Union Plays Big Role at Jobs Conference

The Teamsters Union is proud to do its part in the fight for workers’ rights, for environmental justice, and for high environmental standards across the global supply chain.

Whether it is reducing carbon emissions and retrofitting trucks, supporting the expansion of light rail, reducing energy usage and adding solar panels to warehouses, or eliminating exposure to dangerous chemicals, the Teamsters are fighting for the day when blue-collar jobs are green.

The transition to greater energy efficiency and improved environmental performance of our economy cannot take place at the expense of workers’ wages, benefits and working standards. In fact, it needs to become an opportunity to generate and protect good union jobs.

It is in this light that the Teamsters Union is a co-convener and a major sponsor of the 2009 Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference, to be held in Washington, D.C. February 4-6, 2009. Teamsters have a prominent role in several workshops and panels, including General President Jim Hoffa, who will give a keynote address: 

• Hoffa will highlight the need for a fair trade regime to sustain the transition to green, high-paying, union jobs in America.

• John Williams, Director of the Warehouse Division, and Dave Cameron, of the Teamsters Rail Conference, will explore practical steps to build new alliances in warehouse and logistics, and in rail, that can propel both the cause of workers, exposed communities and the environment.

• Bob Morales, Director of the Solid Waste, Recycling and Related Industries Division, will reaffirm the Teamsters experience in the fight for environmental and social justice. Morales will also join Celia Petty, division deputy director to examine how a shift to greater recycling leads to greater job generation than land-filling alone, and explore how we can ensure that recycling can grow into a good-paying union industry.

• Jeff Farmer, Director of the Organizing Department, and Fred McLuckie, Legislative Director, will focus on getting federal policy toward financing transportation infrastructure right, and how to ensure it promotes workers’ rights, living standards and union growth, along with environmental criteria; proposals to create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank will also be examined .

• Iain Gold, Director of the Research and Campaigns Department, will review the supply chain and discuss the strategic opportunities to improve workers’ lives, organizing prospects and develop green, sustainable practices.

• The Ports Campaign documentary will be the shown to all conference-goers with a short introduction by Nick Weiner from Change to Win, National Coordinator of the Ports Campaign.

• Teamsters will also participate in the Joint Advocacy Day (February 4) on Capitol Hill, alongside key allies in the labor movement and in the environmental movement.