Decent jobs or protection of the environment?

Abstract

FOCUS □ CLIMATECHANGE ANDLABOURSTANDARDS Decent jobs or protection of the environment? The necessary foundationfor a socially sustainable world is respect forthe dignity and humanrights ofworkers BRIAN KOHLER is Health, Safety and Sustalnabillty Officer with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions in Geneva It mately ered isa false the be most choice. neither. serious Itmust Climate environmental be both, change orit is issue will considulti fac mately be neither. Climatechangeis consideredthemostseriousenvironmental issuefacingtheworldtoday .However, we canonlysolve itbyconsidering allofthedimensions ofsustainability - environmental, economic, andsocial. Sustainability includesenvironmental protection ,humanrights and labourrights, and economicdevelopment . It is the balance between theenvironmental and thesocial imperatives of sustainability thatgivesthelabourmovement its credibility on sustainability matters. Itis theintegration of environmental, social,and economic concernsthatwillmovetheworldto a sustainable future. Thenecessary foundation fora socially sustainable worldis respect forthedignity and human rights ofworkers. Thestarting pointfor anunderstanding of humanrights is theUnitedNations Universal Declaration of HumanRights, and for labour rightsit is the International Labour Organisation (ILO) LabourStandards, especially theILO's CoreLabourStandards. Thereareeight ILO Conventions that havebeen identified bytheInternational Labour Organisation intheir Declaration ofPrinciples on Fundamental Rights at Work(1998) as beingessentialto the rights of working people. Theyare intended to applytoallworkers, whether thecountry ofwork is a developednationor a developing one. All otherworkplacerights are consideredto build upon thesefundamental rights, in thattheyprovide thetoolsand the conditions necessary for workers to strive to improve their individual and collective working conditions. Thesecorelabour standards addressfreedom of association, forced labour, equality, and childlabour.Complete text and detailedexplanations are availablefrom the ILO (http://www.ilo.org). In addition, otherILO LabourStandards covera variety ofsubjects such as occupational health andsafety, training, maternity protection, andso on. Willadaptingto climate change impacton workers' rights? Thereisa temptation tothink that energy derived from fossilfuels,and energy derivedfrom other sources-especially renewables -areina winnertake -allcompetition witheach other.However, thereis no immediate threat to fossilfuelusage. Petroleum continues to be thedominant source of energy in industrialised societies.The use of coal, as an energysource,is increasing rather thandecreasing, especiallyin countries such as China and India. The increasing emphasison renewableswill, if anything, only slow the growth in coal usage,notreplaceit- at leastin theshort term (less than50years). On close examination, it is quicklyapparent that thegreatest threat toworking conditions and workers' rights intoday's energy industries is not climate policy.Byfarthegreatest threat toqualitysustainableemployment and workers'rights continues to be globalisation,technological change,andthereplacement ofhigh-quality jobs with contractand otherformsof precarious employment. For example,coal production has tendedto shift to large-scale, less labour-intensive mining methods. Technological changehas encouraged theexploitation ofcoal deposits thataresuitable forheavily mechanised mining methods. Thishas reducedemployment evenwhileproduction has been increasing. Globalisation has meantthat coal production takes place anywhere suitable coal depositsare found,and coal production increasingly relieson contract oragencylabour. Thesedestructive trends havebeen exacerbated bytheincreasing ownership ofresources that should be used to providelong-term employmentand long-term industrial development including energy, minerals, andforests -byspeculatorsand fundsthattakeonlytheshortest of views. It is impossibleto build a sustainable future whentheworld'smostimportant natural assets are controlled by people who consider long-term planning' to be something measured in weeks. The ICEM insists thatthe systematic lootingoftheglobaleconomybyunscrupulous speculators interested onlyin a 'fastbuck' be stopped.The'globalcasino'economic modelhas producedcatastrophic results forbothworkers andtheenvironment. In manypartsoftheworld, themining andoil industries have an unfortunate reputation for ruthless treatment ofworkers, local populations and indigenouspeoples, violationsof human rights and labourrights. The samemultinational mining companies sometimes present quitea different faceinthedevelopedworldthantheydo intheir operations inthedeveloping world.This behaviourtoo, has had littleor nothing to do withclimate changepolicies. Thisisnottosaythat industrial workers do not havelegitimate concerns abouthowmeasures to protectthe climatewill be implemented. The desiretofight globalclimate changewillplayan important rolein theevolution ofworking conditions and labourrights. Itis notonlyimportant tocreatenew,greener jobs-high-quality, unionised ones-we must also make existing jobs greenerand createa 'Just Transition' withsound social policiesand solid socialprograms. Thiswillneedprogress onmany fronts. Conservation alone willnotwintheday, we willalsoneedadvancedtechnologies, suchas INTERNATIONAL union rights Pa9e 1 2Volume 17Issue 1201 0 Without a 'Just Transition' there willbe an unjust one inwhich workingfamilies willpay forthe mistakes of the rich carboncaptureand sequestration/storage, nanotechnology , 'greenchemistry', and biotechnology .Without a deliberate planfor a Just Transition, there willbe an unjust one. Working people and their families willpayyetagainforthemistakes oftherich. Improving global governance Theeconomic andenvironmental crisesareinterconnected , and have createda thirdcrisis- a socialcrisis.The transition from today'senergy economyto a future, moresustainable one will be either 'just'or'unjust' according tothedegree ofplanning and socialsupport thataccompanies thattransition...