and the RATS, take another one in the.........HA ha!!!
Posted on 01/20/2012 3:45:50 PM PST by Libloather
Labor union quits alliance with greens over Keystone pipeline
By Andrew Restuccia - 01/20/12 02:35 PM ET
The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline.
LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project.
“We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement.
The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups and labor unions, confirmed LIUNA’s exit Friday afternoon.
“The BlueGreen Alliance regrets the decision of the Laborers' International Union of North America to leave our strategic partnership of labor and environmental organizations,” the group’s executive director, David Foster, said in a statement.
The move underscores the intense political divide among unions over the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf Coast.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said earlier this month that the group’s membership has been unable to come to a unified position on the pipeline.
Many unions — including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Teamsters, the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters for the United States and Canada and others — support the pipeline. But some labor groups, including the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Transport Workers Union, oppose it.
LIUNA’s decision to leave the BlueGreen Alliance comes just two days after President Obama rejected Keystone, blaming the decision on a 60-day deadline imposed by Republicans. The GOP has vowed to work to reverse the decision legislatively.
A group of unions applauded Obama’s decision in a statement this week.
The Blue-Green alliance was formally launched in 2006, and grew out of a less-formal collaboration between the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers.
It now also includes the Service Employees International Union, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Communications Workers of America, the National Wildlife Federation, the United Auto Workers, the Union of Concerned Scientists and several other unions.
The group has not taken a position on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Isn't that racist?
lol!
Well, a withdrawal of an alliance would certainly be.
Calling uncle Martin. Uncle Martin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Wake me up when the union endorses a Republican for anything.
This is all a front!! They will toe the line come November!
More examples of the failure of the educational system, especially in math. This decision was obviously politically motivated. Obama will retain one vote for every eight he loses on this. Keep up the good work, and perhaps not even the Republicans will be able to lose.
meaningless, they will support the Dems as always
Thanks Libloather.
I never thought I would be on the side of Unions.
And in Michigan we have a group of UAW members calling for right to work legislation.
Worry not. The 0 will give them North Dakota as a toy.
You got that right, plus the cash they will contribute.
“I am become Barry, destroyer of jobs...”
I respectfully disagree. Unions are hurting right now (money wise) because of a reduction of union workers thus dues. The pipeline would be a boon for the unions and they know it. People vote with their wallets and this panic by the unions is a demonstration how important this pipeline is to our economy.
Welding and pipefitting workers in a fight with TWU (railroad) union.
Guess we all know why that is don’t we?
Warren Buffet bought a railroad and wants the oil shipped by train and Obama supports him and his banker buddies on it.
We shall see.
The leadership will -- and the money they contribute to the Dems means something, too. But I'm not so sure about the members. They've known for a long time that the Dems support their Marxist organizing, but the Republicans support their jobs.
None of what I just said applies to public employee unions, though, which is where all the union power now lies.
They will tow the line on a promise from the great one.
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