The Laborers International Union of North America announced today that it is quitting the BlueGreen Alliance, a major coalition group. LIUNA head Terry O’Sullivan did not mince words in explaining why they were leaving in a statement released today.
“AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently said there was a divide in the labor movement over this project. That is an understatement. That divide is as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon. We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women.”
LIUNA was not the only union upset over the White House’s action. On Wednesday, Edwin Hill, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, asked critics of the pipeline: “What are your plans to replace the 20,000 jobs that are now on hold?” The Teamsters, among other unions, had also supported the project.
BlueGreen [sic] Alliance should have the blues over that, not to mention their maximum leader, O.
