Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994 TAG: 9405160120
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN LENGTH: Medium
As a worker at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, his job is an endangered occupation, much like the Northern spotted owl is an endangered species, one that caused such an uproar in the logging industry of the Northwest.
"We've got just as much right to survive as that spotted owl," Davis said.
He was among two dozen people who got together Saturday at the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 3-495 union hall for a workshop on environmental and labor issues.
There were union members, representatives of Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, a grassroots activist organization based in Arlington, environmentalists from North Carolina and Georgia, local Sierra Club members, an Army staffer and an environmental engineer with Hercules, Inc., which runs the arsenal for the Army.
Rather than confronting one another along traditional battle lines of jobs versus the environment, they discussed issues of joint interest to find a common ground.
"We're trying to achieve the same goal," said Davis, a member of the union's safety committee at the arsenal. "We can accomplish more by combining forces. We've got to save the environment . . . but instead of shutting plants down . . . we'd rather clean up the workplace and save the jobs."
The arsenal has laid off about half its work force, down to less than 2,000, due largely to military downsizing. In March, the plant shut down for two days because it didn't meet federal hazardous waste regulations.
The shutdown shocked many workers, Davis said. It was a harsh lesson to some that environmental issues - and laws - are real.
Pete Castelli, the Blacksburg-based organizer for the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, said Saturday's meeting was a first for labor and and environmental groups in Southwest Virginia.
He was unsure how the two sides would mix. But there were jokes and laughter during the day as participants separated into groups to discuss different scenarios in a training booklet prepared in part by the citizens group and the OCAW.
One woman said workers have as much a stake in the health of their community as other residents. By the same token, all citizens have a stake in the conditions of the workplace of their community's employers.
They talked about the need to shift control away from the corporations, politicians and developers and put decision-making in the hands of local citizens.
Similar meetings have taken place between union members and environmental activists in Denver, Minneapolis and Indiana, using the same training manual.
Castelli said one outcome of Saturday's meeting could be to funnel money to retrain workers who've been laid off from the arsenal to clean up enviromental problems at the plant.
by CNB