Conservation Group, Unions Joining Forces

[cal04]

Saving Habitat, Ensuring Access Sought
In a first-of-its-kind alliance that could fundamentally reshape the environmental movement, 20 labor unions with nearly 5 million members are joining forces with a Republican-leaning umbrella group of conservationists -- the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration.

The Union Sportsman's Alliance, to be rolled out in Washington on Tuesday after nearly three years of quiet negotiations, is to be a dues-based organization ($25 a year). Its primary goal is to increase federal funding for protecting wildlife habitat while guaranteeing access for hunters and anglers.

The unlikely marriage of union and conservation interests comes at a time when the Bush administration, with its push for oil and gas drilling in the Rocky Mountain West, has limited public access to prime hunting and fishing areas on federal land. This has triggered a bipartisan backlash from sportsmen and conservation groups, as well as from Western politicians in both parties.

The strength of that backlash is making bedfellows of blue-collar workers and old-guard conservationists, who historically have shared little but suspicion and disdain.

"We can make the union movement and environmentalism compatible and not antagonistic," said Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists. "As of late, an awareness has grown that our goals are the same. We want good air, clean water and access to the outdoors."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/15/AR2007011501022.html

[drm604]

1. K&R I've often thought that hunters and environmentalists should be natural allies,

but I never saw unions in that alliance. This is very interesting, and encouraging!

[susanna]

8. My sister's former flame - a hunter....

...and I used to argue politics all the time. His point being he wanted to keep his guns, and the GOP had made Dems look like wild-eyed loonies over that point alone (and he wasn't the only one in my life who bought the NRA crap).

But one evening, around the campfire, he admitted to me that he was torn - he believed in the right to carry his weapons, but his hunting depended entirely on the environment of the world he lived in, and for that he appreciated the Democrats. After that, we became good friends. I always told him the Dems would have a harder time taking away his weapons than the GOP would have torpedoing the environment. I think after a while he understood.

[SanCristobal]

2. This thread made me do a double take,

I thought it said CONSERVATIVE group, unions joining forces.

[Coventina]

3. It does, in a way. It specifies "Republican-leaning conservationists"

So I am very skeptical that this is actually going to be a good thing.

[Bukowski Fan]

4. Could be new movement...

I really never thought I'd live to see this day, but it looks like it's coming. Personally, I think this could be HUGE boon for the Dems if they choose to roll with it.

Oddly enough, I am not a big fan of hunting, and as a quasi-animal rights activist, my partner is about ready to bite my head off for saying this is a good idea. However, I think that this is not only what a staggering environmentalist movement needs. But I also think that progressives could take a lesson here. I don't see this so much as moving closer to the center by aligning with the right-wing NRA, I see this as more of a realigning of the class fight. If Dems see this a way to win back some of those blue-collar workers who have shifted to voted to Republicans based on social issues (largely because the Dems have ignored them on economic issues due to the influence of the DLC), we could carry many a Western state come next year.

I also think any Democrat running for President will have to weigh in on this at some point due to the Nevada caucus. There's a lot of hunters in the rural areas and a VERY strong union presence.

[Doctor_J]

5. Well spoken, BF

welcome to DU

[Toots]

6. This is good for America and good for the world

A little more from the article, I especially like the part about pulling people away from NRA and their hatred


Together with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the 20 labor unions -- most of them in the building trades -- recently commissioned a poll that found that 70 percent of union members hunt or fish. As important, 72 percent of those polled said they are concerned about the loss of good places to do either. The poll also found that about a quarter of union members said they belonged to the National Rifle Association, an affiliation that displeases some Democratic union leaders.

The NRA in recent years has been strongly allied with the Republican Party and the Bush administration. Some union leaders say they want their new alliance with conservationists to lure the political allegiance of gun-owning union members away from the NRA and its political agenda.

"We know that the NRA is communicating to our members what clearly are anti-union positions and urging them to support anti-union candidates," said Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Schaitberger said the alliance with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership "is about connecting with our members, doing good conservation work and offsetting some of these anti-union messages they are getting from the NRA."

Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO and an enthusiastic supporter of the new alliance, said an additional 33 labor unions in the AFL-CIO may soon join up.

[Gman]

7. Makes a lot of sense

I heard from too many union members over the years that they won't vote for a Democrat because "they want to take my guns". This fixes that problem perception.