Tar sands extraction in Alberta (Caterpillar)
Unions have been divided on the Keystone pipeline for some time now, and in the wake of the Obama administration
rejecting the project, for now, that's not changing.
Construction unions that would have seen their members get work on Keystone are not happy, to put it mildly. The Laborers' International Union (LIUNA) is, unfortunately, stoking divisions between environmentalists and construction workers:
“The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero. We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said. “Once again the President has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers – even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this.”
It gets less nice from there. We can't ignore that thousands of construction workers would have been employed on Keystone, even by the most conservative predictions. And it's tough to take the long view when people you're responsible for are suffering. But it's a pretty narrow view that focuses only on Keystone.
Five other unions—the Communications Workers of America, the Transport Workers Union, the United Steelworkers, the SEIU and the UAW—have joined with the Sierra Club and the NRDC taking a rather different view. They point to several of the ways House Republicans have blocked jobs initiatives that would have helped make Keystone less critical for building trades unions like the Laborers, saying:
While the House Republicans wrapped job creation rhetoric around their pipeline demands, they have rejected numerous opportunities to support programs creating good U.S. jobs. [...]
A project this far-reaching deserved better than the “politics as usual” strategy of a do-nothing Republican Congress. Their job blackmail agenda is simply wedge politics.
Addressing global climate change, establishing sustainable and secure energy sources, and creating and retaining safe and family-supportive jobs are keys to a positive future for our children and grandchildren. President Obama has acted wisely.
It's critical to note that there were probably few jobs on the line for these unions, especially if the Cornell University Global Labor Institute report (PDF) is correct that most of the actual steel pipe that goes into the pipeline will be imported. But it's also the case that the Steelworkers, for instance, have a long history of environmental leadership and have stood against the steel industry at crucial moments to argue for increased environmental regulation.
The biggest point here, though, is that Keystone's benefits are short-term and probably not as big as advertised, while its damage would be lasting. Laborers' union members and other construction workers do desperately need jobs, and we should be joining them to fight for the creation of those jobs. But there are better ways to create them, and if anyone but the congressional Republicans who've blocked jobs creation time and time again is blamed for the lack of jobs, then they've achieved exactly what they were going for.