Auto union joins labor, green groups on climate bill push

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http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/115409-auto-union-joins-labor-green-coalition-pushing-climate-bill

The United Auto Workers is the latest union to join the BlueGreen Alliance, which unites labor and environmental groups pushing for greenhouse gas limits and other policies to create “green” jobs.

The UAW — also known as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America — claims to have more than 390,000 active members.

“UAW members produce best-in-class cars and trucks, key vehicle components, and top quality heavy-duty trucks, and we know that we can rebuild the American auto industry by building cleaner, more efficient vehicles — and developing the technologies that will get us there,” UAW President Bob King said in a statement Monday about joining the BlueGreen Alliance.

“We have enormous opportunities to revitalize this industry, and the American economy, by embracing the clean energy economy of the future,” he said.

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1. UAW: Labor-environmental partnership grows to nearly 9 million members and supporters

http://www.uaw.org/articles/uaw-joins-bluegreen-alliance

Citing the need to rebuild the American auto manufacturing sector by building more efficient vehicles, the UAW today announced it would join the BlueGreen Alliance, a fast-growing labor-environmental partnership dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy.

With the addition of UAW, the BlueGreen Alliance now unites nine major U.S. labor unions and two of America’s largest environmental organizations in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a green economy.

The BlueGreen Alliance was launched in 2006 by the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers, and has since grown to include nine major U.S. labor unions and two of America’s largest environmental organizations — bringing together nearly 9 million members and supporters — in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a green economy.

“The BlueGreen Alliance and UAW share the goal of rebuilding the American auto industry, creating and saving the good jobs that come along with it, and reducing pollution and our dependence on foreign oil through more efficient transportation,” said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance. “We are pleased to welcome the UAW to the ranks of our union members and environmentalists working together to build a revitalized clean energy economy.”

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2. This is about broader efforts in the future, not the current climate bill.

Everyone knows that climate change legislation is d-e-a-d for this Congress, and realistically there won't be climate change legislation next Congress either.

This is a long-term move with an eye towards bigger things in the future--probably 2013--as well as bolstering the EPA.