Opinion Pieces

Many cities and towns in New Jersey are home to warehouse distribution centers. These are places where people pack and ship products that are later sold at Amazon.com and other large online retailers, as well as brick-and-mortar retail stores. Ensuring that jobs at these warehouses are safe, secure, and pay family-sustaining wages is crucial for the future of New Jersey’s economy. Read the full opinion-editorial on Northjersey.com by Brandon Castro,  and Alberto Arroyo, International Vice President Workers' United, SEIU and WEC Public Need Over Corporate Greed organizer. Public Need Over Corporate Greed campaign

New Jersey has an investment problem. The Garden State's numerous credit downgrades, budget shortfalls, crumbling infrastructure, chronic underfunding of critical programs and priorities are well known. The source of these issues isn't a lack of capital or wealth. New Jersey is among the nation's wealthiest states with a growing millionaire population. Many argue that Jersey's credit woes stem from former Gov. Chris Christie's continuation of ill-advised tax cuts that weakened state coffers, along with an underfunded pension system dating back to the Gov. Christie Whitman years. This irresponsible fiscal policy reinforced backwards, yet persistent notions that hedge funds and enormous corporations should be appeased before tax dollars are invested in small businesses, public services, and working families. New Jersey deposits taxpayer funds directly into Wall Street and foreign banks, coupling tax giveaways with misdirected investments and high fees. Read the full opinion-editorial on NJ.com from the Star-Ledger by Dan Fatton, WEC executive director and Analilia Mejia, executive director of NJ Working Families Alliance.

"The labor movement has stood strong for decades under the banner of “an injury to one is an injury to all.” Our organizations have recognized that it’s time we applied this slogan to the environment. For centuries, we have been injuring the earth, using resources with abandon, and ignoring the science on carbon emissions. Federal administrators are moving in the wrong direction, rolling back environmental protections that can protect workers. This Workers Memorial Day, we stand together for both worker protections and strong climate policies because we can’t have one without the other. An injury to the planet is an injury to us all." Read the full opinion-editorial in NJ Spotlight by Lou Kimmel, executive director of New Labor, and Dan Fatton, executive director, WEC. Full Op-Ed Photos of Workers Memorial Day Jersey Renews

New Jersey is the most densely populated state and one of the largest automobile markets in the country. Known for its population density and highways, New Jersey has a large number of commuters with lots of cars on the road, nearly all the time. New Jersey also has a robust transit network with more than 4,000 buses regularly carrying a majority of daily transit riders throughout the state, which boasts a transit ridership percentage double that of the nation. Nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey come from the transportation sector. Light-duty automobiles, like a standard family car, remain the dominant source of transportation emissions. But particulate matter from heavy-duty vehicles like diesel trucks for industrial or commercial use and buses for public transportation are a significant source of emissions, and contribute to poor air quality, negatively impacting public health. In just a few short weeks, Governor Murphy has already taken decisive actions to improve transit in the Garden State. The NJ Transit audit and the recent commitment to bring in new train cars to boost passenger capacity are both wise first steps. However, more must be done to improve transit access, reliability and efficiency, particularly for [...]

Entire school districts are shutting down due to mold contamination and fears of asbestos exposure. Students are unable to drink from water fountains due to worries about high lead levels. Classroom temperatures reach triple digits in the spring and are freezing cold in the winter. A middle school shut down for months because of a collapsed roof. Districts comprised of a dozen schools constructed when horse and buggies ruled the roads. We aren't describing schools in a developing country. These conditions exist right here in New Jersey. Throughout our state, both in our state's poorer urban districts and in property tax strapped suburban towns, school buildings are crumbling and remain in desperate need of repair. Read the full opinion-editorial in the Star-Ledger by Elizabeth Smith, executive director of Statewide Education Organizing Committee and Jerell Blakeley, the Healthy Schools Now campaign organizer for the New Jersey Work Environment Council.

According to a 2014 report by the Institute of Education Services, the average age of public school buildings in the United States is 44 years. This is an increase of four years from the last time the survey was conducted in 1999. Moreover, here in New Jersey, the average age of public school buildings is more than 50 years. Our rapidly aging schools force us to ask important questions about their safety for students and staff. Many public schools were built during the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate the baby-boom generation. Unfortunately, during that era of public school construction, asbestos-containing materials were commonplace. From ceiling and floor tiles to mastic, joint compounds, insulation and cement, asbestos was found in hundreds of products and heralded for its strength and ability to withstand heat and chemicals. Those benefits also came with a price tag—the mineral is carcinogenic, and exposure to airborne fibers has been linked to mesothelioma, asbestosis and other diseases. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that is invisible to the naked eye. Asbestos-containing products served a variety of uses in home and building construction, but also had valuable roles in automotive applications and shipbuilding until the mid-1970s when regulations were issued [...]

The landmark 2010 Offshore Wind Economic Development Act should have made New Jersey a national leader in offshore wind. Yet, for seven years, little action has been taken to capitalize on this opportunity for creating family-sustaining jobs, increasing clean energy production, and stimulating economic development. Governor Christie, much like the Trump Administration has stalled, and rolled back progress on climate policy. It’s rare to find such broad consensus on policy issues, but on August 16, several dozen leaders gathered under the shadow of massive wind turbines at the Atlantic City Utilities Authority to demand New Jersey take action on offshore wind. The United Steelworkers District Director joined the Offshore Wind Business Network executive director as well as labor, faith, environmental and community organizations gathered to discuss offshore wind as a foundational strategy in the fight for more clean energy jobs and less greenhouse gas emissions. Read the full Opinion-Editorial in the Star-Ledger by John Shinn, Director of District 4, United Steelworkers and WEC Board Member and Dan Fatton, executive director, WEC.

The latest hurricane disasters are yet another wake-up call. Climate change is happening and causing sea-level rise, worsening storm surges, increasing air temperatures that lead to more rainfall, and boosting water temperatures — all of which make storms more severe. July 2017 was the hottest month ever measured on earth, raising the temperature (up to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average) of the Gulf of Mexico, and making Harvey wetter and stronger, jumping to a Category 4 hurricane just hours before making landfall — an unprecedented event in decades of record keeping. Millions of people have been affected. People are in need of shelter and services, and just as we saw after Superstorm Sandy, damaged facilities are spewing toxic materials into communities, and public health is at risk. Recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis, more than 50 organizations formed Jersey Renews; labor unions, faith leaders, community and environmental organizations are standing in solidarity and urging action. Climate change poses a massive threat to our coastal state, yet we believe that strong actions to counter it also offer an opportunity to prepare New Jersey for the future. Read the full Opinion-Editorial in NJ Spotlight by Dan Fatton, executive director for the New Jersey Work Environment Council. October 3, 2017 [...]

Christie was decisive in finding $300 million to address emergency conditions at the Statehouse.  However, the very conditions the governor decried in the Statehouse exist in public schools across New Jersey. Unfortunately, his approach to addressing similar, or worse, emergency conditions in Schools Development Authority (SDA) public schools has been woefully inadequate. Under Abbott v. Burke V, the state is required to fund all capital projects fully, and improvements in the SDA districts (formerly known as Abbott districts) to make buildings safe, relieve overcrowding, and ensure educational adequacy. By law, SDA districts can not fund facility improvements over $500,000. While it is true the Christie administration has committed significant funds to rebuild schools in Trenton, Camden and other districts, the commitments followed years of inaction and is greatly dwarfed by the need. To not decisively address emergent conditions in SDA districts would be -- as Christie says -- shameful and an embarrassment to the people of the state, impacting the health and safety of the people who study, work, visit and have business in schools.   Read the full Opinion-Editorial in The Star Ledger by Jerell Blakeley, campaign organizer for the New Jersey Work Environment Council and John McEntee, President of the [...]