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Develop Climate Training Programs at the William W. Winpisinger Center
The IAM’s robust education infrastructure can be utilized to help members develop a deeper understanding of climate change, its effects on their industries, and what actions they can take. Since 1981, more than 90,000 people have participated in educational programs at the IAM’s William W. Winpisinger Center (W3) in Maryland.369 By integrating climate jobs training into educational programs, the IAM can develop rank-and-file leaders ready to lead a worker- centered transition to the clean energy economy.
368 Washington State Legislature, “SB 6690 - 2019-20,” 2019–20.
369 William W. Winpisinger Center, “About The Winpisinger Center.”
The W3 can jumpstart climate education efforts by building on its partnership with Cornell’s Climate Jobs Institute (CJI). The IAM’s educators can lean on CJI’s expertise as they develop curricula related to climate, green jobs, and pathways to apprenticeship. The IAM can also incorporate climate modules into existing leadership programs and into power analysis in bargaining training. Organizing training can draw from abundant climate-related case studies, and labor history courses can study examples of joint labor-environmental justice organizing.
Climate training should also reach members unable to visit W3. Educators can develop field- ready modules and reach members in locals with limited resources. Climate jobs trainings can also be run as workshops at State Council meetings. Committees, such as the IAM’s Human Rights committee, can participate in “train the trainer” programs, and then disseminate lessons learned in their workplaces and locals.
Climate education is also an opportunity to engage younger members. It is young workers and their families who face the most uncertainty if global temperatures continue to rise. By pioneering union-led climate training, the IAM can reaffirm its deep commitment to labor education and develop activists to carry the union into the future.