From 2021 through 2023 the Inland Empire Labor Institute’s workforce development initiative, Plug In IE, coordinated the High Road Logistics Training Partnership with the Teamsters Local 1932 Training Center and the Warehouse Worker Resource Center.
INLAND SOCAL’S LOGISTICS ECOSYSTEM
More than 40 percent of imported goods enter the US through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These goods travel inland to be distributed around the country, making the warehouse and logistics industry the main engine for economic activity in the Inland Empire region-San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The logistics sector employs more than 250,000 of the Inland Empire’s 2 million workers, including warehouse workers, truck drivers, rail workers, and delivery drivers.
The idea for the High Road Logistics Training Partnership originated with San Bernardino Airport Communities, a community-led campaign that called for labor, environmental justice, and other community benefits around logistics development at the San Bernardino Airport.
HIGH ROAD TRAINING PARTNERSHIPS (HRTP)
The High Road Approach
The high road is the path to economically and environmentally resilient communities. High road partnerships promote equity and mobility for workers, skills and competitiveness for high road employers, and climate resilience for all.
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Learn more about California’s High Road Training Partnerships below.
Teamsters Local 1932 Training Center
Our High Road Training Partnership offered a four-week course in Warehousing and Distribution at the Teamsters Local 1932 Training Center in downtown San Bernardino. Participants were prepared for union careers in the industry. Each participant received a stipend to cover the cost of transportation and training time. As the training course developed, each participant had the option to earn their forklift and OSHA 10 certification.
The training course also incorporated lessons on the labor movement and the union advantage, worker health and safety (curriculum based on guidance from UC Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program), and environmental justice approaches to logistics in our region (curriculum designed by People’s Collective for Environmental Justice and Sierra Club).
Electrification
In partnership with CALSTART, Plug In IE offered electrification roadmaps for union logistics fleet operators in the region. CALSTART’s technical assistance included data-driven analysis and recommendations on suitable zero-emission vehicle and refrigerator unit replacements, charging infrastructure planning, and available incentives and financing.
Plug In IE also collaborated with researchers from the University of California, Riverside, to study the implications of logistics electrification for workers in the industry, residents’ quality of life, land use, and infrastructure.