Transcript Trade unions and climate change - Irish Congress of Trade Unions

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
2008-2009: Efforts have been done to establish the
ITUC position on climate change. In 2010, the 2nd
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 climatesensitive 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!
[email protected]
http://www.ituc-csi.org/climatechange-blog.html