Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
This is clipped from the 1984 video This film was made by the national OSHA Environmental Network in 1984. Dr. Eula Bingham had been head of OSHA during the Carter Administration and had worked closely with her colleagues at environmental agencies. In the 1980s, the Industrial Union Department that had helped start Earth Day initiated perhaps the first labor-environmental coalition, called the OSHA Environmental Network. The Network had active coalitions in 22 states with the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth and IUD member unions. The connections between workplace, environmental, and community health become meaningful through practical work around issues of shared importance. Previous efforts (e.g., the Urban Environment Conference in the 1970s and the OSHA/Environmental Network in the 1980s) did not achieve lasting success. Recent promising developments include the New Jersey Work Environment Council campaign for safe design technology for chemical plants to protect workers, communities, and the environment, and the Blue Green Alliance (BGA). Before the mid-1970s, the relationship between labor and environmentalists was a largely friendly and reciprocal one. Leaders of most major unions regularly spoke about environmental issues with a fervor matched only by environmentalists themselves. But after the energy crisis and recession of the early to mid-1970s and economic policies stemming from Reaganomics during the 1980s, the relationship hit some rough patches from which it never fully recovered. Perhaps the most promising development in the last few years has been the formation of the Blue Green Alliance which has steadily brought both large unions and environmental organizations together with one strong voice. Today, the Blue Green Alliance unites 14 of our country's largest unions and environmental organizations. Acting together, through more than 15 million members and supporters, it is a powerful voice for building a cleaner, fairer and more competitive American economy. The Blue Green Alliance advocates the growth in the number and quality of jobs in the clean economy by expanding a broad range of industries, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, the substitution of safer, cleaner chemicals, modern transportation systems and advanced vehicle technology, domestic manufacturing, high-speed Internet and a smart, efficient electrical grid, green schools and other public buildings, improving our nation's water infrastructure, recycling, and sustainable agriculture. For more information, visit the BGA website at bluegreenalliance.org .
This is clipped from the 1984 video This film was made by the national OSHA Environmental Network in 1984. Dr. Eula Bingham had been head of OSHA during the Carter Administration and had worked closely with her colleagues at environmental agencies. In the 1980s, the Industrial Union Department that had helped start Earth Day initiated perhaps the first labor-environmental coalition, called the OSHA Environmental Network. The Network had active coalitions in 22 states with the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth and IUD member unions. The connections between workplace, environmental, and community health become meaningful through practical work around issues of shared importance. Previous efforts (e.g., the Urban Environment Conference in the 1970s and the OSHA/Environmental Network in the 1980s) did not achieve lasting success. Recent promising developments include the New Jersey Work Environment Council campaign for safe design technology for chemical plants to protect workers, communities, and the environment, and the Blue Green Alliance (BGA). Before the mid-1970s, the relationship between labor and environmentalists was a largely friendly and reciprocal one. Leaders of most major unions regularly spoke about environmental issues with a fervor matched only by environmentalists themselves. But after the energy crisis and recession of the early to mid-1970s and economic policies stemming from Reaganomics during the 1980s, the relationship hit some rough patches from which it never fully recovered. Perhaps the most promising development in the last few years has been the formation of the Blue Green Alliance which has steadily brought both large unions and environmental organizations together with one strong voice. Today, the Blue Green Alliance unites 14 of our country's largest unions and environmental organizations. Acting together, through more than 15 million members and supporters, it is a powerful voice for building a cleaner, fairer and more competitive American economy. The Blue Green Alliance advocates the growth in the number and quality of jobs in the clean economy by expanding a broad range of industries, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, the substitution of safer, cleaner chemicals, modern transportation systems and advanced vehicle technology, domestic manufacturing, high-speed Internet and a smart, efficient electrical grid, green schools and other public buildings, improving our nation's water infrastructure, recycling, and sustainable agriculture. For more information, visit the BGA website at bluegreenalliance.org .
