Heard Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

THE CALIFORNIA LABOR/ ENVIRONMENTAL SOLAR ENERGY PROJECT (CSP), a joint venture of the Sierra Club, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, UNITE/HERE and Service Employees International Union, is now operational in Ventura and North Los Angeles County. CSP assists Sierra Club members in securing the state rebate for solar power and helps with other aspects of installing photovoltaic systems. The project made a presentation to Sierra’s Santa Clarita Chapter in March and is looking to expand into other geographic areas. CSP’s mission is to take action against global warming in a way that creates good quality employment and increases union representation in the solar industry by installing solar power systems on Sierra Club members’ homes using union labor. To find out more, visit the CSP web site at http://californiasolarproject.org or contact Woody Hastings, CSP Project Director, at 415-681-1110, or email: whastings@californiasolarproject.org

CONNECTICUT

UNITE HERE, the national union representing hospitality, gaming, apparel, textile and laundry workers, joined more than 200 Connecticut residents in March in demanding a hearing on a proposal to loosen pollution restrictions on the Cintas Corp.’s industrial laundry in Branford. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft permit that allows Cincinnati-based Cintas to nearly double its discharges of polluted water to the town’s treatment plant, despite DEP’s own four-year old lawsuit against Cintas charging the company with more than 900 violations of its old discharge permit. In comments to DEP, UNITE HERE, which is attempting to organize Cintas workers at sites around the country, said that DEP needs to protect the public and the environment by imposing tight restrictions on Cintas. “Cintas is an environmental scofflaw,” said Wilfredo Larancuent, who heads UNITE HERE’s laundry workers local in Connecticut and New York. “Time and time again, they have broken the law and exposed workers and the people of Connecticut to dangerous chemicals.” For information on UNITE HERE’s campaign to organize Cintas, visit www.uniformjustice.org.

MINNESOTA

A highly successful “Blue Green Citizen Lobby Day” was held at Minnesota’s state capitol in February, where political paths intersected as union members and environmental advocates worked together to call for public transportation improvements, high performance buildings and renewable energy production. “I am no lobbyist, but as a regular Minnesotan I feel strongly that we need to take aggressive steps to get out front on these issues,” said retired teacher and associate member of the USW Betty Burton, who participated in the lobby day. On the day of the event, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a ringing endorsement of the Minnesota Blue Green Alliance. The paper asserted the alliance made “important points” about clean energy and job creation “against the backdrop of globalization.” On Earth Day in April, the alliance held a second lobby day. “When we were here in February we showed that labor and environment groups share common goals-good jobs, a clean environment and a safer world,” said Josh Syrjamaki, of the Steelworkers. “Now it’s time to move Minnesota closer to meeting those goals.”

MISSOURI

A highly successful The Missourie Blue Green Alliance cosponsored a “Conservation Lobby Day” April 13 in Jefferson City that drew 60 activists. The group pushed legislators on a number of issues, including a successful effort to defeat a corporate-backed bill that would have eased development of “factory farms” that threaten the jobs of small family farmers and pollute the environment.

MONTANA

The Montana Blue Green Alliance was part of a coalition of environmental and labor groups April 28 in Billings that visited the offices of US Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), trying to push him to declare opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA). Members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 190 who work at the Western Sugar Cooperative refinery in Billings were among those participating. Major opposition to CAFTA comes from the U.S. sugar industry, which sees increased quotas for the Central American countries endangering the federal sugar program price supports.

NEW JERSEY

Unions representing workers in chemical facilities and oil refineries joined New Jersey’s largest environmental organizations in February to call on Acting Governor Richard J. Codey to stop the signing of a secret pact between the chemical industry and the state. The secret deal was crafted by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and chemical industry trade groups and is modeled on industry’s own Responsible Care program, a trademarked self-regulation scheme.

Union and environmental leaders proposed a better way to ensure safety and security at facilities:

• Allow the public to verify that facilities will seriously consider “inherent” (built-in) safety approaches; and

• Involve frontline chemical industry workers to assess vulnerabilities and implement hazard prevention and security measures.

“The safety of neighbors and workers should be our No. 1 responsibility—not protecting the special interests of the chemical industry,” added WEC Board Member John Shinn, an International Representative of the Steelworkers. The deal fails to involve chemical industry workers in disaster prevention strategies, provides no opportunities for public input, and does nothing to require facilities to implement “inherent,” or built-in, safety technologies, including commonsense steps like substituting safer chemicals for those that are less safe. It is opposed by 67 labor, community and environmental organizations, including all the major unions representing chemical workers in New Jersey as well as the Sierra Club, NJ Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG) and NJ Environmental Federation.

OHIO

On Earth Day in April, Blue Green Alliance members joined the Ohio Environmental Council and other groups in visiting lawmakers at the Statehouse in Columbus to talk about issues that influence the economy and environment of the state. “As a member organization in the Blue Green Alliance, we are pleased that other members have decided to join in our efforts to keep our environment in the forefront of legislators’ minds as they make decisions with long-lasting implications,” said Jack Shaner, Ohio Environmental Council Director of Public Affairs. “It takes partnerships like the ones developed through the Blue Green Alliance to accomplish our goals of a cleaner environment which also benefits our economy.”

“The members of the Blue Green Alliance reject the myth that a clean environment means the loss of good-paying, quality jobs in Ohio,” said Donnie Blatt of the Steelworkers. “We can have both and we proudly join other Alliance members in sharing that message with our legislators.”

OREGON

The Steelworkers and Sierra Club held a Town Hall meeting in Portland on May 1 to discuss the Bush administration’s proposed trade agreement in Central America. The event was part of a Northwest speaking tour by Dave Foster, Director of District 11 of USW, and Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. Portland State professor and trade expert Barbara Dudley moderated the forum.

WASHINGTON

The Steelworkers and Sierra Club held another Town Hall meeting on CAFTA May 2 in Fife, Washington (midway between Tacoma and Seattle). Several Steelworkers signed up to join the Sierra Club, and several Sierra Club members signed up as Associate Members of the Steelworkers.