People’s Climate March

May 1, 2017

More than 35 busloads of 1199ers from New York, New Jersey and Maryland-DC were among the more than 200,000 marchers who descended on the nation’s capital April 29 for the People’s Climate March. Organized by the People’s Climate Movement, a coalition of dozens of organizations, the march called for social, economic and climate justice and resistance to the Trump administration and its cabinet of climate-change deniers.

The march took place on Trump’s 100th day in office and, appropriately, the hottest April 29th in Washington history. The heat index reached 96 degrees.

On the same day, some 370 sister marches took place across the country and were joined by dozens of solidarity actions around the world.

“I’m a mother and a grandmother,” said 1199er Brenda Richards, an infant nutrition technician at Dimensions Health Care in Cheverly, Md. “I’m worried about how the (Trump) administration is going to affect our getting clean water and air and food not filled with pesticides. I’m here to stand up against the administration.”

Eugene Ford, a linen department worker at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, said, “I’m here to support my Union’s demand for good jobs and clean air.”

1199ers joined the spirited line of march up Pennsylvania Ave toward the White House. Many carried placards, some of which read “Green Jobs, not Dirty Fuel,” “Renewable Energy = Good Jobs, Clean Air and a Healthy Planet,” and “Climate Chaos is a Health Care Crisis.”