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| Tim Frank |
Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, to install solar
panels on union buildings and the homes of Sierra Club members and union
families across California. "In California, unions and environmentalists are working
together for a safe energy future, while the Bush administration is trying
to take us backwards to the failed polluting policies of the past," says
Tanya Tolchin, Partnership Program Rep. "We hope to expand this partnership
in other communities across the country to show the administration that there
is a better way."
The Club has also been working with labor and the building trades on a
variety of projects, ranging from clean power plants to transit villages.
The Club
supported the building trades in litigation opposing a Bush administration
order to ban the use of federal funds on any project covered by a project
labor agreement. Project Labor agreements are usually negotiated between
a contractor
or government agency and a labor union to establish a common set of workplace
rules. In addition to protecting workers rights, these agreements help
ensure that skilled workers conduct essential environmental projects like
cleaning
up toxic sites. "It was a great opportunity to expand our dialog with
the building trades," says Tim Frank, above, of the Challenge to Sprawl
Campaign. "And we won. The administration was overreaching and needed
to be challenged; we helped do that."
In January, the Club is sponsoring a major conference bringing together union leaders and Club activists to form a statewide coalition that fights for good jobs, safe and healthy working conditions, renewable energy, and environmental protection.
’The Difference Between Winning and Losing’
Colorado—In Denver, the Club has stood with the building trades in promoting an initiative to fully fund the transit build-out of the Denver metropolitan area. In Colorado Springs, the Club recently organized a joint training for environmental and labor leaders. "Mutual interests converge more than you might think," says Rocky Mountain Chapter leader Ross Vincent, left, who organized the event. Vincent, a Pueblo resident, also helped form Better Pueblo, a coalition of environmentalists, labor leaders, farmers, ranchers, and businessmen who successfully fought an army plan to incinerate chemical weapons in Pueblo; under pressure, the army converted the facility to employ a safer disposal technology, liquid neutralization. "In the future, these kinds of partnerships will mean the difference between winning and losing," Vincent says.
Tribes, Club Partner to Save Zuni Salt Lake
Arizona and New Mexico—Sierra Club activists partnered with several
southwestern Indian tribes to protect Zuni Salt Lake, a spring-fed body
of water in western
New Mexico. The lake is a sacred gathering place for the Zuni and other tribes,
who make pilgrimages to collect salt for religious ceremonies. The Salt River
Project, the nation’s third-largest electrical utility, had wanted
to build a massive coal mine ten miles from the lake and a rail line across
Zuni
burial grounds. In 2001, a coalition of tribes, environmental groups, and
citizens joined the Zuni in publicizing the issue throughout Arizona and
New Mexico,
gathering signatures in opposition to the mine. Zuni runners ran 350 miles
from the Zuni Pueblo to SRP headquarters in Phoenix to deliver the coalition’s
message. In August 2003, SRP cancelled its plans for the mine.
Anglers on Board
Minnesota—The Club organized a November anglers summit in Minneapolis
to promote a dialog between anglers, environmentalists, and state agencies
on mercury and its effects on fish and health. Attendees included manufacturers
of fishing equipment, the editor of a flyfishing magazine, several fishing
writers/authors, the Minnesota Conservation Federation, the Bass Federation,
the state Public Pollution Control Agency and the Departments of Health and
Natural Resources. Midwest field staffer Eric Uram says a larger event embracing
the entire Midwest is in the works for the spring. "It’s important
to have anglers groups on board if we hope to have an impact on mercury rules
and regulations," says the Club’s Matt Little, an organizer of the
state summit who also foresees an increasingly active partnership with Native
Americans. The Sierra Club is currently working with local tribes to get fish
consumption advisories posted across Minnesota.
Club, Steelworkers Organize Broad Coalition
Iowa—In preparation for the January presidential caucuses and candidate
visits, the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers of America organized a
meeting in September with 20 other environmental, labor, religious, farmer,
minority, and advocacy groups to discuss the formation of a Blue/Green Coalition.
The coalition’s core members have now held five meetings and developed
four major resolutions—on energy, factory farms, worker rights, and trade.
Members will use these resolutions as models for questions as they encounter
candidates from both parties. "We want to maintain an ongoing collaboration
into the future," says the Club’s Lyle Krewson, who organized the
September meeting along with Steelworkers rep David Foster.
Blues and Green Warm Up
Missouri—Jill Miller, Missouri organizer for the Club’s Global Warming and Energy Program, took part in a three-day labor/environmental workshop in February with 13 Sierra Club organizers and 30 Steelworkers. Participants explored labor and environmental issues, with an emphasis on global warming. "It was incredibly rewarding to discover just how much we have in common," Miller says. "Steelworkers and Sierrans are great natural allies in holding corporations and lawmakers accountable in order to protect jobs and the environment." The train-the-trainer format led Miller to develop a small-group workshop in St. Louis in June, which brought together a dozen Sierra Club leaders and a dozen Steelworkers to explore ways to fight global warming, and the labor/environment rapport has since grown around trade issues. Miller addressed the "March to Miami" rally in St. Louis in October, protesting Bush’s FTAA, in which foreign corporations can sue over environmental protections they deem "burdensome to trade." There are plans for future collaboration with Steelworkers, including op-eds, teach-ins, and more workshops.
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