CFA Climate Chat #1: Mike Powers (President, SEIU503 Local, OR)
This blog has been adapted from our recording of CFA Climate Chat Episode #1.
Beverly Ortiz, Organizing Director at Climate Finance Action speaks with Mike Powers, President, Service International Employees Union (SEIU) Local 503, OR. Mike Powers is an influential leader with over two decades of involvement with SEIU Local 503. He has served as Vice President and President of Sublocal 603 (Oregon Department of Agriculture) and was on the SEIU Local 503 Board of Directors from 2018 to 2020. Representing SEIU Local 503 on the Oregon Blue Green Alliance, Mike promotes sustainable labor practices and environmental responsibility. He collaborates with the Treasury and the Oregon Investment Council to ensure fiduciary responsibility for SEIU members and retirees, focusing on the impacts of global warming on investments. Elected President of SEIU Local 503 in 2020 and 2022, his peers recognized his leadership.
Mike prioritizes aligning environmental policy with labor rights, emphasizing responsible risk management and sustainable investment strategies.
—
Beverly Ortiz: Hi, I am Beverly with Climate Finance Action. I’m the Organizing Director and I am introducing today Mike Powers. Hi, Mike. How are you?
Mike Powers: Hi, Beverly. Good to be here and yes, my name is Mike Powers and I am the President of Labor Union SEIU Local 503 here in Oregon.
Beverly Ortiz: I’m really happy that you’re joining us today. This is our first CFA Chat. This is where we really elevate personal stories in our work from folks who are on the front lines in climate, housing, the economy- any of those topics in the work that we’ve been moving forward. So, I want to welcome you to our chat and you know, we want to learn a little about you. It would be great to hear from you- learn about you and your background and where you’re coming from. We’ll start there.
Mike Powers: Happy to be here, Bev. It’s always great to work with you and folks from the Climate Finance Action organization. So, my background, real quick, in terms of what I do are my education and career ….all in public services. I have a bachelors in Environmental Policy and Planning, and a Masters in Forestry with an emphasis on agroforestry. I have about 25 years natural resources experience with the State of Oregon, the vast bulk of that with the Oregon Department of Agriculture in water quality planning, compliance, and policy.
And at the same time, I have almost 20 years as an active member leader in my Union, SEIU Local 503 here in Oregon. I have served as vice president and president of my sublocal, and for the past three years as president of our local- the statewide president of SEIU Local 503.
Beverly Ortiz: You talked about being a member leader. How has climate change affected the jobs or the livelihoods of members (union members/workers)?
Mike Powers: Global warming has caused a significant impact in so many different ways in both the work lives, family lives, and personal lives of all Oregoneons and all of our members. Many of our members work outside part or much of the time, and they have served their state and communities while enduring the most extreme weather conditions in the modern age – from ice storms to floods to high temperatures to wildfires. Our PERS recipients see their retirements negatively impacted as global warming reduces the value of the (real estate) investments in the short- and long-term as a result of the impacts from global warming and resulting weather changes.
Beverly Ortiz: I wanted to shift gears a little bit to what the work has been in Oregon particularly with the state treasurer (Tobias) Read’s Decarbonization Plan and the work that is moving forward on what we can do- what steps we can take. I’m going to start first with why is climate finance an important issue to you and what does it mean to your members?
Mike Powers: SEIU Local 503 represents thousands and thousands of current and retired public workers whose pensions are provided by the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System or PERS. It has always been a priority for our Union to safeguard the success of Oregon PERS. We spend a lot of time and resources on that. In our current five year strategic plan for 2020-2025, our members have identified climate change as a significant priority issue they want their Union to prioritize–and we’re going to see the same thing in the strategic plan that we are currently putting together.
Thus, we work internally and externally with partners to engage the Oregon Treasury and the Oregon Investment Council to responsibly invest member funds to provide a sustainable pension while decreasing investments in fossil fuel development and infrastructure that pose both a climate and fiduciary risk to our members’ retirement.
Beverly Ortiz: What were we asking the treasurer for?
Mike Powers: Generally speaking, we’re asking the Treasurer, staff, and the Oregon Investment Council to fully implement the Net Zero 2050 Plan as proposed by the Treasurer. We are also asking that they closely look at moving to a net zero portfolio faster than proposed- faster than what the treasurer proposed, i.e. by 2050 in order to minimize fiduciary risk and play an active role in minimizing fossil fuel investments in active partnership with pensions from around the country. To accomplish this, we are working with partners to insist on greater transparency of OIC investments.
We want to see robust guidance to asset managers—both internal asset managers and external asset managers—in order to hold them accountable so we need metrics in order to gauge their success. We want to show that they are moving investments from the highest emitting and highest risk companies in both the public and private equity investment options.
Beverly Ortiz: How did we get this done?
Mike Powers: SEIU Local 503 is the largest labor union in Oregon. We bring a certain level of resources and expertise to everything we do. We bring a lot of people. We like to say we put a lot of boots on the ground. We have a significant presence in the state legislature. And that said, we rarely win on our own. I believe our biggest wins are marked by our best and biggest coalitions. This work is no different. We have always worked to coordinate and communicate closely with other Oregon labor unions who have members in Oregon PERS. Oregon labor is strongest when we act together.
Our most recent collaboration with the Climate Finance Action (CFA) and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) has been vital in providing climate investment and investor engagement expertise that we do not have and providing an additional strategic cooperation for this. Other groups we work with such as Divest Oregon provide additional expertise and resources in terms of research and information that help guide our work.
Beverly Ortiz: Those were good steps forward in this work- the level of collaboration, coming together and communication amongst all the different groups that you have talked about. I’m going to leave with two questions. And this is… how do you see the role of unions evolving in addressing climate change and advocating for responsible investment practices?
Mike Powers: The role of unions is growing and growing all the time. More and more labor unions see global warming as central to the success and safety of their members. Unions represent the working people who do the hard work in any kind of weather and we know the weather extremes are growing. They also see the opportunities in green technology that can drive reductions in fossil fuels, make families and communities more resilient, and actually provide the pay that pays the rent and buys the food. We see unions collaborating in organizations such as the Blue Green Alliance, for example, which is an important space for collaboration and communication between labor and environmental organizations to ensure that labor and labor families get what they need while we benefit the environment.
Beverly Ortiz: What advice from your experience would you give to others who are interested in pushing positive change in their pensions?
Mike Powers: This can all seem so overwhelming and incomprehensible—pensions, investing, public and private equity—it’s all- if you’re not living that every day, it can be really hard to understand. I would just ask that folks have patience for themselves, hang in there, continue to learn, and if you’re in a labor union, push your union to be more involved because it affects all of us. Access organizations such as the CFA and PESP. Form coalitions like we do because that’s how we build power in order to put pressure on elected officials with the message that fighting global warming is something that affects all of us and we have to do that with our pensions because it’s the fiduciary responsible thing to do.
Beverly Ortiz: I think what you’ve said on solidarity and the importance of that is something that would resonate with other labor leaders.
Mike Powers: There’s a couple different ways to look at how labor can work together with many other partners to address climate change through public pensions. Unions can become more involved as we have. Our members have demanded that that’s what we do because climate change, global warming is such an important issue for our members today. Because our members asked us to do that, we have reached out to other labor unions in Oregon and throughout the country. You can see that other labor unions in Oregon have made global warming a more and more important issue for them and then we can see that with our partner unions throughout the country as well.
Something else that’s really important is to work together with other public pensions. For example, Oregon PERS is a big public pension- billions and billions of dollars. I think well over $90 billion in investments but in the big investment world that’s not huge. We hardly have a place at the table. However, if we work with CalPERS, if we work with Washington, if we work with the New York pensions, and other states around the country, now we’re talking real money. Now we’re talking about (how we can) put pressure on other investors and companies to both reduce those big drivers in global warming and look for those opportunities in a changing investment environment as new technologies come online to actually improve the investment context that would result in better returns for our members.
Beverly Ortiz: I think Mike you really outlined the success of what has happened in Oregon with this plan was the amount of work coming together with the different groups and the different unions and then the solidarity across other states and other pension plans. I think that at the end of the day when you mention whose money this is- workers money and the power of that and coming together. And I think our chats are about the importance of all of these stories within this space and the power of being able to take steps in the direction on climate both on the pension front and just many issues that are the cross section with workers- in housing, jobs, and how it’s affected in so many different ways and then the power of like, we can take steps forward. It has to be together. It has to be solidarity in thinking about what are the solutions within communities to be able to do. I really want to thank you for your insight, your time, and your energy on our first CFA Chat.
Mike Powers: Thank you, Bev.
ABOUT SEIU 503
Service International Employees Union (SEIU) Local 503 is Oregon’s largest union, representing over 72,000 workers in public services, care facilities, and nonprofits. Dedicated to improving working conditions, SEIU 503 advocates for fair wages, benefits, and labor rights while promoting social and economic justice. Learn more at SEIU 503.
ABOUT CLIMATE FINANCE ACTION
Climate Finance Action (CFA) is a women-led, 501(C)3 non-profit organization equipping stakeholders and decision-makers to leverage the transformative power of publicly-held capital for real-world climate solutions to ensure a just transition to an inclusive economy in favor of people and the planet. With a focus on collaboration, education, and strategic partnerships, CFA has facilitated groundbreaking dialogues, developed comprehensive educational materials, and engaged with numerous stakeholders— educating 8,000+ union leaders and members and advising over 40 state treasurers and pension staff working towards policy reform.
