The Blue and the Green

The following is an email I received from a good friend who I met during our days together at the Labor Relations and Resource Center at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. This email is so positive and so inspiring that I feel compelled to post it here to show that no matter how many times we feel as though we're in a never ending battle, positive change can and does occur.

I hope you enjoy, and, as always, welcome your comments.

best,
Ellen



Friends:

It is rare that I get to write to you with news of a major victory, but I wanted to take a moment to share with you this great news. And it's great for many reasons: over 16,000 exploited truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles (the largest port in the country) will see their working conditions and pay improve as they gain long-sought employee rights; people living in the communities around the Port will start to see cleaner air as we get filthy, dilapidated trucks off the roads in favor of newer, cleaner trucks; and perhaps most importantly, we're
seeing the fruits of a multi-year campaign that has forged essential new ties between the labor & environmental communities. We've gotten beyond the tired old dichotomies of jobs versus environment to a new place where we not only support one another, but where we understand that it is the same forces (of global capital) that hamper progress for all of us.

Attached below are a few links: to some of today's press surrounding the victory, and also to our campaign website where you can read more background if you'd like to. (I should note that though yesterday was a major victory, much work remains to be done, and we will be focused on defending against the expected frivolous lawsuits and ensuring that everything is implemented properly. We will then work to make sure that the gains we'll be seeing here in Southern California are replicated at Ports around the country.)

I'd urge you: in whatever corner of this movement you find yourself, building and strengthening these ties between different groups is going to be critical as we all move forward to build a more sane, sustainable and just society.


Yours in peace and solidarity,

J


Port of Los Angeles Plan Weighs on Shippers
Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/business/careers/work/la-me-port21mar21,1,3526592.story


LA Port enacts clean air plan
Associated Press, March 20, 2008
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8VHCSLG5.htm


Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports
http://cleanandsafeports.org/
http://blog.cleanandsafeports.org/

Friends and Labors

I hosted two very good friends of mine over the weekend that I know from grad school in Labor Studies at UMASS.

It was great to see them, but it made realize how far away I've been from the 'official' labor movement, which, when I left my last union job two years ago consisted of pushing paper in a cubicle, a beige, windowless one at that, on the sixth floor of an ugly building, about three blocks from the White House.

Now, I don't want to complain about my previous job/s. And, I don't want to diminish any work of the 'official' (read: having an office in DC) parts of the U.S. labor movement. It's just that seeing my friends, who both in different researching capacities in different places for the same very large union, made me realize how far away I am from that world, and how far away much of 'official' labor is from the workers of the world. (Ok, I realized this in the past, too, but there's nothing like seeing it again, from a distance.)

I certainly don't want to bash anything the labor movement does. I may disagree with some macro-strategies, and the entire realpolitik mode that many unions and federations engage in, but there are real problems for workers now. And, I firmly believe in it in theory. I just have had some issues, of late, with some practice.

In any event, I'm too far away from all this to make a cogent argument. Plus, that's too tangential.

However, seeing my union 'brothers,' and explaining to them how Three Stone Steps, selling scarves, handbags, jewelry rolls, and cosmetic bags, etc. etc. etc. has the same ultimate mission as what they do at their union, was really enlightening. I mean, it's the same mission, isn't it? It's about helping workers gain power, because, like the hokey pokey, that's what it's all about.

It's not about charity.
It's not about social work.
It's about power.

In any event, I know that no one really needs another scarf, as gorgeous as they are, and as much as they help the people who made them. And, I know that no one will buy anything that they don't like just because it may be made by landmine or polio victims. I want people to love what they buy, and feel good about it. Ultimately, I'd like to help people think about all their purchasing decisions and the workers who made their handbags.

At this point, I'm not so sure about the 'official' reaction of 'official' labor to 'fair trade.' I know that if I'm buying stuff from Cambodia, I'm not really adding any much needed union members in the U.S., but that's no reason it should be ignored. I know, I know, it's not getting people elected, or servicing or organizing new members, but it's being on the same side in the global economy.