The role of employers’ organisations and trade unions in the development of climate change policy.docx (original) (raw)
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The Role of Employers’ Organisations and Trade Unions in the Development of Climate Change Policy
The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, 2013
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The role of labour in the fight against climate change
The climate crisis is steadily coming closer. At the same time, we face a deepening economic crisis, as well as social and political crises. This creates an increasingly serious situation for the future of humanity. However, given that the various crises have many of the same root causes, going to the core of our economic system, this can contribute to strengthening the mobilisation of social forces needed to break the current trend - in favor of a democratic and planned development of society. If we are to stop the most dramatic climate changes, a deep transformation of the way we produce, distribute and consume in our societies is required. Thus, it comes down to what kind of society we want. The climate crisis can be prevented. We do have the knowledge and technology we need. What we lack is the political and economic power sufficiently to shift the balance of power in society. The paper will argue that to achieve that, the trade union movement is decisive – because of its strategic position in society. To activate and mobilise trade unions, the climate change struggle has to be unified with the social struggle, which means a fight for a radical redistribution of wealth in society. Further, this means that climate policies cannot be reduced to a question of sacrificing, as parts of the environmental movement insist. The struggle has to be developed within a narrative of creating a better society for all – based on different values than the consumerism of late capitalism. The fight against climate change is not an extra struggle for the trade union movement in addition to fighting austerity. It is, and will increasingly be, an important part of the same struggle, not least because climate change will become job-killer number one – as well as a threat to welfare, livelihood and for many people, life itself. However, it will be argued that so far the trade union movement has not been able to take sufficient responsibility in fighting the multiplicity of crises. Unions are on the defensive all over the world. While unions have developed ever more consistent policies against austerity and global warming over the last years, there is still a lack of effective strategies and understanding of what is required in terms of mobilisation and forms of struggle to achieve their goals. In this paper, we will illustrate and analyse the experiences of the International Transport Workers’ Federation. Its climate change policy, adopted at the 2010 Congress, is probably the most comprehensive and progressive in the international trade union movement. In spite of a number of initiatives and activities, which have followed this decision, however, there is still a long way to go before the entire organisation is able to mobilise behind its climate change policies. The political and ideological crisis on the left is part of this problem. The paper will explore how one of the most important challenges for trade unions is to bring the powerful corporations and institutions, which benefit from the financial-industrial fossil fuel complex, under democratic control – with the energy sector standing at the forefront. This will require the mobilisation of enormous social and political power. The trade union movement will not win this struggle alone. It therefore has, more than at any time before, to build broad alliances – with the environmental as well as other social movements. Initiatives like the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) and Global Climate Jobs are important developments in this regard and will be explored in the paper.
Labor Studies Journal, 2017
What conditions shape the introduction of climate change issues into trade union organizations? This article analyzes life-history interviews with two union organization leaders working with climate issues—one in Sweden and one in the United Kingdom—discussing how their individual backgrounds, as well as the different organizational and national contexts in which they work, create different conditions and strategies for developing an environmental union agenda. The analysis discusses how the strategies of the Scandinavian leader focus on policy development, and compares this with how the U.K. union leader focuses primarily on the interests of, and conflicts with, members when integrating climate change in their respective organizations.
An alternative socio-ecological strategy? International trade unions’ engagement with climate change
Review of International Political Economy, 2013
In the context of a global ecological crisis, it is an important move when trade unions turn to environmentalism. Yet, the form that this environmentalism takes is often overlooked. This is especially the case with international trade unions. Based on an empirical study of international trade unions’ engagement with the climate change issue, this article argues that international trade unions follow three different (and partially conflicting) strategies. I label these strategies as ‘deliberative’, ‘collaborative growth’ and ‘socialist’, and I examine each in turn. I argue that such analysis is important if we want to identify the potential for transforming the social relations of production that are at the root of the current climate crisis, and for identifying an alternative socio-ecological strategy.
Trade union strategies on climate change mitigation: Between opposition, hedging and support
This article aims to provide a better understanding of trade unions' climate change strategies. Using a qualitative methodology based on an analysis of interviews and documents, the article sets out the three ideal-typical strategies of unions towards climate change mitigation policies: opposition, hedging and support. Our analysis finds that current trade union strategies on climate change are primarily rooted in sectoral interests mediated by union identities and conceptions of union democracy. At a theoretical level, the article contributes to broader debates on interest representation and collective bargaining behaviour by trade unions, in particular to the muchdiscussed tendency of organized groups to pursue private gains at the expense of common goods.
Labour and Environmental Sustainability
Adapt University Press , 2020
Final UK report from the project Agreenment – A Green Mentality for Collective Bargaining, which investigated the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in promoting sustainable development and the Just Transition to a low-carbon economy in six countries: France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. The project was co-funded by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, under budget heading VP/2017/004 (Grant Agreement VP/2017/004/0037), Improving expertise in the field of industrial relations.
Labor and Climate Change: Dilemmas and Solution
New Solutions: A Journal Of Environmental And Occupational Health Policy, 1998
Labor unions in the United States and internationally are concerned about climate change issues as they affect employment and impact the broader social fabric and natural environment. This article examines how and why unions are involved. The employment impacts caused by action or inaction stemming from the Kyoto Protocol and other climate change measures are examined for their potential dangers and opportunities. There is a broad array of strategies that trade unions can deploy in order to play a positive role including: involvement in macro-level policy discussions; participation in relevant industrial decision-making; advocacy of just transition measures; and by encouraging changes and new activities in the workplace. Debate swirls around the world on climate change with arguments being made over how many degrees the Earth has or has not warmed up. For many, this is an issue that turns on purely scientific grounds. Yet the scientific debate is the 343