Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008 | An excellent article by reporter Rani Gupta about the interaction of the public and private spheres of Marco and Lorena Gonzalez. Those who blindly assert that environmentalists and organized labor are always in a lock-step march should read this article to see why that is not so.
Until all private and public employers share a consensus with the need to act in sustainable ways whenever possible, there is likely going to be tension between bright (and some not-so-bright) leaders of organized labor and environmental advocacy. That is not a bad thing.
We are at least a decade behind consensus-driven progressive labor and environmental public policy in Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, and other European Union countries. China, India, Thailand and others are moving quickly to catch up because they understand that in the final analysis, labor and environmental policy integration is beneficial to them under World Trade Organization rules.
Marco and Lorena need to continue their policy-driven conflicts in their quest for compromise. It is good for the long-term international trade interests of manufacturing in San Diego.