LA Times: Project brings unusual merger of union bosses and environmentalists

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-green27-2008nov27,0,2673362.story

The Clean Trucks program has brought about an alliance between union leaders and activists in an attempt to clean up the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. But some truck drivers are unhappy about the
By Evelyn Larrubia
November 27, 2008

"If we are to prosper as a nation," Teamsters head James Hoffa Jr., told union members in Oakland in July, "our future lies in a green economy."

That might seem like an unusual declaration for a union leader. But then, Hoffa went a step further in announcing that Teamsters was abandoning its push for oil drilling in the Arctic.

Environmental activists and union bosses are known for their rancor. They have historically held opposite positions on key issues -- drilling in fragile environments, nuclear power, logging ancient forests -- pitting jobs against the environment.

But that was before the values of the environmental movement were adopted by mainstream society, before union membership began to plunge and manufacturing jobs were exported overseas.

"In the old days when labor had more power, they didn't need . . . to bother with other organizations," said Ruth Milkman, a sociology professor and labor expert with UCLA. "Now they're struggling to survive and they're fighting to rebuild."

Los Angeles is at the forefront of this trend, turning a concept into an actual project at the region's two ports: the newly minted Clean Trucks program, which is being watched as a possible model for other cities.


FULL story at link.