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.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0November 2009 discussion paper from the Global Union Research Network<\/a> (GURN), looks at how the labour movement can advance its\u00a0climate change goals through better application of and improvements to International Labour Standards and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions.<\/p>\n A 2008 ILO report, Green jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world<\/a>, had set the scene. \u00a0It noted that the creation of new green jobs as a result of \u201cenvironmental transition\u201d would also result in both the disappearance and the transformation of many existing jobs. It also recognised that many\u00a0of\u00a0the new jobs could be \u201cdirty, dangerous and difficult\u201d. And it warned that many proposed \u201csolutions\u201d, like green taxes, needed careful consideration to ensure they didn\u2019t cause disproportionate harm to those already\u00a0most disadvantaged.<\/p>\n Global standards could contribute to a strategy that makes this \u201cenvironmental transition\u201d a \u201cjust transition<\/a>\u201d, the new GURN paper suggests. \u201cIncluding \u2018just transition\u2019 measures that respect international labour standards in these decisions will ensure policy coherence and public participation which in the long run will hopefully lead to the effective realisation of sustainable development goals,\u201d The employment effects of climate change and climate change responses: A role for International Labour Standards?<\/a> concludes. And it appears \u201cglobal\u201d action is key: \u201cIt is important that standards are applied globally in order to avoid a situation where some populations remain victims because of unequal respect for and uneven enforcement of these rights. The most vulnerable and poorest populations and workers are often those that are the hardest hit by the effects of climate change,\u201d the GURN paper notes. \u00a0<\/p>\n Climate change policy underpinned by international labour\u00a0standards can bring better prospects for jobs and the environment, it says.<\/p>\n \u201cA rights-based approach in the form of International Labour Standards would offer protection that would shield affected workers from also suffering from structural changes to the labour market resulting from climate change,” the GURN document adds. “People, and especially workers, have to be recognised as active participants in the climate policy debate and be part of the decision making bodies, rather than simply passive victims of what is happening. This right is fundamental if we want to address the climate change challenges in a coherent way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u00a0November 2009 discussion paper from the Global Union Research Network (GURN), looks at how the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[113,114,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623"}],"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=623"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nThe discussion paper, authored by ILO researcher Lene Olsen, notes: \u201cInternational Labour Standards, if applied globally, can provide a set of regulations which would limit the negative social implications of adaptation and mitigation efforts to reduce climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n