"If we are to prosper as a nation," Teamsters head James Hoffa Jr., told union members in Oakland in July, "our future lies in a green economy."
That might seem like an unusual declaration for a union leader. But then, Hoffa went a step further in announcing that Teamsters was abandoning its push for oil drilling in the Arctic.
Environmental activists and union bosses are known for their rancor. They have historically held opposite positions on key issues -- drilling in fragile environments, nuclear power, logging ancient forests -- pitting jobs against the environment.
But that was before the values of the environmental movement were adopted by mainstream society, before union membership began to plunge and manufacturing jobs were exported overseas.
"In the old days when labor had more power, they didn't need . . . to bother with other organizations," said Ruth Milkman, a sociology professor and labor expert with UCLA. "Now they're struggling to survive and they're fighting to rebuild."
Los Angeles is at the forefront of this trend, turning a concept into an actual project at the region's two ports: the newly minted Clean Trucks program, which is being watched as a possible model for other cities.
Environmentalists had for years sought to reduce the cancer-causing pollution coming from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- the source of a quarter of the smog in the Los Angeles basin. They made large strides cleaning up the ships, but reducing the tons of diesel emissions spewed by the port's notoriously aged truck fleet was proving a tougher nut to crack.
At the same time, various unions had tried to organize drivers at the port, who they say make about $30,000 a year as independent contractors without time off, health insurance or other benefits. There were strikes and protests, but no union ever formed.
The truckers didn't legally work for anybody. Shipping companies act as middlemen between the shippers and the truckers, who own their trucks.
In 2006, labor leaders say they approached environmentalists with a deal that would make both their goals possible: truckers had to become employees of firms, which could be petitioned for higher wages and benefits and required to buy cleaner trucks and held to maintenance standards.
"That was a game-changer," said Todd Campbell, former policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air and still a board member.
