The first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, wasn’t an instantaneous explosion of environmental concern—it was a coordinated political moment backed by powerful institutions, including the United Auto Workers and other Labor Unions. Under the leadership of UAW President Walter Reuther, the union not only endorsed Earth Day, but provided funding and logistical support to help scale what became one of the largest mass demonstrations in U.S. history. Reuther, a civil rights and labor icon, saw no contradiction between fighting for workers and protecting the environment. “The fight against pollution,” he famously said, “is a fight for the survival of the human race.”
Over the years, many unions, including The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) embraced environmental protections, particularly where issues of workplace safety and public health intersected. But the relationship between labor and environmental groups has not always been easy. In industries like coal and manufacturing, workers feared that aggressive environmental regulation would cost them their livelihoods. That tension helped give rise to the idea of a “just transition”—the concept that the move to a greener economy must come with guaranteed support for displaced workers and investment in the communities they call home.
That idea has gained traction in recent years. Groups like the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of major unions and environmental organizations formed in 2006, have helped bridge historic divides. Today, many unions are actively shaping clean energy policy to ensure that climate investments create high-quality, union jobs. That influence is visible in the Inflation Reduction Act, which ties clean energy tax credits to job quality standards, including prevailing wage requirements and registered apprenticeships.
Earth Day now serves as a platform for unions to call for climate action that doesn’t leave workers behind. Labor’s message is clear: tackling the climate crisis isn’t just about reducing emissions—it’s about building a fairer economy. In this vision, clean energy projects must not only reduce pollution, but also pay well, respect workers’ rights, and revitalize the regions hardest hit by industrial decline. If Earth Day began as a call to protect the planet, the labor movement has helped turn it into a call to protect people too.