The United Steel Workers organized a rally yesterday at the gates of the Tesoro refinery which is very close to downtown Salt Lake City. They are in contract negotiations. The rally had an open mike, and I have been thinking what I, as an environmentalist, can say to the Tesoro workers. I didn't come up with ideas until I was back home again, therefore I composed the following text which I hope to get published maybe as an op-ed or similar. I am sending it to Pen-l because this is an attempt to bridge the gap between the environmental and the labor movement. You note that I am not arguing for income redistribution, as Gene suggests, but I am going one step further: I am arguing for workers getting more control over what they are producing. Let me know that you think about this; I can always use ideas to make it better.
Open letter to the Tesoro workers: One of the refrains at Saturday's Tesoro contract rally was: "what time is it -- Union time!" This is more true now than ever. Economic growth is stalling. We can no longer rely on a rising tide lifting all boats. In such times social justice is more important than ever. And if workers want social justice they need unions. Why is economic growth stalling? Refinery workers are in the heart of the economic changes. Growth is stalling because oil prices are rising. Cheap gasoline not only powered our cars, it powered economic growth in the last half century. And the times of cheap gasoline are over, not only because of speculators but more importantly because cheap oil has peaked. The corporations want to respond by going over to dirty oil, oil from Utah tar sands, refined right here, in the middle of the Salt Lake City airshed trapped between the mountains. This means more pollution, and since tar sand bitumen is not only dirty but also expensive, it means more cost cutting, more accidents, and the companies will pretend they have no money to pay fair wages. There is another way. This is the way of clean renewable energy. Members of the USW could be, and should be, producing windmills, mass transportation infrastructure, pylons for transmission lines to bring in renewable electricity, high density energy efficient housing, geothermal power plants, area heating systems in the towns and cities, etc. This green growth will be much more resilient than trying to extend the fossil-fuel based growth past its due date. A number of environmentalists took part in Saturday's rally. I was one of them. We are on your side. Your success in the contract negotiations is our success. USW wages are a refreshing contrast to the low non-union wages prevalent in the valley. If you succeed, the refineries will also be safer and cleaner. Most importantly, if workers would have more control over production, then we environmentalists know that the exploitation and squandering of natural resources, which increases profits and decreases the standard of living for everyone, would not happen. If those who control production would not live in mansions in Park City but right here next to the factories, then Salt Lake City would be a beautiful city with clean air, a functioning mass transportation system, affordable colleges and universities, etc. There will be enough jobs for all because a lot must be done to switch from fossil fuels to renewables. The capitalists do not want to do this because they are hanging on to the old paradigm. You probably think there is no way you will ever have a say about production. This is not a pipedream because you are not alone. The capitalists are scared of the environmentalists because we are challenging their hybris and greed to use the environment and natural resources, which belong to everyone, for their narrow interests against the 99%. The capitalists are scared of unions because unions can prevent wage theft, and reneging on retirement benefits is wage theft! Now if environmentalists and the labor movement work together, a lot can happen which neither of us can achieve alone. Talking about things which are a little closer at hand, when you go on strike and management has white-collar workers or other unskilled replacements do your jobs, you know whom to call upon. The environmental movement will make sure that any health and safety violations when the refinery is run by unskilled workers will be exposed and all regulations will be enforced. Hans G Ehrbar Associate professor of Economics University of Utah _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
