Trade unions and climate change

Asbjørn WahlNorwegian Union of Municipal

and General Employees

Some starting pointsClimate change is here and can be catastrophicThe main reason is the burning of fossil fuelThe way we live and work will change radically

the coming years as a result of action or inactionTo delay action is to make consequences worseSome will put the costs on workers, consumers

and taxpayers, protecting corporate interests

Reduced transport emissions

1. Technological improvements, energy efficiency, cleaner energy sources

2. Shift from less to more environmental friendly transport modes

3. Reduce the need for transport, which means much more than transport policy

Trade unions on the defensive

Workers and trade unions put under pressureCar driving, fuel prices, holidays abroad etc.We have to pay for the emissions we causeIndividualisation of responsibilitiesTend to respond reactively – not proactivelyDenial, fear of job losses, «not our business»

Challenges to trade unions

The contradiction between specific workers immediate, sectoral interests and broader interests of workers as a whole.

Are we transport workers who face a change in work patterns, or are we human beings confronting a potentially catastrophic event?

Broaden the perspectiveTrade unions have to prioritise cc policiesIntegrate our environmental / climate change

policies in a broader political perspectiveWe have to build a strategic alliance with

the environmental movement (and others)The unregulated market economy will never

be able to solve the climate change problems

Climate & financial crisis

‘Climate change represents the biggest market failure in history’ (Stern Review)

The on-going financial crisis represents the other huge market failure in history

We cannot rely on those same failed market mechanisms to solve these crises

The crises = new opportunities for us

From defensive to offensiveClimate change policies not only a question of

sacrifices, but of creating a better society for allThe costs of reducing carbon emissions has to be

combined with a social redistribution of wealthClimate change policies will require increased

democratic control of the economyExactly what we need for many other reasons

’Improved life for workers’

«Going green is not just about job creation, it is about an improved life for working people.»

Roger Toussaint, President, US TWU Local 100

What are the benefits?

Millions of green jobs – public transport & energyReduced pollution in workplaces and communitiesGives an opportunity for progressive social changeTransfer of technologies to developing countriesA more democratically managed economyThe survival of human beings and the planet ?

Changes beyond climate

We need to damp market competitionWe need to shorten working hoursWe need to create millions of new jobsWe need to lift 2 billion out of povertyWe need to regulate financial marketsWe need to democratise the economy

’Much more social control’

«The transition to a low-carbon economy will require a new level of social coordination. It will require much more social control of investments. And, if it is to be conducted in a just and equitable way with support around the world, it will require social allocation of costs and benefits.»

Global Labour Strategies: Labour and global warming

Social mobilisation

Just as little as social equality, jobs for all, decent working conditions, eradication of poverty, gender equality, etc. will be achieved through global summits will the climate crisis be solved in this way. What is needed is a social and political mobilisation for alternative solutions built on solidarity, equality and peoples’ needs.

A question of democracy

One way the US public can help fight global warming is by helping to «address threats to American democracy.»

James Hanson, NASA climate scientist

Movement building

The Blue-Green Alliance «is focused on restoring an additional element to the relationship between public policy and electoral politics ... that of movement building. ... Without strong, well-organised social movements mobilising along a society’s basic fault lines, meaningful change is unlikely.»

Build red-green alliances

Increase the understanding of the social conflict in the environmental movement

Increase the understanding of environmental problems in the trade unions

Stress the need for a democratic economyRedistribution, tax policy, public services

Social or climate change?

Social change is a precondition if we want to stop climate change.

So what has to be done ?

Develop our own cc policies / strategiesEmbed it in a broader social contextRaise awareness of our own membersStrategic alliance with environmentalistsLong-term: To build the social alliances

necessary to change society, not the climate