UAW 4121 Urges Legislators to Support Climate Justice

The Honorable Frank Chopp

LEG 339C PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA

98504–0600

April 8, 2019

Dear House Speaker Chopp,

We, UAW 4121, are the union of Academic Student Employees and Postdocs, representing over 5,500 workers who study and work at the University of Washington. We are also members of the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, a coalition united around shared goals of reducing heat-trapping air pollution, protecting and growing high-quality jobs, and promoting environmental justice.

Climate change is no longer a future threat. Heat-trapping gasses and air pollution already harm our communities through increased floods and wildfires, the spread of infectious diseases, and unhealthy air. And environmental harms are not born equally. This legislative session, it is imperative that we move forward toward clean energy and a healthy environment for everyone. Together with our coalition partners in the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, we urge you to support:

The HEAL Act SB 5489 / HB 2009 — to prioritize communities that are the most impacted by climate change and air pollution.

The Clean Buildings Act SB 5293 / HB 1257 — to make Washington State a national leader in building performance standards, while creating high quality jobs.

100% Clean Electricity SB 5116 / HB 1211 — to ensure that we can turn the lights on without turning up more carbon emissions.

The newly released Environmental Health Disparities Map, shows eight “hot zone” Washington communities bearing an unfair burden of the environmental health impact from pollution. We can only improve our environment for all if we address longstanding inequities and environmental health disparities. This suite of bills would bring us a big step forward toward equitable climate policy.

We thank you for your service and leadership on these critical issues.

Sincerely,

The UAW Local 4121 Executive Board & Bargaining Committee

Douglas Avella-Castro

Dianne Baumann

Andrea Canini

Monica Cortes Viharo

Meg Drouhard

Dan Hart

Katya Kolesova

Dylan Mayer

Mandy McCourt

Kristin McCowan

Emily Myers

Maria Nelson

Jacob O’Connor

David Parsons

Shua Sanchez

Maddie Smith

Sam Sumpter

Judy Twedt

Jon Witt