Exploring Working Class Environmentalism: Labor, Urban Development, and Social Movements

1. Ch.4: Working Class Env’talism • Note how organized labor generates a class-based, as opposed to ethnicity-based, form of solidarity. • Does this seem part of the assimilation process? What do you think it means for urban development and social movements, generally? • Note how the New Deal and Cold War were related to an accomodationist labor mov’t. (79) • The Steelworkers were better on civil rights than they were on race at work and way better on race at work than they were on env’t. • Does capitalism need racism, or classism?

2. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism II • A “tough stand against pollution conflicted with the union’s efforts to establish more cordial relations with management.” • I stress the accomodationist character of labor unions to draw a parallel with middle class env’talists. • For both unions & env’talists PRODUCTION decisions are left to corporate managers and business owners.

3. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism IIa • Union negotiations focus on wages, not democracy in production (which would be multiracial), and ecological movements focus on preservation or waste disposal. • What is produced is not regulated. • What goes in to production is regulated. • What is done with it is regulated.

4. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism III • When there were wildcat strikes (w/o union authorization – often by minority workers) over working conditions, what usually occurred was exhaust fans, hiring more workers, or rotations. • THIS IS KEY: Like acid rain, this is as an attempt to dilute pollution’s health and ecological effects -- pollution was redistributed, and/or workers got greater protection from dangerous environmental byproducts of production. • Same thing with OSHA regulations.

5. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism IV • Working class consumerism and the rise of a mass culture was a part in the consolidation of a coherent working class environmental sensibility w/in and w/o work.  • Higher wages + more time = > consumption and non-work outdoor activities. • A key to the mass culture/consumerism of the post-war period was the 40 hour work week, paid holidays, and benefits: these led to “less time on bar stools” and more time bowling, fishing and in athletics. (91-93)

6. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism V • Calumet Environmental and Occupational Health Committee -- better educated workers make demands on OSHA administrators… want their own environmental testing. (99) • Parallels between Workers for Democracy and Pier Community Coalition and Calumet Community Coalition/Congress. (101-2) • Labor/community radicals and clergy worked together on direct action on env’tal and community issues. (105-6)

7. Ch.4: Working Class Environmentalism VI • Civil rights, minority power, and labor union veterans feed the working class environmentalism of the 1970s under the social and economic conditions resulting from those struggles. (108) • The key is the combination of civil rights victories in the context of rising env’talism AND a national (oil) and sectoral (steel) recession (which lead to environmental and OSHA cost-cutting.)

8. Conclusion • What have you learned about the general tendencies of middle class and working class environmentalism?

9. Hurley: Chapter 5: Environmental Inequalities ISS310 Spring 2000 Prof. Alan Rudy 4/06/00 Main Points/Questions?

10. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism • Poor sanitation, overcrowded housing and rats. • Mayor Hatcher rejects the idea that environmental reform and social justice are incompatible. • What group/struggles was Hatcher associated with before successfully running for mayor in the late 60s? (122) • Hurley argues that overcoming “racist labor unions, white property owners and political machines” was not enough to reclaim the city for black workers and their environment.

11. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism II • “Black steelworkers, shop owners, and teachers earned substantially more than janitors, elevator operators, and messengers… But the sting of racism had no regard for class boundaries.” • “The fight for better jobs in the steel mills incorporated a demand for more healthful working conditions, and the drive to integrate community facilities raised questions about equal access to urban space.” (p.113)

12. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism II • So, the question is: Does Gary turn out to be a good, or better, place to be black than other places or not? • If it is better, why? • If it isn’t better, why not? • Put another way, what are the criteria for better? • For example, is a separate but equal income hierarchy better? or are there more issues involved with “better?” • If there’s more, what comprises “more?”

13. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism III • Civil rights in the work place would mean an end to discriminatory hiring practices and job assignments as well as safer working conditions. • Synergy between union, civil rights, and community/env’t direct action. • NOTE: the coke plant was the rate limiting step in the steel plant – wildcat strikes by minority workers were very successful.

14. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism IV • NOTE: the successful struggles of African American steel workers in the 1970s coincided with the downturn in the steel industry, job downsizing and it’s backlash against the env’talists. • If African Americans were making job gains at a time of overall job reduction, could it be that this situation contributed to the collapse of the multiclass & multiracial env’tal coalition?

15. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism V • The key to understanding civil rights struggles is that it was much more than a struggle over a level political playing field – more than voting rights. • It was also about economic equality within the mills (remember the racist job assignment and promotion systems organized by corporations and unions) and residential-environmental equality within the city and suburbs. (118)

16. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism VI • Racism in environmental amenities and recreation on the beach – a lot like the environmental movement. • Note the different class politics re: seizing the beach Young Citizens for Beachland Democracy vs. NAACP. • Without access to free use of the shore (esp. in the face of police indifference) why should African-Americans work with middle income whites to defend the shore against development? (122-23)

17. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism VII • Overcrowding + higher incomes  blacks moving out from the central city. However, white flight, avaricious realtors and blockbusting  better housing came at the cost of dirty air. • What is “blockbusting?” • Where did it work best? • What happened afterwards to newly black areas?

18. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism VIII • Note how industrial taxes and social & environmental regulation are related. • If gov’t is supposed to address social problems, it can only do so with reliable tax revenue. • Does it seem right that the corporation making money from workers and the environment should pay taxes to address the problems of workers and (their) environments?

19. Chapter 5: African-American Environmentalism IX • Note how public health and environmental regulation are related. • Note how civil, political and economic rights are interrelated with residential and environmental freedom. • Note how “simple” things like reliable sanitation services, small parks, abandon car and litter removal can make a difference but the key is reducing pollution.