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August 4, 2004

Steelworkers Help Launch Missouri “Blue Green Alliance”
Create good jobs, protect the environment and end dependence on foreign oil

Kansas City, MO – The United Steelworkers’s Associate Member Program today helped launch the Missouri “Blue Green Alliance,” as a part of the rollout of labor and environmental support for the new Ford Escape Hybrid.Union and environmental organizations came together today to announce an unprecedented partnership of unions and green advocates to support fuel-efficient vehicles and technologies.

“We need to invest in technology for our future that creates good jobs and protects the environment while reducing our dependency on foreign oil,” said Emil Ramirez of the Steelworkers. “The Ford Escape Hybrid is a perfect example of this type of new, promising technology.”

The Blue Green Alliance is a grassroots coalition of the state’s labor and environmental organizations who are promoting the creation of good jobs while protecting our air, water, and land.

“The choice between good jobs and a clean environment is a false one, said Ramirez, “We are working together to get both.”

The Blue Green Alliance builds on years of efforts by labor unions and environmentalists to oppose unfair trade policies and encourage corporate accountability.Unions, conservation groups and environmental groups are joining forces for change through large memberships, strong grassroots organizing skills and a shared tradition of activism.

Blue Green Alliance Partner Organizations include the United Steelworkers District 11 and Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club.

A positive, activist-outreach movement, the Blue Green Alliance’s forward-looking practical action plan includes:

• Challenging the“environment vs. jobs” myth that has been used as a wedge to divide working people and environmentalists/conservationists.
• Promoting our shared goals of fair trade, corporate accountability, workplace health and safety, workers’ rights, and environmental protection;
• Developing a policy agenda focused on growing the economy, creating jobs, protecting the environment, and reducing our dependency on foreign oil; and
• Advancing the right of all people, and their children and grandchildren after them, to enjoy the outdoors in recreational activities such as hunting, birding, hiking, fishing, and canoeing.