Wall Street Journal - October 4, 1999
Unions, Environmentalists Unite To Pressure for Jobs, Resources
By JIM CARLTON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SAN FRANCISCO -- Labor unions and environmentalists are set Monday to announce an unusual alliance aimed at pressuring corporations whose practices they believe jeopardize U.S. jobs and threaten natural resources.
The newly formed Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment consists of about 400 members of large unions such as the United Steelworkers and Teamsters and environmental groups including Earth First and the American Lands Alliance. The nonprofit organization, based in Eureka, Calif., is being run by representatives from both groups.
Another 120 environmental groups and about 100 unions have endorsed the alliance, according to organizers, who say they could potentially mobilize thousands of members for demonstrations and write-in campaigns.
"In a very simple way, you exponentially increase your numbers," said Karen Pickett, a member of the alliance's steering committee and an Earth First organizer in Berkeley, Calif.
The alliance is planning its first show of force at next month's scheduled gathering of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, which has been targeted by protesters who object to trade policies world-wide. Organizers also intend to conduct "corporate accountability campaigns" against several multinational companies they say have poor records of dealing with both workers and the environment.
"They have accumulated so much power that no one government can effectively control them, which is why we've gotten together," said Dave Foster, a United Steelworkers director in Minneapolis who is co-chairing the alliance.
The alliance plans to use many of the same tactics employed by members of a group who protested against practices by Maxxam Inc., a Houston conglomerate controlled by financier Charles Hurwitz. Maxxam has been under attack by environmental groups for logging of ancient redwoods by its Pacific Lumber unit, and by Steelworkers locked out of plants in a labor dispute with Kaiser Aluminum Corp., which is about 63%-owned by Maxxam. Steelworkers have attended forest protests, while environmentalists have joined anti-Kaiser rallies.
"This is an extraordinary marriage of convenience between two groups whose interests are not aligned," said Maxxam spokesman Josh Reiss.
Other industry executives also question how well environmentalists and labor unions will be able to work together, given their past clashes on such emotional issues as logging of ancient trees in the Pacific Northwest. Indeed, while the two sides have cooperated in fights against specific corporations, they haven't engaged in such far-sweeping activity before.