Sep

2015 14

The Teamsters have joined a coalition of 84 investor, public interest, and civil rights groups in an attempt to persuade UPS to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The so-called think tank has become widely known as a corporate bill mill that pushes a specific agenda throughout the country’s state legislatures. Thanks to rising public pressure, 106 corporations have left or announced that they will leave ALEC as of August 2015.

Freight Week writes that the latest big company to leave ALEC is the Shell corporation:

Alec [sic] advocates for specific economic growth initiatives, but its stance on climate change is clearly inconsistent with our own…We have long recognized both the importance of the climate challenge and the critical role energy has in determining quality of life for people across the world. As part of an ongoing review of memberships and affiliations, we will be letting our association with Alec lapse when the current contracted term ends early next year.”

When Google left ALEC in 2014 it also referenced the group’s stance on climate change as a main factor. Google was a member of the ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force. In announcing that it would not renew its membership, Chairman Eric Schmidt said:

“The company has a very strong view that we should make decisions in politics based on facts – what a shock. And the facts of climate change are not in question anymore. Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people — they’re just, they’re just literally lying.”

At a July rally, Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer and Package Division Director, called for UPS to leave ALEC:

“Global corporations like Coca Cola, Apple, McDonald’s and even Walmart have decided that continuing a relationship with this toxic organization is too damaging to their brand. It begs the question of why UPS, the largest unionized company in America, continues to associate with ALEC. It’s time for UPS to do the right thing for its workers and cut ties with ALEC.”

The Teamsters union currently has more than 250,000 members employed by UPS in its package and freight divisions. UPS is the nation’s largest corporate employer.

For more information on ALEC and its dirty deeds, peruse our curated archive search or visit ALEC Exposed, The Center for Media and Democracy’s informational site on the corporate lobby.