Teachers' Union are Using Collective Bargaining for Climate Action in Schools
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter and President Stacy Davis Gates spoke during the Nationwide May Day Strong Rally on May 1, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images
A recent report and series of contract negotiations spotlight how teachers’ unions across the U.S. are using collective bargaining to demand climate action in schools.
In Chicago, the teachers’ union secured commitments for installing solar panels, enhancing indoor air quality monitoring, and integrating climate curricula. Meanwhile in Minnesota, educators pressed for an environmental task force and free transit access, and in Los Angeles, the demands include electrifying bus fleets and installing EV charging stations at schools. These moves underscore how contract talks are powerful levers for climate progress.
The logic is compelling: school facilities are often outdated, laden with health hazards, and vulnerable to climate stress. Upgrading HVAC systems, remediating mold and lead, and installing clean energy infrastructure improve both learning environments and community health. Yet the stakes transcend infrastructure. A related study found that rising classroom temperatures—common in under-resourced schools without cooling—hurt math performance, disproportionately affecting students in low-income settings.
For The Cloud Institute, this movement is a vivid example of systems thinking in action: improving educational outcomes, enhancing equity, and tackling climate change through strategic, local intervention. As unions continue to push for climate justice from the bargaining table, educators may increasingly become frontline agents of sustainable transformation in their own districts.