Trade unions and climate change Equity, Solidarity and Justice in the fight against climate change

Why are Trade Unions into it? Life on Earth and consequently the human civilization, the economy and employment depend on our environment Action for climate change creates opportunities for the world of work that shouldn’t go wasted Action for climate change could jeopardize certain jobs and we need to protect the workers before others decide without us

Challenges for the Unions : Efforts have been done to establish the ITUC position on climate change. In 2010, the 2 nd ITUC Congress adopted a position Trade unions have been officially recognized as constituencies to the UNFCCC process We need to communicate to other actors: the linkages between climate change and union responsibilities & work the essential principles for transition: solidarity and social justice

Impacts & transformations on employment Effects on employment from climate-induced disruptions: unemployment in climate- sensitive sectors and climate refugees effects on employment from the implementation of adaptation measures (e.g. investments in infrastructure or transformations in production), and effects on employment of the impacts associated with mitigation efforts

Unions’ priorities The need for an ambitious climate change agreement at the COP16 The need to understand and address the impacts & transformations of the world of work through accompanying measures, grouped under the concept of ‘Just Transition’ Enhance the potential of workplace action in reducing emissions

An ambitious climate change agreement No more than 2°C 25-40% emission reductions in developed countries. Rapid move towards a clean development path in developing countries Just transition & Decent Work as a core principle for the agreement Sufficient funding for adaptation & resilience of the most vulnerable communities (through public funds and new sources – e.g. FTT)

Just transition Investments, in order to generate employment opportunities and new technologies Training & Skills Development for workers to fill these new jobs and achieve high efficiency in running the new technologies Assessment of consequences prior to decisions Social Protection Local development policies Social Dialogue

Workplaces’ potential Energy & resource efficiency, better management of waste Workers’ trainings can be made with the participation of the unions Mobility of employees New rights for raising awareness Unions have workplace and sectoral expertise that should be used in designing and delivering new policies

Thank you! change-blog.html