Teachers' Unions 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.
For The Cloud Institute, this is 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.