Turtles and Teamsters Together Again? (emerging labor-environmental coalition)

[Omaha Steve]

http://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/2008/02/turtles-and-tea.html

(second in a series on labor and global warming after Bali)

At the 1999 “Battle of Seattle” against the World Trade Organization, a prominent sign celebrated the emerging labor-environmental coalition with the slogan, “Turtles and Teamsters: Together at Last!” The threat of global warming is updating that slogan to “Turtles and Teamsters: Together Again.”

At the core of this convergence has been the mantra “green jobs.” While some in the labor movement have long feared that environmental policies would lead to the loss of jobs, others have long argued that appropriate environmental strategies would lead to a much greater increase in “green jobs.”

The green jobs argument has been greatly strengthened by the emergence of global warming as a national, local, and global issue. Scientists have established that limiting the catastrophic results of global warming requires massive cuts in the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. And that in turn will take a complete reconstruction of our economies to run on a low-carbon basis. Such a reconstruction will take massive investment – and create millions of jobs.

The coming-of-age party for this alliance may well be “Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference” scheduled for March 13-14 in Pittsburgh, PA. The event is coordinated by the Blue-Green Alliance, a “strategic partnership” of the United Steelworkers union and the environmentalist Sierra Club. The conference will bring together advocates representing “local, state and federal policy makers; labor; business; the environment and public health; economic and workforce development specialists; investors; and scientists and technology experts.” The aim is to launch a “nationwide dialogue about moving our country rapidly toward leadership in promoting a new green economy.”

Conveners of the conference include heavy hitters from organized labor, including some who have previously held aloof from actions addressed to global warming. Both U.S. labor federations, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, are listed as conveners. So are such unions as the Service Employees, Industrial Division of the Communication Workers, Operating Engineers Local 95, United Food and Commercial workers, and United Steelworkers.

A lesson from Australia?

New York mayor Michael Blumberg recently stated that global warming won’t be on the agenda at the next election. “It’s not really discussed by the presidential candidates.” But public concern is forcing presidential frontrunners to address global warming. Indeed, all presidential candidates who have not taken global warming seriously have dropped out or been marginalized.

FULL story at link.

[Parche]

1. Does Turtleandsue know this?

:rofl: :hi: