Newsletter for the Movement for Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice

It's a #HotLaborSummer. It’s also just really hot out this summer - but not in a good worker power kind of way. The Writers Guild is over two months into their strike, gaining huge public support on both coasts, and with SAG-AFTRA now authorizing a strike, the workers who really run Hollywood are ready to shut it down. Without fair compensation, the revolution refuses to be televised. UPS Teamsters are also prepping for the biggest single-employer strike in history, potentially affecting a whopping 6% of the country’s GDP. Strikes work. We’re ready to picket with them and continue to engage those same unions in our fight for a just and equitable New York. 

And how about that weather? Canadian wildfire smoke continues to reach its way to New York, directly hitting frontline Black and brown New Yorkers first and worst, compounding the already crushing pollution experienced throughout the year. This past week we’ve also seen the highest temperatures ever recorded in history. It’s not looking good and we need to act now. The NY Renews and Climate Works for All coalitions are already hard at work strategizing our plans for this year. From #GreenHealthySchools to decarbonizing public and private buildings to capping dirty emissions, we have a visionary agenda at the City and State level that matches the scale of the crisis.

#ModerateTemperatureSummer isn’t as catchy, but it sure sounds nice. Let’s fight for it.

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We're hiring!

ALIGN is looking for talented and dedicated candidates for:

Executive Director to take the organization to the next level of economic and environmental justice advocacy.

Climate Director to oversee climate justice work, renewable energy initiatives, and policy campaigns.

1-Click Action: No Corporate Handouts in NY’s "Cap, Trade & Invest" Program

Together, we can win a stronger, more resilient New York in 2023. Please consider donating to ALIGN so we can continue building coalitions fighting for economic, climate, and racial justice.

On Amazon’s Prime Day, the “lowest prices ever” meet the highest rates of injuries. For years, ALIGN has been sounding the alarm on Amazon’s abusive practices alongside unions and community groups. This movement inspired the creation of our New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition and subsequently, the passage of the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA), a new law that is now in effect and brings transparency to exploitative productivity quotas in the warehouse industry.

The WWPA is a game-changing tool to hold Amazon accountable. In the absence of enforceable standards on warehouse production quotas, New York warehouse workers have experienced high rates of injuries—four times more than the average New York worker. And Amazon workers are injured at an even higher rate, with one in 12 full-time workers experiencing injury at Amazon’s New York facilities.

So our work doesn’t stop here. Even with the most abusive quotas limited, workers can still experience injury in poorly designed workplaces, and the New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition is fighting for the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act as the essential next step in protecting thousands of New York warehouse workers. 

Introducing Faiza Azam, our new Climate & Labor Organizer! Faiza is a Bangladeshi-American climate activist who began her career in politics with Our Climate, an organization that empowers young people to advocate for equitable and science based policies, and the New York Renews Coalition. She continued her work in the climate justice space as a Legislative Aide in the New York State Assembly, advocating for the Build Pubic Renewables Act, and as a Director of Constituent Services in the New York City Council. In the City Council, Faiza was honored to participate in the New York City Council Union, Association of Legislative Employes (ALE) as the Recording Secretary in the Executive Board and as a Bargaining Committee Member, fighting for a first contract for over 300 Legislative staffers. She is excited to begin working with ALIGN and organizing labor unions to create an intersectional and inclusive space in the climate justice movement.

Spectrum News - Strengthened labor protections for warehouse workers take effect in New York

WGRZ - Warehouse Worker Protection Act now in effect in New York State

Newsday - Warehouse workers at Amazon, others gain new protections for taking breaks

Politico NY - ALIGN joins a coalition of labor and community to support a ban on non-competes

Alliance in Action

Updates from ALIGN's Board of Directors

NYC-EJA is urging the closure of dirty, air-polluting ‘peaker plants’ that disproportionately harm Black and brown communities in New York. Daniel Chu, energy planner for NYC-EJA, calls on the state to accelerate their process to build clean energy infrastructure and replace peaker plants before the state’s targeted retirement of those plants in 2025.

New York Communities for Change joined hundreds of climate activists to deliver coal to Citi Bank’s board Chair John Dugan in Washington, DC along with a message: Stop Funding Climate Chaos! Call Dugan’s office to tell him to meet with our communities to #StopClimateChaos.

Community Voices Heard led a protest of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade association for private health insurance corporations who profit by denying us health care. For AHIP, greed trumps care. They invest money that should be used for our care and use it to lobby and donate to politicians – who then block healthcare for all.

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