{"id":1315,"date":"2010-08-19T16:50:15","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T15:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2010-08-19T16:52:38","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T15:52:38","slug":"unions-back-%e2%80%98just-transition%e2%80%99-to-green-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/2010\/08\/19\/unions-back-%e2%80%98just-transition%e2%80%99-to-green-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions back \u2018just transition\u2019 to green transport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Transport workers must take responsibility for tackling climate change, their unions have agreed. The first-ever climate change conference<\/a> of ITF<\/a>, the global union federation for the sector, heard delegates urge ITF to develop sustainable means to achieve emission reductions from the transport industry.<\/p>\n

The conference, which preceded ITF\u2019s congress<\/a> in Mexico City this month and which itself had a \u2018Strong unions \u2013 sustainable transport\u2019<\/a> theme, attracted over 300 delegates.\u00a0 And the green transport theme was approved by the congress, where a motion<\/a> calling for \u201cfundamental changes in the current system of globalised production which relies on global supply chains, low transport costs and cheap and increasingly casual labour\u201d garnered wide support.<\/p>\n

The motion noted, however, that ITF would never accept that the transition to a low-carbon society should result in job losses and an erosion of wages and working conditions. It added: \u201cA just transition therefore has to involve job creation, decent work and quality jobs, a radical redistribution of wealth and social security schemes which safeguard people\u2019s livelihood and social and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Transport workers and climate change: Towards sustainable low-carbon mobility\u2019<\/a>, an ITF discussion document prepared with Cornell University\u2019s Global Labor Institute<\/a> (GLI) and unveiled at the climate change conference, presented proposals for tackling climate change.<\/p>\n

GLI\u2019s Lara Skinner, speaking at the conference, said public transport must play a part in dealing with the problem of climate change. \u201cReducing the use of private vehicles will be essential in the future and, for this, public transport must be quick, affordable and efficient,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The document spells out \u201cimmediate action steps for transport unions\u201d, spanning membership education and engagement, green bargaining, climate friendly operational changes and technologies and alliance building.<\/p>\n

This includes bargaining for recognition and time off for union \u201cgreen reps\u201d, it advises. Unions should also \u201cpropose that workers be allowed to benefit from any suggestions made to improve energy efficiency and operational changes that reduce emissions,\u201d the document says.<\/p>\n

Alana Dave, ITF education officer, said: \u201cThis conference is a historic first for the ITF, and one that reflects a growing recognition that transport unions need to respond to the issue of climate change at a workplace level and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransport is a significant and growing source of emissions, responsible for around 14 per cent of the global total. We aim to take a lead in promoting a science-based approach which utilises \u2018reduce-shift-improve\u2019 strategies that will contribute to the major transformations which are necessary in the transport industry and society as a whole. We particularly support the creation of sustainable jobs and a just transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave added that the ITF was committed to building alliances to promote a just solution to the problem of climate change and would continue to work with global unions at international level for the forthcoming United Nations climate change conference in Canc\u00fan in November and December this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transport workers must take responsibility for tackling climate change, their unions have agreed. The first-ever climate change conference of ITF, the global union federation for the sector, heard delegates urge ITF to develop sustainable means to achieve emission reductions from the transport industry. The conference, which preceded ITF\u2019s congress in Mexico City this month and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[249,250,248,28,251],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}