|
Labor's Edge Articles by Rome Aloise
3/30/10
Fighting for Good Green Jobs at Our Ports
by Rome Aloise
It is often said that the ports are where old trucks go to die. Dirty, out-dated rigs move cargo that our nation depends on to keep our economy going, spewing toxic diesel emissions that are known to cause cancer and asthma. And why does this happen? Port trucking companies operate like it’s the “Wild West” -- there are few rules, and their workers are exploited. In a recent The New York Times article, a top Port of Los Angeles official dismissed the notion of our trade hubs as examples of perfect, free-market economics, and instead described it as a model of “cavemen economics.”