By Joe Dockerman

ranknfile19@gmail.com

The "Continuous Operations" and "Elimination of Unit Breaks" agreement signed with SSA by Ugles & Co. of ILWU Local 19 Seattle exposes these union officers as hypocrites in the fight for clean air in our port communities.

Seattle, Aug. 16--In my first article earlier this week, I exposed the fact that Herald Ugles and the other ILWU Local 19 officers are participating in a scheme--together with Stevedoring Services of America and the Pacific Maritime Association--to take away the rights of Seattle waterfront workers to their historic union coffee breaks as outlined in our Pacific Coast Longshore Contract Document.

But there's more to this story than immediately meets the eye.

Besides being an abject betrayal of ILWU principles, an attack on the rights of union workers and a give-away that weakens the Coast contract and strengthens our sworn enemy, SSA--just months before negotiations--there is also an issue of public safety and health that all members of our community should also be aware of and concerned about.

Today, in my email inbox, I received a Port of Seattle public service announcement inviting the public to participate in a "Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy Public Meeting and Open House." It's a public hearing at which the public can "learn more and provide ... input on the Port of Seattle's plans to improve the environment, public health and the regional economy," and it's set to take place Thursday, September 6, from 6-8:30PM, at the Duwamish Apprentice and Education Center, 6770 East Marginal Way South, Building A.

That got me thinking.

The Port of Seattle website, under a heading entitled "Maritime Air Quality: The Challenges," has this to say:

"Diesel engines, like many other mobile (for example, ships and trains), stationary (for example, refineries and manufacturing facilities), and area (for example, wood smoke) sources, are significant generators of criteria pollutants and toxic emissions. Excessive exposure to these pollutants can contribute to increased rates of lung cancer, chronic respiratory disease, impaired lung development in children, cardiovascular disease, and other health effects." (see http://www.portseattle.org/community/environmentair/seaport/index.shtml)

Add to that the birth defects in infants, all kinds of developmental syndromes in young children, and reproductive health problems in both women and men.

For several years on the Seattle waterfront, we have been hearing about the dangers of diesel and other toxic emissions associated with our work on the docks. Since this debate arose, we have often been asked not to let our semi tractors and other heavy equipment idle when there is no cargo to move. It's a risk, we are told, not only to our own safety and health as workers, but also to our entire community. And due to the position of the docks in the social geography of our port cities, it's usually working class communities--low income folks and people of color--whose neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by the dangerous contaminants that constantly flow from the waterfront.

The Sierra Club, a national environmental watchdog group that has monitored the impact of the nation's ports on clean air for a decade or more, notes that--according to a study by the California Air Resources Board—2,400 people die each year in that West Coast state from diseases directly attributable to air pollution from ports and cargo movement. (see "Port of Entry, Pollution Trap" by Javier Sierra, at http://www.sierraclub.org/ecocentro/ingles/column2006-05.asp)

For as many years, to its credit, Local 19's leadership has signed on to efforts by the Sierra Club, the Apollo Alliance and local community groups to monitor the environmental impact of the shipping lines and stevedores that operate in the Port of Seattle, and push for the Port Commission to force these companies to adopt greener methods and technologies. Diesel emissions have thus far been the prime target of these efforts.

In a joint letter (see http://www.apolloalliance.org/document.cfm?documentID=153) dated April 10, 2006, Local 19 president Herald Ugles, Sierra Club local vice-chair Michael McGinn and Apollo Alliance Washington State coordinator Richard Feldman had this to say to the Port of Seattle Commission:

"ILWU Local 19 and the Sierra Club want to insure that workers can earn a good living but not pay for it with their lives and that our community can benefit from the economic engine of the Port but not pay for it with the health of our children or the quality of our environment. ...

"The hundreds of men and women represented by ILWU Local 19 work under a cloud of port pollution. Results from recent studies indicate that the association between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer is real. These results along with previous studies of lung cancer and diesel exhaust support current efforts to reduce emissions in both occupational and general environmental settings.

"Numerous studies show that microscopic particulate matter emitted by oceangoing vessels' engines is carcinogenic and is a significant contributor to respiratory disorders like asthma. Residents and longshore workers who live and work at or near our ports face some of the gravest threats from carcinogenic diesel emissions. ...

"We urge the Commission to take action now to safeguard our health and our economy and catalyze the industries of the future by including diesel emission and use reduction provisions–-with enforceable goals and timelines–-in its leases with SSA Terminals and Cruise Terminals of America."

Nice words indeed.

So what are waterfront workers now to say, when we are asked by our friends and neighbors--at our churches, mosques and synagogues, our PTA meetings and our community groups--to square this circle?

When they ask us:

"How can Herald Ugles, that same union officer who jointly signs letters with leading environmental activists decrying the dangerous pollution produced on the docks, now simultaneously sign a deal with SSA to ensure that your cranes, your hundreds of semi-tractors, top-picks and other heavy equipment will never stop running--and thus never stop producing toxic diesel emissions?"

How will we answer them?

Well, brothers and sisters of Local 19, how will you answer their embarrassing questions?

For my part, I will have to tell them the the truth as I see it: I'm pro-union and ready to fight for the ILWU, but ... All but the very best of our union officers, like other politicians in this country, are primarily interested in what is known as the "P.R. value" of their public acts. They are out for "photo ops." But when it comes right down to it, the public positions they take on many issues do not necessarily reflect their own personal beliefs, not to mention their official actions--especially not if money or power is involved.

For my part, I will have to answer, truthfully, that unions are human organizations like any other--full of mostly good, generous, hard-working community men and women trying to bring up their families and be good citizens. But like any other human institution, we also have our hypocrites, our bureaucrats, our politicians. Believe it or not, we have our Republicans and Democrats, racists and anti-racists, despicable crooks and upright role models. And unfortunately we have our sellouts and backstabbers too.

I leave it to others to judge for themselves how to characterize the present "Continuous Operations" and "Elimination of Unit Breaks" agreement as against our union's supposed commitment to air quality and public safety and health, as well as to the occupational heath concerns of working longshoremen.

But for myself, I can only say:

*Sniff, sniff*--Herald, I smell something stinky in the air, and it ain't only the diesel exhaust.

Local 19 and the whole ILWU is gasping for breath, and what we truly need right now is a little fresh air.