Local 13 day shift BA Alberto Bonilla with one of the local's two new Ford Escape hybrids, which business agents use to get around the massive port complex at Los Angeles-Long Beach. 

While some companies have been dragging their feet about cleaning-up air pollution at the ports, Local 13 has decided to do something about it.  The local just replaced two gas-guzzling SUV’s with the latest Ford Escape hybrids. 

The cleaner cars are used by Local 13 Business Agents to help members on the job at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Day shift Business Agent Alberto Bonilla says the cars are quiet, clean, and a lot cheaper to run because they get three times the gas mileage of the old Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition that they replaced. 

The Safety Negotiating Committee is negotiating now with companies to use cleaner fuel and cut emissions on the docks

Local 13 Secretary-Treasurer Chris Viramontes said purchasing the hybrids is a step in the right direction and another example of the ILWU’s commitment to doing something about pollution around the ports.

In 2007, the Local was honored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for a decade spent pushing shippers and the ports to clean up the air along the waterfront.  In January 2006, the ILWU joined with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in asking carriers to cut smokestack emissions by 20 percent in four years from all cargo vessels calling on west coast ports.