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Labor unions to join forces with conservative group |
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A Republican-leaning conservationist coalition is joining with 20 labor unions to lobby for increased federal funding for protecting habitat while guaranteeing access for hunters and fishermen.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the labor unions, representing nearly 5 million members, announced their partnership today under the name Union Sportsman's Alliance. The unlikely alliance formed after three years of discussions in response to the Bush administration's push for oil and gas drilling in the Rocky Mountains, which has limited public access to hunting and fishing areas on federal land, officials said.
"We can make the union movement and environmentalism compatible and not antagonistic," said International Association of Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger. "As of late, an awareness has grown that our goals are the same. We want good air, clean water and access to the outdoors."
The alliance recently commissioned a poll that found 70 percent of union members hunt or fish, and 72 percent are concerned about the loss of good hunting and fishing grounds.
"It opens up a tremendous amount of territory for us to work on the both sides of the aisle," said TRCP board chairman Jim Range, adding that the partnership would rally millions of previously unengaged people to the conservationist cause (Blaine Harden, Washington Post, Jan. 16).
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 October 2007 )
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