Labor & Employment Law

?Just Transition? to Green Economy Gains Support at Bonn Climate Change Talks

By admin

AFL-CIO Union Industries Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation attending the next round of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the first of a series of blogs on the talks.

Last December, the world’s leaders left Denmark after producing the Copenhagen Accord as a starting point for a new climate agreement. Most participants recognized the significant progress made by the leaders of the largest carbon emitting nations who hammered out a series of breakthrough actions. Only five countries?Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Sudan?refused the accord.

Nations now have submitted action plans for emission reductions. And for the first time ever, there is an agreement to measure, report and verify carbon emissions. Developed countries committed significantly more financial resources than ever to developing countries for mitigation, adaptation and forest conservation.

The main item missing from the Copenhagen Accord is language calling for a “just transition” to a green economy. A just transition means workers would have the right to a voice in their workplace, the right to organize and bargain collectively and access to training on the latest technology. Since December, affiliates of the AFL-CIO and the unions of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have been lobbying our respective governments to build off those areas of agreement they reached in Copenhagen.

These efforts have paid off in Bonn at the mid-year climate negotiations. In an important move, the U.S. representatives submitted just transition language from the floor of the plenary session. They were joined by the spokesperson for the G-77, a group of developing countries, the nations of China and Japan and the European Union.

In a private meeting, Harriet Thompson, the new leader of the British delegation, told us:

We strongly support just transition as a part of any climate agreement. 

She agreed that climate change may be a crisis that requires immediate attention, but we also must focus on retaining and creating good jobs while improving the environment.

In the international arena, identifying “quality jobs and decent work” represents a major breakthrough for the trade union movement. These words refer directly to the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on employment with livable wages, benefits, working conditions and the rights of workers to organize, form unions and bargain collectively.  

There also are references to just transition in three other documents at the conference.

The broad support just transition has achieved is both gratifying and remarkable. Now it must survive the months and possibly years of negotiations that still lay ahead before there is a final agreement.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 07, 2010 (boomark / email).