Together At Last
Building a Lasting Partnership Between the Labor and Environmental Movement

by Chuck Mack, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Tom Politeo, Sierra Club

This is an excerpt from an article that is slated to appear in the Winter issue of Social Policy. Visit www.socialpolicy.org to order a copy.

Carte blanche trade agreements like NAFTA have accelerated global warming, depressed wages here at home and increased worker exploitation in the developing world. Yet for years, different sectors of the progressive movement saw the economics of good jobs and green growth as distinctly different areas of concern….

...The domestic consequences of this international race to the bottom have been dire—shuttered factories, bankrupt families, once thriving industrial centers reduced to empty shells. Labor leaders who were forced to support the short-term financial health of their members' U.S. employers faced scrutiny from environmental activists pushing for higher industry standards to address fuel efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb pollution.

The tensions were real and splintered potential progressive allies. “Downsizing” and “offshoring” were becoming household words for the working family—and it put unions under enormous pressure to ensure high-wage work for their members, often in the form of support for policies that created jobs but came into conflict with the goals of environmental organizations.

But even as specific projects and policies brought strife, two great trends—the debate and passage of a series of free trade agreements, and the growing threat of environmental destruction and climate change due to exploitation of carbon fuels—drove organized labor and environmentalists together on what could become a profoundly strategic, shared path.

The Teamsters and the Sierra Club were among the national organizations that joined forces in 1990 to oppose NAFTA because it lacked strong labor and environmental protections. This alliance came together again in 1997 to successfully beat back President Clinton’s bid for fast-track negotiating authority for global economic agreements. At the same time, the AFL-CIO took new steps to tackle the emerging issues of the day, hiring an environmental liaison and forming a policycommittee at the executive level….

Seattle catalyzed progress, particularly for a labor movement sometimes slow to grapple with change. But in order to achieve policies that assured green growth and safe and healthy communities, we needed to go far deeper than the occasional crisis-driven green initiative and sign-on letters and joint press conferences in Washington, D.C.

We had to build real political power at the local and state level by activating the grassroots and organizing the industries that are forming the basis of the new American economy. To do so, we needed the confidence that we could find “win-win” solutions to big problems so thatcorporations did not make the choice—taking care of labor or the environment, but not both. The results have been most powerful at the local level….

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach form the fifth largest trade complex in the world. They are also the largest source of air pollution in Southern California—spewing more soot and smog than half a million cars, a refinery and a power plant combined….
Port drivers care deeply about cleaning the air—many of their own children suffer from asthma. But despite keeping the world’s economy moving, they struggle to put food on the table, and are simply too poor to replace or retrofit their polluting diesel trucks. Some even live in government-assisted housing projects.

To meet growing trade demands, the industry desperately needs to expand terminal capacity at the two ports. Community groups and environmentalists saw the industry’s need for expansion as a trump card, and in 2001 they won a landmark lawsuit which forced the Port of Los Angeles and its tenant China Shipping to spend millions of dollars on environmental remediation to be allowed to grow. The case put future growth plans on hold until the Ports significantly reduce the amount of pollution coming from the trucks, trains, ships and cranes serving the terminals.

The Ports were finally being forced to fix the system. It was time for labor and environmentalists to team up again, only this time we would bring far more muscle to the table….
The result was a unique alliance of labor, environmentalists, public health advocates, religious leaders and community groups. Over 30 diverse organizations including Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for Clean Air, Communities for Clean Ports, the American Lung Association of California—and of course the Teamsters, Sierra Club, and Change to Win—came together to build the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, which is now a key player in Port politics….

Tom Politeo is Chair of the Harbor Vision Task Force, a Southern California Sierra Club committee that concerns itself with issues affecting San Pedro Bay, its ports and the goods movement corridors that connect to it.

Chuck Mack is Western Regional Vice President for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was appointed Director of the Port Division in 2003 and has been a leader of the Teamsters in San Francisco.