Trade Union Lobbying Risks 'Slowing Down Transition to Zero-Carbon Future'

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Some UK trade unions have been accused of adopting a โ€œdivisiveโ€ approach that risked slowing down the transition to a low-carbon economy after they agreed on a lobbying strategy to ensure workers in the fossil fuel industries have a decentย future.

The concerns were raised after the Trade Union Congress (TUC) voted on a motion setting how unions will work to ensure that workers in fossil-fuel-intensive sectors have access to decent and sustainable jobs when mines and plants are forced to close โ€” a concept often shorthanded to the term โ€œjustย transitionโ€.

The motion states that the TUC โ€œshould develop a political and lobbying strategyโ€ for a just transition to a low-carbon economy โ€œled by the voices and experiences of energy unions and theirย membersโ€.

The text adds that that the views of energy workers whose jobs are affected by the decarbonisation of the economy โ€œshould be paramount and central to development of all TUC policies on energy, industrial strategy and climateย changeโ€.

It also calls on the government to ensure โ€œa balanced energy mixโ€, which would include โ€œinvestment in renewables, new nuclear and lower-carbon gasโ€ โ€” a term often denounced by experts because although gas generates significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than coal or oil, it remains a fossilย fuel.

The motion was presented by the GMB at the TUC Congress in Manchester earlier this month and was supported by Prospect, UNISON and Unite. GMB did not respond to DeSmog UKโ€™s repeated requests forย interview.

Opponents to the text have hit back arguing that an effective transition to a low-carbon economy needs to take into account the whole of society and that many workers who are not directly working in the energy sector will still be impacted by theย shift.

The debate comes at a time when the trade union movement has ramped up discussions over what a just transition should look like and how it can become a reality for communities across theย country.

Managing this transition is by no means simple and the ill-prepared closure of the coal mines in the 1980s are a stark reminder of the potentially devastating consequences of failing to effectively handle theย shift.


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This week, the Labour Party echoed the TUCโ€™s motion and announced in its Green Transformation that it will โ€œwork closely with energy unions to support energy workers and communitiesโ€ through the transition to a low-carbonย economy.

Meanwhile, a leaked draft declaration obtained by Climate Home News and due to be adopted by heads of state at the UN climate talks in Poland in December, calls for a programme to monitor national progress on protecting workers and communities that rely on traditionalย industries.

Although there is overwhelming consensus in the UK trade union movement on the urgency to kickstart a transition away from an economy relying on fossil fuels by securing resources for workers to re-train and re-skill, not everyone agrees on the best strategy to bring about thisย change.

โ€˜Divisiveย policyโ€™

Sam Mason, policy officer at the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), told DeSmog UK that the PCS opposed the TUC motion she described as โ€œdivisiveโ€ because it excluded other trade and public sector unions from theย debate.

โ€œWho gets to decide who is considered an energy worker and who should be involved in these discussions? Is an energy worker only someone who is working on a North Sea oilย rig?

โ€œPCS represents workers who monitor and help develop policy around energy โ€” why shouldnโ€™t they be involved in the discussion?,โ€ sheย asked.

Mason recognised the frustration of some unions over the lack of engagement with workers over what a just transition might mean for them but added that other carbon-intensive sectors such as agriculture and transport had to be included in theย discussions.

โ€œObviously some workers will be more affected than others but the idea that energy sector workers are paramount in leading the TUCโ€™s strategy on the issue is absolutelyย wrong.

โ€œAll workers have a vested interest in a successful transition to a zero-carbon future and we should be building a much broader strategy,โ€ sheย said.

In a statement, the Campaign Against Climate Change said making the voices of energy workers alone โ€œparamount and centralโ€ in determining the TUCโ€™s policies risked โ€œundermining strong climateย actionโ€.

The group, which includes a trade union branch, added that jobs in solar, wind and energy efficiency were โ€œcrucial to our economyโ€ but that โ€œthese sectors have been badly affected by government cutsโ€ and that the TUC โ€œmust be a voice for them too and call for urgent investment in climateย jobsโ€.

The comments were echoed by chief executive of the environmental think tank E3G, Nickย Mabey.

Speaking to DeSmog UK, Mabey said the wording of the TUC motion was โ€œflawedโ€ because it used a โ€œstatic viewโ€ of who will be affected by the shift to a low-carbon economy and failed to include the host of new green jobs, which often lack unionย representation.

However, Mabey welcomed the fact unions are engaging with the issue, adding that what a low-carbon transition looks like and how it is achieved are important conversations to beย having.

Putting the most affected at theย centre

Hitting back at the criticism, Sue Ferns, deputy general secretary at Prospect denied that the policy was exclusive but argued that it was putting the people most affected by the upcoming shift at the centre of theย debate.

She told DeSmog UK that the challenge was to make a just transition to a low-carbon economy a reality for people in theย workplace.

โ€œThe question is how workers are going to experience this shift,โ€ she said. โ€œItโ€™s not just about the number of jobs but itโ€™s also about the quality of jobs and the opportunities for people for to re-train and relocate,โ€ sheย added.

Ferns recognised the need for a broad industrial strategy to tackle these challenges and said trade unions needed to work with the government and public and privateย stakeholders.

A spokeswoman from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not confirm whether the department was in talks with the unions on the issue. Instead, she said BEIS was working with a range of stakeholders โ€œto ensure we maximise the economic opportunities for clean growth for people and businesses across theย countryโ€.

How fast can a just transitionย happen?

Despite the UK trade union movementโ€™s unanimous agreement on ensuring all workers are assured decent and sustainable jobs as part of a green economy, how fast this transition should happen is up forย debate.

Ferns, from Prospect, told DeSmog UK there had to be โ€œa balance between taking quick [climate] action and the consequences that action may have on workersโ€.ย ย 

โ€œThis is not about delaying action but having a proper process in place and thinking about the people, communities and livelihood being affected,โ€ she said, adding: โ€œThatโ€™s why we need to start the transition now if we want to have a proper and fair process forย change.โ€

But climate change think-tank Third Generation Environmentalism E3Gโ€™s Mabey warned against using social arguments to downplay the urgency of decarbonising the economy.ย ย 

โ€œThis should not be about slowing down the transition in order to be just. There needs to be a transition and society needs to ensure that it is just,โ€ heย said.

Politics ofย gas

In the UK, where coal generation is phasing out at a rapid pace, the debate about the future of the energy mix tends to focus onย gas.

The TUC motion identified โ€œlower-carbon gasโ€ as a key part of a balanced energy mix needed to achieve the shift to a zero-carbonย future.

Prospectโ€™s Ferns said that although the union fully recognised the need to decarbonise the economy, new technologies were being developed all the time and suggested hydrogen energy not generated by fossil fuels as a wayย forward.

But campaigners were quick to point out that gas remains a polluting fossil fuel with scientists warning that half of the worldโ€™s gas reserves have to be left in the ground to prevent dangerous warming of more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels.ย ย 

โ€œThis is a move to try and rebrand and preserve the gas industry. Itโ€™s a trying to slow down the transition [to a net zero economy] to protect workers,โ€ said Mason from PCS. โ€œThere is no such thing as โ€˜low-carbon gasโ€™ and we need to fullyย decarbonise.

โ€œNo one will disagree that we are currently heavily dependent on gas but we need to find alternatives now to start dealing with that โ€” otherwise we are more or less kicking this into the long grass,โ€ sheย said.

Image Credit: Creative Commons/Pexels/Pixabay/CC0

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