Labor and the Green Economy: A Case Study of Inland Empire, California

• In Event: 20881 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Rethinking Labor (New Perspectives)

Abstract

This paper provides a case study of the shifting and contradictory ways in which labor organizations in the Inland Empire, California relate to efforts to make the regional economy more environmentally sustainable and the outcomes of their efforts. It combines information from field research, organizational documents, news articles, and interviews and personal correspondence with key informants. Although members of some building trade unions have sometimes supported proposals for new warehouses, viewing them as sources of employment for their members, other unions have joined environmental and community activists in series of successful city-level campaigns for temporary moratoria on new warehouse developments. Joint labor and environmental campaigns calling for community benefit agreements for local economic development projects have also been waged in San Bernardino, but so far not succeeded. Although many environmental projects employ non-union workers, some have hired union members and used their training programs to recruit skilled workers. Although labor and environmental activists in the region sometimes clash and face many challenges, many are collaborating to carry out new environmental initiatives and to promote a more just and environmentally sustainable regional economy.

Author

• Ellen R. Reese, University of California-Riverside