Negotiating the Future

Fossil fuel workers are currently at risk for losing their jobs should the US curtail coal, natural gas and oil use. A just transition would support these workers and avoid imposing disproportionate shares of the costs of decarbonization on the poor, the working class, or people of color. While some unions are debating how a just low-carbon energy transition can be enacted, others are questioning whether a transition needs to take place at all. Diane Sicotte provides a detailed understanding of the role of labor in environmental change, beyond the "jobs vs. environment" framing. Negotiating the Future also contributes to ongoing debates in labor studies: about the best ways for labor unions to address conflicts between their members' long-term interests in environmental stability and their short-term material interests; how far solidarity should go when it means abetting obstacles to lowering carbon emissions, and how to ensure that the developing renewable energy industries enhance labor unions' power resources instead of diminishing them.