Building Trades News

Cleaning up the Ports, Economic Growth and Public Safety Top List, says Bob Foster

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Cleaning Up the Ports
 Topping the Mayor’s list of priorities is the health crisis caused by pollution at the city’s ports, public safety, and expanding economic opportunities for Long Beach citizens through job training programs for youth.

Health studies have shown dramatically increased rates of cancer, asthma and other respiratory illnesses from diesel pollution. The health effects from this pollution hits port workers and those who live or work close to the ports the hardest, said Foster.

“The costs of environmental pollution in our ports is $200 billion a year in lost productivity, health care costs, early deaths and clean-up. Cleaning up this pollution should be a part of the cost of shipping goods through our ports.”

Earlier this month, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles jointly approved a clean-air action plan, which seeks to reduce port-generated air pollution by nearly 50 percent in five years. The multibillion-dollar plan calls for replacement or retrofitting of diesel trucks and cargo-handling equipment, use of low-sulfur fuels by ships and replacement of old locomotives, among other things.

 Foster supports a container fee to fund this program. He also supports linking the recently passed infrastructure bonds to programs to clean up the port. “In my view, there can be no infrastructure plan without a health action plan—and that will mean more jobs, not fewer. Make sure you have both.” 

“We can have growth, a clean environment and good public health,” said Foster, who warned that a consequence of doing nothing to address the pollution crisis at the ports will be to fuel support for caps on economic growth. “And that situation is bad for everyone,” he said.

Big Box Battle Looms
In September, the Long Beach City Council passed an ordinance banning “Big Box” retailers—defined by the ordinance as over 100,000 sq-ft with over 10% of their floor area dedicated to non-taxable merchandise.

Wal-Mart has sponsored a new organization calling itself “Long Beach Consumers for Choice” and has starting a petition drive to stay the ordinance and force the issue to a city-wide referendum.

Foster expects Wal-Mart to collect the necessary signatures to send it to a referendum. “We will be seeing you back here in Long Beach for that fight,” said Foster.  In 2004, the LA/OC Building and Construction Trades Council, along with other Unions, mobilized to defeat an ordinance that would have allowed the anti-Union Wal-Mart to open a store in Inglewood.

Economic Hope
Foster also addressed the need for “economic hope” and called for the creation of a vocational component to the city’s high school curriculum to prepare students for well-paying, skilled jobs in the construction industry.

The program would provide training ranging from pre-apprentice skill training, to architectural design, to business management, said Foster, and would be modeled after the successful Trade Tech High School program in San Diego.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2012, the United States will be in need of over a million skilled workers to fill the demand created by retiring workers and ongoing construction projects. While most public schools focus entirely on academic achievement and preparation for the student body to enter four-year college and university programs, many high school graduates are under-prepared to enter the work force--even worse, as many drop out without obtaining diplomas.

Many of these students could be better served by attending high school programs which combine vocational training with basic academic studies and help prepare youth for rewarding and successful careers in trade industries and would provide industry with a highly skilled and trained workforce that will reverse the trend of low-wage jobs.