COP 26, a Just Transition, trade unions and a movement of movements

Abstract

COP 26, a Just Transition, trade unions and a movement of movements Declan Owens (bio) Chico Mendes was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples. He was assassinated by a rancher on 22 December 1988. He coined the memorable phrase that, 'Ecology without class struggle is just gardening'. When the international trade union movement mobilised ahead of and during COP 26 in pursuit of its goal to achieve a Just Transition it sought to ensure that there was more than a mass gardening exercise in Glasgow. This sentiment was reflected and reinforced in the growing 'movement of movements', which aligned trade unionists with environmental NGOs and community groups, as demonstrated during the successful events held by the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow. Environmentalists joined the GMB pickets in Glasgow and GMB members even provided Greta Thunberg with a 'human shield' as she passed through the streets of Glasgow on the Global Day of Action on 6 November 2020. I was present at events in Glasgow and there was a tangible sense of progress and hope amongst trade unionists and environmental activists despite the failures of their governments. Just Transition The International Trade Union Confederation set up its Just Transition Centre in 2016 in the aftermath of its success in securing the ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies for All (2015) and reference to the term, 'Just Transition' within the Preamble to the Paris Agreement, which stated that its provisions were formulated, Taking into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities … The phrase 'Just Transition' itself was coined in the US trade union movement by Tony Mazzocchi, leader of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers union (OCAW), who worked to bring trade unionists into the 'ban-the-bomb' peace movement, alongside a campaign to protect atomic workers in the transition to nuclear disarmament. He served as Vice President of the OCAW from 1977 to 1988, and as secretary-treasurer from 1988 to 1991. 'Just Transition' has been watered down as a concept by its co-option by some corporate interests and it is important that trade unionists retain a focus on the principles behind the adoption of the term and fight for its implementation. The COP 26 Coalition In the run up to COP26 it was clearer than ever that global problems need global solutions as anticipated by the International Trade Union Confederation and others, such as Trade Unions for Energy Democracy. The decisions made at COP26 will continue to shape how governments respond (or not) to the climate crisis. Their decisions determine who is to be sacrificed, who will escape and who will make a profit. The COP26 Coalition was a UK-based civil society coalition of groups and individuals mobilising around climate justice during COP26. It brought together movements from across the world to build power for system change for climate justice-indigenous movements, frontline communities, trade unions, racial justice groups, youth strikers, landworkers, peasants, NGOs, grassroots community campaigns, feminist movements, faith groups. Therefore, the COP 26 Coalition put indigenous, frontline and Global South communities front and centre of their campaign and extensively platformed them at their People's Assembly, a parallel series of meetings and workshops where there was an 'inside and outside' strategy to link activists with negotiators at the COP. As trade unionists know in relation to inadequate laws protecting workers in the workplace on health and safety issues, governments have done too little too late to address climate change and its impact on workers. Governments have colluded with corporations, hiding behind green washed 'solutions' that do not exist yet, that do not address the scale of the problem, and in many cases rely on more exploitation of people and the planet. Trade unions have long recognised that justice will not be handed to workers by world leaders or delivered by corporations. Only workers and communities can imagine and build the future that works for all of us. Trade unionists know...