Author Archives: Rory
Global: Firm kicks staff with a carbon footprint
A multinational firm has docked the pay of workers it considered to have too large a carbon footprint outside of work. The trial by global engineering consultancy WSP involved 80 UK based employees. Threequarters were rewarded but a quarter, including managing director Stuart McLachlan, were fined. WSP now intends to expand the “successful” scheme. The […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged carbon footprint, lifestyle discrimination, National Workrights Institute, WSP Comments closed
Britain: Unions ‘working on change’
A new publication on unions and climate change will be launched this week at the national congress of UK national trade union confederation TUC. The discussion document, produced by the environmental thinktank Green Alliance, includes contributions from union leaders including Jack Dromey of Unite, Sally Hunt of UCU, Paul Noon of Prospect, Keith Sonnet of […]
Global: Unions call for a ‘decent’ green economy
With only three months left to achieve a deal to fight climate change at the Copenhagen climate summit, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has launched a new website on climate change and set out its key policy demands. The global union body wants to ensure that an “ambitious” climate change agreement is strengthened by […]
USA: Economic justice is a green issue
Efforts to create a greener world require measures to make that world more just. And that’s not something that looks like happening any time soon. Michael Renner of the US-based Worldwatch Institute, commenting in his ‘green economy’ blog, notes: “In the United States, and maybe elsewhere as well, full-cost pricing and current socio-economic trends seem […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Blue Green Alliance, Green economy, Les Leopold, Michael Renner, The Looting of America, Worldwatch Institute Comments closed
Global: Long work hours threaten our future
Long hours are bad for workers and should be curtailed for the sake of the workforce and the environment, an investigation by The Ecologist has concluded. The environmental magazine notes: “There’s something wonky with the way we work. Those of us with jobs are stressed when we work, and fatigued when we’re not.” The feature […]
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USA: Greening America with good jobs
Unions and environmental groups launched a campaign on August 19, highlighting the benefits to American workers and businesses of transitioning to a clean energy economy that will create millions of jobs. The ‘Made in America’ Jobs Tour started in Ohio on August 20, the first of 50 stops across 22 states organised by the Alliance […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Blue Green Alliance, IMF, Made in America jobs tour, USW Comments closed
Global: Will workers pay for clean energy?
The potential occupational health and safety benefits of clean and green energy are seen as a slam dunk, a clear improvement on the dirty, heavy, hazardous polluting world of oil and coal. And for generations those jobs were certainly killers, occupationally and environmentally. But that doesn’t mean clean energy jobs are risk free jobs. Michael […]
Britain: New programme on green energy risks
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new initiative in “response to government plans to introduce alternative (non-nuclear) energy technologies to combat climate change.” It says its Emerging Energy Technologies (EET) Programme, which includes new online resources, is HSE’s attempt to address the health and safety implications of the government’s drive “to […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Britain, green energy, Health and Safety Executive, HSE Comments closed
USA: Unions lead the way to a green economy
America’s future is green and the union movement is in the forefront of creating a new green economy, says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. Speaking to the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) education conference in Phoenix last week, Holt Baker said: “One of our biggest opportunities lies in the creation of green jobs, […]
US green jobs could mean more union jobs