From L.A., a reinvention of Big Labor

A 'blue-green alliance' of workers, environmentalists, and others offers one model for union revival, analysts say.

from the April 10, 2007 edition

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"The big targets for unionization in L.A. are getting smaller," says economist Joel Kotkin, Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation who writes on economic, political, and social trends. "Outside the big public projects, you don't see a lot of union labor, and you are not going to organize day laborers [standing] outside Costco. Since many of the workers don't vote, aren't citizens, and make low wages, the unions are going to have somewhat less money and clout than the industrial unions of before."

Still, the labor organizing in L.A. may mark the development of a new model of activism – one that organizers in other parts of the US are studying.

What most characterizes the new look, says Clark University's Mr. Chaison, is the increased use of coalitions. Groups that formerly faced off as opponents, he says, are now seeing ways to come together to support causes of mutual interest.

That means civil rights and immigrant groups are joining with workers to fight discrimination. It means environmental groups are supporting low-wage earners such as truckers, who can't afford to fix pollution-spewing trucks. It means teachers unions are asking for support from advocates for the aging in standing up for public health, because it affects the progress of students and seniors.

"It has taken awhile for all these various groups to find common ground, but they are realizing that without strong mutual support in big numbers, they can't stand up ... against the powerhouse of city government," says Peter Dreier, director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

One major component of the new unionism is cooperation between "blue-collar" unions and "green" environmentalists. There's even a buzzword to describe it: the "blue-green alliance."

"There is a new sense of unified agenda from labor, community, and environment that is historic," says Madeline Janis of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a group that has backed several union campaigns and become a model for similar campaigns in other states. "For 50 years it has been jobs versus the environment, and now we have jobs and the environment."

The new unionism of Los Angeles reflects a changing political mood in America, says Mr. Dreier.

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