The UE Research and Education Fund is excited to share news that we will be able to expand the reach and breadth of one of our climate justice programs thanks to a generous grant from the Preston-Werner Foundation.

UEREF’s Green Locomotive project aims to create good union jobs, address climate change, and clean up pollution in the low-income communities and communities of color which bear the brunt of pollution from rail yards. It came about through conversation with members who build locomotive engines that currently run on diesel fuel. These members know their own jobs have been tied to fossil fuels but also understand the threat of climate change. They see opportunities for a different path in the future, one that creates good union jobs and improves air quality, particularly in and around rail yards where these idling engines pollute the air. The technology exists already to run cleaner and more energy-efficient engines on our rail lines, and additional developments using green energy sources are not far behind.

Unfortunately, the railroads are not taking advantage of these new technologies to reduce their carbon footprint or the pollution around rail yards. Our project aims to build the worker and community power necessary to encourage the railroads to adopt green technology, and to ensure that new technologies lead to jobs at existing union factories.

This grant will enable us to expand the educational outreach of this project. We will invest in additional research and conversations with these UE members about how the Green Locomotives project should move forward. We will also be expanding education work on this core idea with workers in rail yards and members of nearby communities. These workers and community members, many of whom are people of color, have been disproportionately impacted by the pollution from these engines. We plan to develop leaders from these communities who can help advocate to make this idea a reality.

UEREF thanks the Preston-Werner Foundation for their commitment to developing worker power to tackle climate change.

In solidarity,
Kari Thompson, UE Research and Education Fund

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