Remember Teamsters & Turtles during the WTO actions in Seattle? That’s history now, for sure. Hoffa and his minions are deeply in bed with the Bush regime and we don’t here much these days from Teamsters for Democracy. We guess that short season of solidarity was simply a marriage of convenience for Mr. Hoffa and friends. As you may recall, the Teamsters Union was a big booster for drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and quite frankly their environmental record looks like shit, even on a brief scan. These are, for the most part, union truckers you know, people who make their living filling up the highways with traffic and fouling the air with fossil fuels. When was the last time you heard them advocating for cleaner engines? Quite frankly, we don’t think they care all that much. This should not be surprising. The teamsters have been tight with Republicans and mobsters for a very long time. Don’t expect much in the way of ecological concern from those quarters.

The good news is that some unions DO care, and continue to maintain working relationships with environmental activists. This is an IMPORTANT to remember especially as things turn sour at the WSSD dog & pony show in South Africa. Only the people and their democratic institutions will bring the needed change to reverse the catastrophic ecological meltdown we are presently confronted with. Progressive unions like the United Electrical workers, various UAW and AFSCME locals, the ILWU, UFW, SEIU and, of course, the IWW are doing some good work in that direction, but far more effort and URGENCY needs to arise if we are to survive the corporate assault upon the planet. WE MUST DO ALL WE CAN TO CONNECT WITH UNION ACTIVISTS AND WORKING PEOPLE.

The most important thing to do is contact progressive union activists in your community.
Hey, it’s Labor Day! Just do it!
Also, checkout the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment at
www.asje.org/about/index.html
asje (at) asje.org
Also, International Workers of the World (IWW) at www.iww.org/