoric and tone, he said, "is just devastating to anyone who thinks that the labor movement is and should be an expression of human rights and social justice. And anyone who feels that way, should say so in whatever way is appro- priate for them." For these and other reasons, Brecher said he was glad to see CWA, NNU, APWU, ATU, and other groups make their support known. But he also believes the internal divisions within the AFL- CIO speak to a broader problem—which is that the American labor movement as a whole has backed itself into a corner when it comes to climate change, job creation, and public policy. "The core of the problem" he explained, "is that the AFL-CIO has consistently opposed significant cuts to climate-destroying projects, like Dakota Access, while failing to adequately advocate for policies that would actually address climate change in a worker- friendly way." This is not to deny that some climate-protecting policies will have negative impacts on specific sets of workers—like pipefitters and coal miners—whose jobs or industries need to be changed, or ended entirely, in order to protect the climate. "So the solution is quite straightforward," argued Brecher. "We need to have strong protections for those workers and communities who are directly affected. And more broadly, we need a full employment policy based on putting hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people to work fixing the climate. This is an emergency like World War II, and we need an emergency response like the mobilization of the 1940s." In fact, all of this comes as a new report, released Thursday, argues world governments simply have no choice but to end the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. "This does not mean stopping using all fossil fuels overnight," the groups behind the report note, but "governments and companies should conduct a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry and ensure a just transi- tion for the workers and communities that depend on it." A "Just Transition": New Research Offers Hope the notion that a war time-style mobilization is needed to tackle the problems of a rapidly warming planet has been around for years, but an in-depth story in The New Republic last month by Bill McKibben, author and co-founder of 350.org, has helped propel the analogy back into the forefront among climate action cam- paigners and labor unions. J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 21 Showing Unity Nurses support DAPL protest for all our futures "It was awe inspiring." That's how registered nurse Rachel Gitas summed up the good news Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protestors received on Dec. 4 that the Army Corps of Engineers had, for the time being, denied an easement for DAPL to cross the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. "The Standing Rock Sioux and the water protectors have worked so hard." Arriving the same day as thousands of vets with Veterans for Standing Rock, Gitas and her fellow volunteers with Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), National Nurses United's disaster relief project, had come to help provide first aid for Native American and allied protestors from around the country camped out in North Dakota to prevent construction of the controversial pipeline. Nobody could predict what action authorities—who had given an eviction notice to the water protectors' main camp—would take next. Many were afraid the situation was about to escalate. Instead, for the moment, there was something to celebrate. "We're at a crossroads," said RNRN volunteer registered nurse Dotty Nygard. "We're all united. Think of where this movement could go. When the people want to object to something and they rise up, they can have a say in how they want their voice to be heard." Nurses noted that the plans to build the pipeline have not disappeared, just been stymied, and say they plan to remain vigilant and support water protectors and the Standing Rock Sioux community however they can. In a Dec. 4 statement, National Nurses United congratulated leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and thousands of supporters, including 2,000 veterans assembled over the weekend, over the news that the federal government denied authorization for DAPL to go through tribal lands posing a threat to water sources and sacred sites. Standing Rock tribal chairman Dave Archambault announced the victory noting, "Today, the U.S. Army Corps of engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternate routes." "This is a historic victory, against one of the most powerful economic and political forces in the world, the fossil fuel industry and its many allies inside and outside government," said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. DeMoro praised the months of resistance by First Nation water protectors, environmental and community supporters, and many allies who have mobilized and rallied for months against huge odds, and often violent police repression at the site of the pipeline construction. NNU has sent a series of nurse supporters to the protest site, and in early December gave a $50,000 donation to assist Navajo veterans in joining the weekend gathering of veterans in support of the water protectors. "This is an awesome reminder that people standing together, rais- ing our voices together, and building solidarity across the nation can win, even under the most difficult circumstances against implacable foes. It's an especially important lesson leading into the next four years of the incoming Trump administration," DeMoro added. NNU, said DeMoro, will continue to join with opponents of the Dakota Pipeline along other routes and similar projects that transport dirty crude oil that jeopardize public health and contribute to the climate crisis. —Staff report

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