The delegation from IBEW 1245: Business Rep Hunter Stern, Communications Director Eric Wolfe, Organizers Fred Ross and Eileen Purcell, and Eileen’s husband Jose (center)
A delegation from IBEW 1245 joined with other unions to form a united Labor contingent at the Northern California Climate Mobilization, which took place on Nov. 21 in Oakland.
The event kicked off with a peaceful march around Lake Merritt, with upwards of a thousand marchers filling five city blocks. The march was followed by a rally outside of Oakland City Hall. Labor leaders, including Josie Camacho from the Alameda Labor Council and Tim Paulson from the San Francisco Labor Council, were among the many notable speakers who took the stage during the rally.
Hunter Stern (right) with Alameda Labor Council leader Josie Camacho
“The climate crisis affects more than California — it affects our nation and the world’s many poor and working families who are now being disproportionately affected,” according to Josie Camacho, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council. “Unions must join with community and environmental activists to stop a world catastrophe. The actions we take today will determine the world our children and grandchildren will live in tomorrow.”
The march and rally took place just a few months after Local 1245 spearheaded the passage of a landmark environmental law, Senate Bill 350. SB 350 requires all energy providers to dramatically increase renewable wind, solar, geothermal and other zero carbon energy sources for California, and will create hundreds of thousands of renewable energy jobs and lowering carbon and greenhouse gases.
“This new plan for 50% renewable energy sources and a 50% increase in energy efficiency of all buildings by 2030 means drastic and sustainable reductions in GHG emissions statewide, and also creates a blueprint for the rest of the U.S. to follow,” noted IBEW 1245 Business Rep Hunter Stern.