Labor at table in U.S. plans to slow global warming
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Global warming isn’t coming. It’s
already here.
From floods to forest fires,
droughts to melting permafrost, rising
global average temperature is having
an impact. The scientific consensus is
that human activity is contributing by
increasing the amounts of so-called
“greenhouse gases” in the atmos-
phere. Greenhouse gases exist in
small concentrations in the atmos-
phere but have big impacts on temper-
ature. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the
best-known greenhouse gas, but there
are others, including methane and ni-
trous oxide.
The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, a scientific body, was
formed by the United Nations in 1988
to study the risk of human-caused cli-
mate change. Its latest report, in 2007,
notes the observed increase in global
temperatures in the last half century,
parallelling the increase in greenhouse
gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
Temperatures have risen about 1 de-
gree Fahrenheit since the mid-20th
century, while CO2 concentrations
have risen to 380 parts per million
(ppm) from 315 ppm in 1960.
There’s a special urgency to reduce
the amount of greenhouse gases being
added to the atmosphere because of
concern about a possible tipping
point, where increased temperatures
themselves lead to additional releases
of greenhouse gases. For instance,
hotter, drier forests would be more
likely to burn, releasing even more
CO2 and reducing the forests’ ability
to convert atmospheric CO2 into oxy-
gen. Higher temperatures could also
speed up the already melting Alaskan
permafrost and the vast Siberian peat
bogs, which could result in further re-
lease of CO2 and methane, a more
potent greenhouse gas.
There’s a lot of scientific uncer-
tainty about when a tipping point
would be reached, but the interna-
tional community is hoping that by
limiting CO2 concentration to below
500 ppm (and temperature increase to
3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over current
levels), it can be averted.
The reason you’re reading about
this in a labor union newspaper is that
there are a lot of measures societies
can take to achieve the targeted reduc-
tions in greenhouse gas emissions,
and which ones, and how, will have
major impacts on workers throughout
the economy. Some industries will be
endangered, some will be trans-
formed, and some will see tremen-
dous growth.
The United States is the world’s
largest emitter of greenhouse gases,
adding an estimated 7.2 billion tons of
CO2 equivalent to the atmosphere in
2005 — about 22 percent of the
world’s total. Part of it is driving: The
average American uses 500 gallons of
gas a year to drive 12,000 miles, pro-
ducing five tons of carbon dioxide.
But electricity generation, industry,
farming, and residential use of fossil
fuels also contribute. U.S. greenhouse
gas emissions are on track to increase
one-third by 2030, but that trend will
have to turn around if the world is to
limit CO2 to 500 ppm.
SEIU Local 49 finalizes contracts
covering 1,900 Portland janitors
Service Employees (SEIU) Local
49 in July finalized two contracts cov-
ering about 1,900 of the Portland-
area’s 2,300 union janitors. A master
agreement with nine employers cov-
ers 1,700 workers, and a first-ever
contract with a local ServiceMaster
franchise covers about 200 employ-
ees.
The four-year master agreement in-
cludes employer-provided health in-
surance for janitors’ children, for the
first-time, with employees paying $40
of the monthly premium. The em-
ployee-only portion of the insurance
is fully-paid by the employer. Top
hourly wages will rise $1.85 over the
four years, from $10.60 to $12.45.
Newly hired janitors start at 40 cents
above minimum wage and reach the
top of the scale after two years. The
starting wage was 20 cents above
minimum in the previous contract,
which expired June 30. Workers also
get one new paid “personal day” a
year besides the seven paid holidays
they had.
Members voted 542-16 to approve
the new master agreement, which cov-
AUGUST 1, 2008
ers eight janitorial contractors, plus
the non-profit Portland Habilitation
Center.
The contract with the ServiceMas-
ter franchise brings to a close a three-
year union recognition campaign.
During the campaign, janitors and
their supporters held frequent pickets
outside offices cleaned by the contrac-
tor, including buildings owned by
Melvin Mark Companies. In the end,
the employer agreed to grant union
recognition on the basis of majority
sign-up, and negotiated a contract that
is similar to the master agreement, ex-
cept that it starts with lower wages
and benefits, catching up over the first
three years. At that point the two sides
will negotiate over wages in the final
year.
Union contractors are in the higher
end of the building services market —
Class A commercial office buildings
in downtown Portland and Vancouver,
plus Intel in Hillsboro. Local 49 esti-
mates that union contractors have 76
percent, by square footage, of the
downtown Portland Class A market,
said organizer Maggie Long.
Government can limit greenhouse
gas emissions by regulation, or dis-
courage emissions indirectly by tax-
ing them (the so-called “carbon tax”
proposal). But a third approach is the
one that is gaining the most political
support. It’s known as “cap and trade.”
Under a cap-and-trade system, the
government sets a limit or “cap” on
the volume of greenhouse gases that
certain sectors of the economy would
be allowed to emit, and issues a per-
mit for each unit of those emissions.
Each year, the number of permits —
and thus allowable greenhouse gas
emissions — would be ratcheted
down. The government would give or
auction off the permits to emitters,
and emitters could trade the permits to
each other in a regulated marketplace.
Companies that can make reductions
cheaply would sell their unused per-
mits to companies that had a tougher
time cutting emissions. Thus, the mar-
ket in permits would allow the neces-
sary reductions to be made as cheaply
as possible.
Both presidential hopefuls Barack
Obama and John McCain support the
cap-and-trade idea; Obama would
auction the permits, while McCain
proposes giving them away. Giving
them away limits industries’ economic
pain. Auctioning generates resources
that can be used to speed the transition
and cushion the hardships.
So far, the cap-and-trade proposal
that came closest to passing as the Cli-
mate Security Act of 2008, a bill in-
troduced by Senators Joseph Lieber-
man (I-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.)
and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). The
Lieberman-Warner bill would start by
giving three-quarters of the permits
away and auctioning the remainder,
but the percentage auctioned would
go up each year. The Senate debated
the bill in June, but failed to get
enough votes to shut off debate and
move to a vote. No one expected the
bill to become law, because it didn’t
have enough support to overcome a
filibuster, much less override a threat-
ened presidential veto. The debate
was seen as an airing of the issues
likely to come up when the proposal
comes back next year.
Organized labor was involved in
the behind-the-scenes debate over the
bill, and was able to get the bill’s
sponsors to incorporate a number of
union proposals, including a major ex-
pansion of the Davis-Bacon prevailing
wage requirement to non-federal alter-
native energy projects. The AFL-
CIO’s Building and Construction
Trades Department, and the Laborers
and Operating Engineers unions sup-
port the bill.
Labor unions wanted assurance
that increasing costs for U.S. manu-
facturers won’t drive production to
countries that don’t have the climate
controls. So the Lieberman-Warner
bill included steps the United States
could take if countries like China
don’t also adopt restrictions on green-
house gas emissions. Any country that
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
had not capped emissions after the
United States begins the program
would need to buy allowances in order
to sell energy-intensive goods in the
U.S. market.
And answering concerns labor
leaders raised about potential for spec-
ulative abuse in the market for per-
mits, Lieberman-Warner would set up
a working group to propose regula-
tions to protect the market from fraud
and manipulation.
Unions also wanted benefits for
workers who end up losing jobs be-
cause of cap-and-trade. Under Lieber-
man-Warner, companies wouldn’t get
permits if they achieve reductions
simply by closing down operations
and laying off workers. But some
workers are likely to be displaced,
particularly in the extraction and
transport of coal and at coal-burning
electricity plants. Lieberman-Warner
would use revenues from the auction
of permits to provide a bridge to re-
tirement for older workers and retrain-
ing benefits for younger workers. The
revenues would also fund:
• Major investments in technology
to contain and store carbon dioxide
produced at the coal-burning plants;
• Research and development of re-
newable energy, including cellulosic
biomass;
• Grants and other incentives for
conversion to renewable energy and
increases in the energy efficiency of
buildings, appliances, and manufac-
turing;
• Utility relief for low and middle-
income Americans.
Above all, union leaders approach
cap-and-trade as a way to revitalize
America’s manufacturing and support
good-paying jobs in the shift to a low-
carbon economy.
“Solving the climate change crisis
is an opportunity to address the manu-
facturing crisis,” said AFL-CIO En-
ergy Task Force co-chair Bob Baugh
at a House Energy subcommittee in
June.
In a statement released in March,
the AFL-CIO Executive Council out-
lined some potentially bountiful
sources of green-collar jobs: modern-
ization of high-voltage transmission
lines to increase energy efficiency; ex-
pansion of mass transit and passenger
rail; energy efficiency retrofits of pub-
lic, industrial and commercial build-
ings; weatherization of homes; and
development of new automotive tech-
nologies, not to mention wind, solar
and geothermal.
The Lieberman-Warner cap-and-
trade program would cover almost
nine-tenths of the sources of U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions and would
be projected to reduce total U.S.
greenhouse-gas emissions to roughly
5.8 billion tons a year by 2020 and 2.7
billion tons by 2050.
“Our nation can lead a new techno-
logical revolution in the way energy is
generated and used,” Baugh told the
House subcommittee. “That can be of
benefit to the world as a whole, and
serve as a foundation for the revival of
the middle class in the United States.”
Labor Day Picnics
Monday, Sept. 1, 2008
Astoria – 50th annual picnic at Cullaby Lake Park (8.5 miles south of As-
toria). Noon – 4 p.m. Sponsored by International Longshore and Warehouse
Union Local 50. Call 503-325-2271 for more information. (This will be their
last one.)
Bend – Picnic at Pioneer Park in Bend. Noon–5 p.m. Sponsored by the
Central Oregon Central Labor Council. Contact Fernando Gapasin at 503-
701-6701 or Jerry Fletcher at 541-350-0265 for more information.
Eugene/Springfield – Picnic at Jasper Park in Jasper. Noon. Sponsored by
the Lane County Central labor Council. Contact Pat Riggs-Henson, 541-746-
5905 or 541 915-3100 for more information.
Medford – Picnic at TouVelle State Park in White City. 11 a.m. – dusk.
Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Council. Call Carol Bennett
at 541-664-0804 for more information.
North Bend – Picnic at Ferry Street Park in North Bend. 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sponsored by the Southwestern Oregon Central Labor Council. Call Robert
Westerman at 541-756-3907 or Shawn Jennings at 541-396-3244 for more
information.
Portland – Labor Day Picnic at Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast Port-
land. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council.
Call 503-235-9444 for more information.
Salem – Oregon State Fair. The Oregon AFL-CIO labor booth in the Cen-
tral Canopy area continues to be staffed with union volunteers during the en-
tire two weeks of the fair, including Labor Day.
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