1199SEIU will soon begin mobilizing members to join advocates from more than 400 organizations at a People’s Climate March September 21 in New York City.



The march is being held in conjunction with a September 23 UN summit of world political and corporate heads at which UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will call on governments to take steps to address the growing climate crisis.



“With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we’ll take a stand to bend the course of history,” announces the call to the September 21 march. “We’ll take to the streets to demand the world we know is within our reach: a world with an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.”



1199SEIU began its preparation for the march when its June 20 Executive Council meeting unanimously endorsed the march and a separate resolution opposing construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada through the U.S.



“The majority of Canadian unions oppose the pipeline,” said Sean Sweeney, director of Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, at the Executive Council meeting. “If the pipeline is built that will mean game over,” he said quoting James Hansen, one of the country's foremost climate scientists and a staunch opponent of the pipeline.



Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, also addressed the June 20 executive council meeting.



“The reason we got in involved is because we really had no choice.” Bautista said. “We have been fighting for the cleanup of hazardous sites and against the placement of power plants and sanitation plants in our communities, and we’ve been winning. Our communities house the last of the city’s industrial neighborhoods.”



The vote for the resolutions was unanimous. President George Gresham emphasized at the meeting that climate change affects all 1199ers and that many live and work in the some of the nation’s most vulnerable communities.



Many 1199SEIU members were victims of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Cost in the fall of 2012 and which was intensified by global warming. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. Some members in New York and New Jersey lost their homes and others worked in institutions that were crippled by the storm.



New York is particularly vulnerable to storm surges, since it lies close to sea level. And surges multiply environmental issues. For example, the combination of storm surges and the existence of industrial plants in low-income areas like the South Bronx and Sunset Park in Brooklyn could easily contaminate the areas water supplies.



Florida’s Miami Beach lies even closer to sea level than New York. Most of the land is less than 10 feet above sea level. Stephen Sikora, a respiratory therapist at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, on the West Coast of Florida between Tampa and Sarasota, believes much more resources should be allocated to address the issue.



“We’re already feeling the effects of climate change,” Sikora says. “We’ve been lucky in Bradenton, but even a 10-foot surge would do great damage here. Miami, though, is already experiencing the effects of higher surges.”



Shop owners on the Beach keep a supply of plastic bags with them to wrap around their shoes when they have to walk through several inches of water in the streets and in shops and residences during high tides.



”I agree with our Union is taking a stand against climate change,” Sikora says. “We take care of the people who are affected, and we have to stand up against the big corporations and power companies that are responsible. Not enough of our politicians are speaking up.”



Organizers of the September 21 march say far more pressure is needed from below to force the heads of states to take action. That is the purpose of the action, which they say will be the largest climate justice march in history.



More information on the march will follow on these pages and at our workplaces.