Autobody shop owners get bent out of shape over recycling rule.

Autobody shop owners get bent out of shape over recycling rule

The war to clean Southern California's smoggy skies drifted into sensitive new territory March 1, when a host of labor and minority groups attacked the South Coast Air Quality Management District's rideshare plan as unfair.

In a separate action, AQMD directors unanimously adopted a rule forcing more than 9,000 Southland autobody repair shops and car dealerships to recycle air conditioning refrigerants that erode the ozone layer.

Meanwhile, at a crowded public hearing 10 days ago, district officials conceded that their landmark 1988 ridesharing rule was hurting some minority and poor commuters and promised to consider changes to the trip reduction program this summer.

But the issue of labor could be prickly for the huge air district, which regulates more than 30,000 Southern California businesses with its $101.4 million budget.

"The AQMD has adopted a series of regulatory measures that have gotten as far as they can without causing a significant backlash from labor," said attorney and former Los Angeles Planning Commissioner Daniel Garcia. "From here on in, it will not be easy for them."

After picketing district headquarters in El Monte, union leaders demanded that amendments to AQMD's rideshare rule not violate collective bargaining agreements, impose economic hardship on poor workers or have a discriminatory tone.

Maria Elena Durazo, president of Hospital Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, Local 11, said AQMD's rideshare rule has unwittingly aided management. "Employers are using any excuse to beat back the unions and your plans are benefitting union-busting objectives," Durazo said.

Added Chris Mathis, field organizer for the newly former Labor/Community Strategy Center and a member of United Auto Workers, "Incentives paid by employers should be the cornerstone of this rule, not punitive measures like taking away free parking."

Many of the speakers, including representatives from Women in the Trades and Black Employees Association, cited a recent L.A. County Board of Supervisors' decision increasing the parking rate for thousands of government workers in order to encourage ridesharing.

AQMD's trip reduction law requires 9,000 Southern California businesses with more 100 employees each to develop plans to carpool, vanpool, use public transportation or work flexible hours to cut gridlock.

In a interview last week, AQMD Executive Director James Lents said only 15 out of 3,000 approved trip-reduction plans increased parking rates for workers, with most companies or government entities offering subsidies for those who carpool or use mass transit.

At the same time, Lents said, AQMD "needs to be sensitive to modifications" to the rideshare law and will consider changing the law to eliminate "purely punitive plans" or ones submitted without input from workers.

That policy notwithstanding, the impact of district rules on blue collar, minority and labor workers could present AQMD with a formidable new source of opposition. During the past five years, heavily regulated industries - from aerospace to oil, manufacturing to charcoal-lighter makers - have unleashed verbal and legal assaults against the district for what they charge are burdensome anti-smog regulations. Estimates of the cost of AQMD rules on business range from $2 billion a year to $9 billion.

To date, little unrest among labor unions or minority groups has surfaced but the stage now could be set for a battle. Rumors have circulated for the past 18 months that a lawsuit is in the works against AQMD for failure to have minority representation on its board.

There are other signs.

A study released by the Pasadena Research Institute last January concluded that 85 percent of Southland furniture workers laid off because of stringent anti-smog rules were minorities, three-quarters of them Hispanic.

Separately, a union-backed survey of more than 100 businesses by the Southern California Coalition for Jobs and a Clean Environment last December found 30,000 jobs could fall victim to AQMD clean air rules.

Garcia, a member of the coalition, said labor's clout hinges on its ability to carefully ally itself with major L.A.-based corporations.

"If business and labor joins together, it won't be a good sign for the district," Garcia said.

Under the new ozone rule that begins next January, 9,100 Southland auto-related businesses must recover or recycle refrigerants when automobile air conditioners are repaired or scrapped. These refrigerants, also known as chlorofluorocarbons or CFC-12, evaporate into the air and destroy the protective ozone layer that shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. CFC-12 also contributes to urban smog and the so-called greenhouse effect.

Using special recovery systems, businesses will be required to either ship the CFCs back to the manufacturer for repackaging and reuse or perform on-site recycling with equipment that costs between $1,600 to $3,000. According to the district's socioeconomic analysis, roughly 5,200 auto repair shops, 1,040 service stations, 2,100 new and used-car dealerships and 600 salvage yards must comply. The cost of the new rule on business is estimated at $5.6 million.

Many shop owners, according to AQMD, already recover and recycle CFCs and refrigerant manufacturer Dupont has initiated a buyback program.

The new rule is expected to cut CFC emissions in the South Coast Basin by 800 tons a year by the year 2000, and 900 tons annually by 2010. Each year, roughly 7,000 tons of CFCs are emitted into the air. Automobile refrigerants generate 21 percent of CFC-12 in the basin, with the rest emitted by solvents, household refrigeration, aerosols and foam packaging.

The rule also bans the sale of CFCs less than 20 pounds to discourage consumer use and requires autobody shops to check for leaks before adding CFCs.

Last year, AQMD had set off a new direction by adopting a broad policy to combat Southern California's role in ozone layer depletion and the trapping of warming gases known as the greenhouse effect.

Five other states and the city of Irvine also have laws requiring CFC recycling.