(FORTUNE Magazine) – When it came down to it, the environment took second place to jobs. Or so it did in the 1990 contract talks between Amoco and the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers union, whose 40,000 members include 18,000 employees of Amoco, Texaco, Mobil, Chevron, and Arco. The union had demanded that Big Oil create a new job category: environmental monitors, who would be paid to watch for releases of toxic substances and ground water contamination around each plant. But the new contract -- which includes a 15.5% wage increase over three years and a $250,000 benefit for workers killed on the job -- makes no mention of the environment. Did the union sell out on the issue? No, says vice president Robert Wages: ''The option was a national strike. When you're thinking of putting 40,000 people on the street, you have to make a judgment call.'' - R.J.