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The Blue Green Alliance is "one of the most important initiatives undertaken by the environmental movement in decades,” said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club.

“We have reached a point in the development of a global economy where we can either use our planet’s resources for long-term sustainability or to create an ever more dangerous polarization of wealth and poverty. Our new alliance allows us to address the great challenge of the global economy in the 21st century--how to provide good jobs, a clean environment and a safer world.”

“Good jobs and a clean environment are important to American workers--we cannot have one without the other," said Leo W. Gerard, International President of USW.

“In fact, secure 21st century jobs are those that will help solve the problem of global warming with energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

The USW and the Sierra Club have worked jointly on issues of mutual concern for many years, including the Clean Air Act, trade reform, and corporate responsibility.

The Blue Green Alliance will build on these existing programs and focus initially on three key issues:

¨                   Global Warming and Clean Energy;

¨                   Fair Trade; and

¨                   Reducing Toxics, including chemical security and "green chemistry."

The Blue Green Alliance is hiring organizers in four states: Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, and Washington -- with plans to expand into at least 10 more states in the next two years.

The Alliance is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN in the USW District #11 office. The first Executive Director of the Alliance is David Foster, former District #11 Director. The Alliance’s Blue/Green organizers are housed in USW offices around the country.