Unions and the green transition in construction in Europe: Contrasting visions

Linda Clarke,Melahat Sahin-Dikmen

doi:10.1177/0959680120951705

Abstract

The construction industry, responsible for 40 percent of European Union (EU) end-use emissions, is targeted as a major area of transformation particularly through the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requiring nearly zero energy building (NZEB). Through a case study approach, union responses to EU strategy on the implementation of energy efficiency standards are evaluated in Denmark, Germany, Italy and UK (Scotland), presenting a varied picture, from minimal acknowledgement to broad support along the lines of ecological modernization to radical transformation. Radical appraisals of the industry and its exploitative and high-carbon practices are rare, though engaging with the employment and vocational education and training (VET) implications. The article presents a labour-centred alternative to a technical-driven transition agenda, focusing on how the labour process needs to change in a sector dominated by small firms, self-employment, a fragmented labour process and often low levels of VET.

Highlights

The built environment is responsible for 36% of CO2 emissions and 40% of energy consumption in the European Union (EU) and targeted for a major transformation in its climate change strategy (EC, 2019)
Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is fundamental to achieving the objective of carbon-neutrality by 2050 and in this the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) plays a critical role, requiring nearly zero energy building (NZEB) for all new buildings by the end of 2020 (EPBD, 2018)
Notwithstanding the differences between Member States’ capacity for implementing NZEB, our research indicates that in much of Europe, especially in Anglo-Saxon, Mediterranean and eastern European countries, the sector is burdened by long-standing problems concerning the provision of vocational education and training (VET), skill shortages, narrowly defined jobs, insecure employment and fragmentation of the construction process (Clarke et al, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

The built environment is responsible for 36% of CO2 emissions and 40% of energy consumption in the European Union (EU) and targeted for a major transformation in its climate change strategy (EC, 2019). Connecting workingclass environmentalism with environmental justice, Barca and Leonardi (2018) stress the importance of broadening notions of ‘work’ and ‘worker agency’, arguing that radical reconstruction of the work-ecology relationship is achieved by more directly including all those impacted by green transitions, unions These contrasting perspectives imply either a more passive role for labour, resonating with Biernacki’s (1995) ‘embodied labour’, or a more active one, in accordance with ‘labour power’. This debate is relevant to construction given that the failure to meet energy efficiency targets is related to the fragmented labour structure and inadequate VET, though these are absent from EU-led ecological modernisation policies (Clarke et al, 2019). How far are they addressed by unions? To discover this, we investigate four local case studies of construction sector unions in different EU countries

Methodology

Findings

Discussion and conclusions