The news about the huge rally in Oakland yesterday, where the Teamsters joined together with more than 3,000 environmental, community and labor advocates to call for clean air and good jobs at the Port of Oakland - throuigh the implementation of a comprehensive clean trucks program, reminded me of a guy at Netroots Nation who asked me why labor and the environmentalists are not working together. Clearly he was not fully aware of what labor is doing, or alternatively, thought labor should be doing more; I don't know.

The event was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the California Labor Federation, and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Rally participants carried signs reading “Clean Air & Good Jobs” to deliver the message that it is time to stop poisoning the environment with deadly truck emissions and make the industry responsible for modernizing the port truck fleet.

“Port drivers are on the front lines of this fight for clean air and good jobs,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “They toil away every day earning poverty level wages and can’t earn enough to pay for the maintenance of their older trucks which are pumping out toxic pollution. This coalition of environmental, community and labor activists has come together for a common cause – to curb pollution in our ports and create good-paying jobs for port drivers.”

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums helped kick off the  march to the port. Thousands of marchers gathered at a rally site in Jack London Square in the shadow of the Port of Oakland to show their support.

Oakland could be become the second port to adopt a sustainable clean trucks program following the Port of Los Angeles, which unanimously approved the plan earlier this year.

“Drivers like me need change for our families,” said Lorenzo Fernandez, an Oakland port driver. “I can’t keep food on the table, let alone maintain my truck on the rates we get paid.” 

I talked with a few drivers who work the ports in Oakland about three months ago. One told me how he and others sit in line waiting for a load as their trucks idle. He mentioned that the stench is so rancid coming from the old rigs that often one can see a driver coming down from his cab to throw up on the side of the truck. Can you imagine having to throw up every morning while trying to get your job done?

The only way the environment will get cleaned up in this area is to clean up the trucks. These drivers are barely making enough to take care of themselves and their families, how are they supposed to get the bread to do a rig makeover? This is why those in Oakland yesterday believe that these workers need to be employees and not independent contractors. If they were employed by the companies they haul for, they'd be in better equipment, have more secured wages and benefits. 

I wonder if enviromentalists care about these guys as much as they care about the kids in the Oakland area suffering from asthma.