Author Archives: Rory
Green smart meter plan needs to be safe
UK government plans to introduce “smart meters” to homes nationwide as an energy saving measure must take account of safety and other concerns about rogue contractors, the union GMB has said. The GMB call comes a week after the Australian government had to clampdown on “shonky” contractors after a series of deaths in young workers […]
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Unions put the case for climate justice
Leaders of world trade unions are calling on political leaders gathered in Copenhagen to invest in jobs and develop a green economic policy to tackle climate change. Introducing ‘Green growth for jobs and social justice’, Anita Normark, chair of the Council of Global Unions (CGU) and general secretary of the Building and Wood Workers International, […]
Support grows for just transition
A union-initiated proposal to get a ‘just transition’ clause in the text of any agreement at the Copenhagen climate change summit is attracting support. The measure aims to make sure sunsetting dirty industries doesn’t decimate industrial communities and replace an environment crisis with an economic crisis. Global union confederation ITUC had already secured inclusion of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Argentina, European Union, ITUC, just transition, Norway Comments closed
Global unions warn against a negative climate
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has called again on governments “to take urgent and necessary measures” to deliver a low-carbon future. ‘Trade unions and climate change – Equity, justice and solidarity in the fight against climate change’, the ITUC statement to the summit, sets out the international trade union movement’s position, emphasising the need […]
For Bangladesh, there’s no more time for talk
In Bangladesh, where much of the country’s population lives at sea level on the flood-prone alluvial plains of major rivers flowing from the Himalayas, a lengthy discourse about the impact of climate change can seem a little indulgent. On 5 December, 240 Bangladeshi workers representing the country’s national union centres formed a “workers’ chain” in […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bangladesh, Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) Comments closed
Insulation action as deaths go through the roof
On 24 November, a 19-year-old died from heat stress, the day after working in the suffocating heat of a ceiling cavity in a home in Sydney, Australia. It was the first day on the job for the teenager, who was installing insulation. On 18 November, a 16-year-old worker died when he was electrocuted installing ceiling […]
Global employment rules – good for green jobs
The greening of industry, through the creation of new green jobs and the transformation of old grubby ones, will run a lot more smoothly and equitably if global rules are beefed up and more effectively enforced, a new report concludes. The November 2009 discussion paper from the Global Union Research Network (GURN), looks at how the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Global Union Research Network (GURN), ILO, just transition Comments closed
Where do your gizmos go to die?
You are staring right now at a computer screen, one of the gaggle of can’t-live-without state-of-the-art electronic gizmos you cherish for a year or two then discard. These electronic must-haves provide a new type of not-so-durable consumer product complete with built-in obsolescence. The perpetual technological turnover underpins the cash turnover of e-companies everywhere. Whether the resulting […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Basel Action Network, e-Stewards Network, Electronics TakeBack Campaign, makeITfair, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Comments closed
It’s Euro life, but not as you know it
Lifestyles in Europe will change dramatically over the next 10 years — with people enjoying greater prosperity, holding better jobs that use new skills and “going green” at work and at home — at least they will if proposals announced at the European Parliament on 25 November gain support. A paper from the parliament’s influential […]
Poor countries reject “suicide pact”