USW’s Leo Gerard Says We Either Have A Clean Environment AND Good Green Jobs Or We Will Have Neither

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/13446

By Doug Cunningham

About three thousand labor and environmental activists are attending a Green Jobs Conference In Washington D.C. The United Steel Workers union is taking a leading role in forging an environmental/labor alliance to protect the environment and create good green jobs at the same time. In a speech at the conference USW President Leo Gerard said labor and environmental standards work hand in hand – if you don’t have good health and safety legislation that really meaningful that works inside the workplace – working in a safe and socially responsible fashion, we’re going to have environmental disasters outside the workplace. And Gerard said this isn’t a choice between good jobs and a clean environment, we either have both or neither. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are also conference speakers. The Blue Green Alliance is hosting the conference in partnership with the United Steel Workers, the Sierra Club and several unions including SEIU, Communications Workers of America, Laborers, American Federation of Teachers, Utility Workers Union of America, Sheet Metal Workers and the Amalgamated Transit Union.