SACRAMENTO — When a company called Ausra filed plans for a big solar power plant in California, it was deluged with demands from a union group that it study the effect on creatures like the short-nosed kangaroo rat and the ferruginous hawk.Unions...
By contrast, when a competitor, BrightSource Energy, filed plans for an even bigger solar plant that would affect the imperiled desert tortoise, the same union group, California Unions for Reliable Energy, raised no complaint. Instead, it urged regulators to approve the project as quickly as possible.
One big difference between the projects? Ausra had rejected demands that it use only union workers to build its solar farm, while BrightSource pledged to hire labor-friendly contractors.
Incidentally, this is the same hypocrisy thrown towards Wal-Mart on a daily basis. Most folks just whine and complain about Wal-Mart because their political party does so...or their Liberal political candidate suggests it. The whole basis of the friction lives within the fact that Wal-Mart refuses to unionize. As a result, unions do all they can to tarnish Wal-Mart's image with the public hoping that the pressure will lead to unionization (and an instant $300 Million in new member fees).
The above example is no different. This "California Unions for Reliable Energy" is not interested in the short-nosed kangaroo rat and the ferruginous hawk. They are interested in the membership dues. End of story...
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