Leading Off: Greene County—Canary In the Coal Mine

It’s a bit of a cliche, we acknowledge , to use the “canary in the coal mine” slogan—but, here, it actually fits.

As our regular readers know, in these spaces, when we speak about the need for a “high bar” Just Transition, we always emphasize to keep in mind not just the workers who are facing down the loss of jobs but the various concentric circles of the community surrounding a mine or facility. To be sure, this is a moral question—communities should not be used up by companies and, then, just abandoned when it’s convenient.

But, beyond morality, it’s a hard economic question that should motivate even the most ardent “free market” capitalist: for better or worse, the majority of economic activity in most communities comes from consumer spending (in the U.S., it’s between 65-70 percent, depending on how you figure the numbers). Then, add on the economic activity contributed by public investment spending, especially the work of government. Who is going to buy the products companies pay if people in communities are left trying to scrounge around for a few nickels in almost empty pockets?

So, here’s your example to buttress this point: Greene County, Pennsylvania which is situated in the southwest corner of the state, nestled up close to West Virginia. This has been coal mining country for generations. It is the second poorest county in the entire state (or “commonwealth”, as the state is still officially known).

It’s not a mystery why this is happening if you read a “State of the County” from just last summer—we’ve provided the entire report below.

It’s history (and we’ve added bold to emphasize):

So, the entire county is still 20 percent short of its taxable assets just from the decline in coal-related work.

In six years, the county treasury went from a $13.7 million reserve in the bank in 2014 to just $1.7 million in reserves in 2020, partly to pay off a $5 million budget deficit (unlike a central government, a county can’t just print money).

So, as we noted above, here’s a concentric circle that gets hit when the coal business shrinks. Inside the county government, there are 20 fewer people working compared to 2019, and for those who still have a county job, their pay was frozen in 2020 and they were forced to accept a higher share in health care cost payments—just as the COVID pandemic was hitting. So, not only were services to the entire community hurt, but, obviously, that circle of workers has less money to spend at the supermarket or clothing store.

Which leads to, from the report, these statistics:

In the past decade, the county’s population has declined by more than 7 percent—those who can manage to do so are leaving in the greatest outflow of residents, decade-to-decade, since the 1970s.

That leaves the county desperate to find some way of increasing the assessed value of commercial properties to somehow keep the whole joint afloat. And that is proving to be an almost impossible task.

That would not be the case if the county, not to mention the entire coal region, had had a “high bar” Just Transition in place that would have supported the coal workers, and brought financing to the entire community and given people some reason to stick around.

Bottom line: that’s the choice facing thousands of communities around the globe. A bleak future of many Greene Counties—and generations of depressed economic activity—or some floor on which to build a sustainable economy that starts with a “high bar” Just Transition.

SPONSOR MESSAGE

A message from the Australian Mining And Energy Union

We are fighting back, not just for ourselves but for the future generation of mineworkers. Workers deserve better. Our families and communities deserve better. Visit us

Spotlight: Why Reward Mercedes-Benz, A Union Antagonist?

To help meet the need for auto technicians in the growing electric vehicle industry, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced a national partnership with Mercedes-Benz USA to train Job Corps students initially at centers in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Utah for automotive industry careers.

The agreement between the global automaker and the nation’s largest job training and education program will enable Mercedes-Benz USA to develop the curriculum, train Job Corps instructors to deliver it, provide technical support and donate materials, tools and equipment needed to educate the students.

The public-private partnership is designed to create pathways for students from 16 to 24 years of age toward good-paying jobs as auto technicians, including potential employment with Mercedes-Benz.

“Job Corps’ partnership with Mercedes-Benz reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to expanding and strengthening training opportunities for our next generation of working Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “This initiative will equip students with the skills they need for good jobs today and careers in the emerging energy economies of tomorrow.”

Job Corps will now offer students opportunities to study high-voltage and electric vehicles, and training opportunities with high-voltage vehicles at the following campuses: Earle C. Clements Job Corps in Morganfield, Kentucky; Westover Job Corps in Chicopee, Massachusetts; Edison Job Corps in Edison, New Jersey; and Clearfield Job Corps in Clearfield, Utah.

“This training program is an ideal entry point for students who want to become professionals in the automotive industry, especially aspiring electric vehicle mechanics,” said Job Corps National Director Rachel Torres. “Having Mercedes-Benz train our Job Corps students is a great example of the public and private sectors working together to prepare students for careers and provide companies with skilled workers.”

Let’s lay down the oddities of this arrangement.

First, the Biden Administration has made a hallmark of its pro-union posture, from statements to government appointments to, crucially, tying the favoring of unionized workers to aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act. U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is a former union leader from the Boston area—who is about to leave his post to take up a position as the (very, very well-paid, $3 million-a-year) executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA).

Second, on the other hand, you have Mercedes-Benz which has mirrored the strategy of other non-U.S. auto companies—it has cooperative relationships with its unions in Germany, not per se because of some deep moral belief but because German labor law mandates a modicum of respect towards unions. But, when it comes to its operations in the U.S., Mercedes-Benz adopts a typical hostile anti-union position.

In the most recent public union organizing efforts at its Tuscaloosa County, Ala. plant, Mercedes-Benz broke the law:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit today upheld a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that determined Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) violated federal labor law in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.

The federal court order affirmed a November 2014 decision by the NLRB, which ruled that MBUSI employees are free to solicit other employees — inside the plant, but not on working time — in order to form a union. At that time, the NLRB ordered MBUSI to inform employees that it had violated federal labor law and also to tell employees that they are free to “form, join or assist a union.”

And, since that decision, the plant remains non-union because the company continues to exert enormous pressure, just skirting the boundaries of the law, on workers who are still interested in unionizing.

This is pretty significant, especially in the area of job training. We have been extremely skeptical of job re-training programs mainly because those programs are always underfunded and, too often, the programs retrain workers for jobs that pay less or don’t exist in enough numbers, which is not much of a plan for economic security.

And if students, future workers, are to be trained for jobs that, then, will arise in non-union Mercedes-Benz plants, isn’t the U.S. government—the pro-union Biden Administration—effectively subsidizing and endorsing the creation of a lower-wage workforce?

Why not attach to every economic agreement an iron-clad requirement that a company behave not just legally but beyond reproach when it deals with its workers?

Ideas: A Template To Begin The Path For A Deal

One of our goals is to collect and share specific deals and agreements for Just Transition so people don’t have to start from scratch. Why tax the brain when the answers are out there?

So, here is a short version of a template Australia’s Electrical Trades Union devised that sets the table for basic principles to guide negotiations with a company.

The (employer) and (union) acknowledge the immediate threat to the ongoing viability of the business and to job stability and security presented by rising greenhouse gas emissions which have been the cause of increasing average global temperatures and climate instability. The parties to this agreement commit to a cooperative /collaborative approach to reducing those risks through actions which reduce emissions. It is recognized that there is likely to be fundamental changes required to the operation of whole sectors and to individual enterprises.

Climate, Environment and Sustainability

1. The parties to this agreement recognize the shared benefits to the employer and employees of taking a cooperative approach to addressing key risks to the ongoing viability of the business and to job security.
2. The parties to this agreement recognize the risks arising from the climate crisis and commit to adopting a collaborative and consultative approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating risk.
3. The employer will provide information on the greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations and from within its supply chain at least annually. The employer will give a presentation to workplace union representatives and relevant union officers on the risks to business viability and job security posed by climate instability, how the emissions are measured, emission targets and plans for reducing emissions.
4. If the employer does not record, measure or plan to reduce emissions, the union and employer will meet to develop a step by step process to measure emissions, set targets and review progress.
5. The employer and the union will establish a climate, environment and sustainability committee which will reflect the diversity of the workforce and include women in its membership. The committee will engage in meaningful consultation and planning around the risks presented by the climate crisis and the implications for jobs and job security of measures which are planned to reduce emissions. Proposals shall be gender sensitive and ensure equal opportunities for both women and men. Agreements should protect against discrimination of any kind during transition to new ways of operating and new jobs and work organization.

6. As part of its mandate to address the risks to sustainable employment presented by the climate crisis, the committee will:

• 6.1 Consider the information presented by the employer pursuant to clause 3
• 6.2 Consider and discuss initiatives to increase job security by addressing the climate crisis
  including:
  • 6.2.1 Sourcing workplace energy needs from renewable energy
  • 6.2.2 Improving energy efficiency of company buildings, equipment and machinery
  • 6.2.3 Reducing the environmental impacts of a company’s supply chain
  • 6.2.4 Reducing emissions from company logistics and transport operations whether in house or outsourced.
  • 6.2.5 Improving recycling and environmental protection across the business
  • 6.2.6 Waste reduction
  • 6.2.7 Considering changes to work organization, working hours and shift patterns which could help mitigate the effects of the climate crisis on job security. Any proposed changes should involve full consultation with employees and take into account family care responsibilities.
  • 6.2.8 Considering the external risks to the business and job security presented by the climate crisis and identify mitigation strategies which might be implemented to ensure sustainable and safe employment
  • 6.2.9 Considering health and safety measures and policies during heat waves and other extreme weather events, including their specific impacts on women workers

Opinion: Home Loans Should Be Part Of Just Transition

By Jonathan Tasini

One of the toughest parts of enduring a transition into a new job is being forced to uproot from a community a worker has lived in for a long time, sometimes a community that has been home to generations of one family (we are thinking of many coal mining communities throughout the planet). There is the emotional upheaval. And, as important, there is a financial burden, especially when a worker is forced to sell a house s/he bought many years ago at an affordable price in order to move for a new job to another community where housing prices are stiffer and, certainly, higher than in the past.

So, why not work into every Just Transition proposal a financial support system for securing safe, affordable housing? We think such a proposal could, at the very least, offer close-to-zero interest rates and no down payments, terms that would be guaranteed and backstopped by governments.

Models exist already in the space of transitions—we are thinking particularly of transitions made by millions of U.S. military service personnel who end their time in uniform and, then, move back into civilian life. The U.S. government has a variety of programs, depending on service, administered thorough its Department of Veterans Affairs. For example:

If you’ve served for at least 90 continuous days (all at once, without a break in service), you meet the minimum active-duty service requirement.

The process is not that mysterious:

You’ll go through a private lender, like a bank or mortgage company, to get this loan. We’ll guarantee part of the loan against loss, which will allow your lender to give you better loan terms, like the option to pay no down payment.

Right now, no financial Just Transition package—or even simply a framework discussion—includes housing. The handful of transition packages we have studied globally have only a bare-bones, non-salary element—a small amount for retraining and, perhaps, a very small “transition” lump sum, none of which comes close to factoring in housing costs.

It would be simple to add housing costs to a transition package—and make real sense looking at the challenges many workers face taking on a new job. Affordable for the individual and the state. Make it so.

Tasini is the founder and executive director of Just Transition For All.

Links

National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa): The National Union of Mineworkers was founded in 1982.