We joined trade unions and climate groups outside Parliament to demand that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, stop prioritising shareholder profits and start funding a just transition for North Sea workers and their communities. The market-led approach to the energy transition is failing. Shareholder profits have been prioritised over affordable energy, adequate public investment and good, green jobs.

The coalition is calling on the Chancellor for an emergency funding package of £1.9 billion per year for North Sea workers ahead of the Spending Review. A funding package on this scale is urgently needed for oil and gas and supply chain workers to make the transition into renewable energy jobs, ensuring that workers and communities benefit.

The call is endorsed by the largest union representing UK offshore workers, Unite the Union, as well as the National Union of Rail and Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), and Aberdeen’s Trades Union Councils. 65 climate groups including Greenpeace UK, Uplift, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Oil Change International, Global Justice Now, Extinction Rebellion and Platform are also part of the coalition. 

The £1.9 billion emergency funding package to create permanent, unionised renewable energy jobs and support the country’s oil and gas workers to transition into them is comprised of:

• £1.1 billion per year to develop permanent, local jobs in public and community-owned wind manufacturing.
• £440 million of further investment each year for ports, on top of the £1.8 billion already committed through the National Wealth Fund.
• £355 million per year to develop a dedicated training fund for offshore oil and gas workers, with match-funding from industry.

Letter to the Chancellor

Comprehensive Spending Review submission

The articles below were originally published on the Greener Jobs Alliance blog.

The case for union involvement and retrofit as public works

The Retrofit for the Future Campaign, launched at an online meeting on 19th March, is a collaboration between the Peace and Justice Project, Fuel Poverty Action, community and renters’ union ACORN, and health professionals’ campaign group Medact. Detailed demands are set out on the campaign website, but in a nutshell they address three key areas:

• A proper plan for developing a skilled workforce to carry out energy efficiency retrofits.
• Protection for private sector tenants against evictions or rent hikes after retrofit work on homes.
• Accountability to residents for the quality and effectiveness of work on their homes.

Climate campaigners and retrofit specialists have long pointed out the urgent need to address the UK’s leaky buildings (with homes currently contributing around 20% of territorial emissions), as well as the formidable task of building the needed skilled workforce, the inadequacy of training programmes that fail to equip trainees with a holistic understanding of the thermal dynamics of the building, and the dreadful health consequences of badly implemented retrofits resulting in cold bridges, damp and mould, too often with no redress for householders.

Furthermore, with the government increasingly leaning in to the rightwing framing of climate action as an unaffordable imposition on ordinary people, the case for a campaign that counters that by clearly articulating the synergies between climate action and good jobs, health, decent housing and lower energy bills becomes indisputable. However, as supporters we have some, hopefully constructive, points to make, relating both to the campaign demands and, connectedly, to the work of translating the common interest of workers, activists and communities into an effective campaign.

As the dust settles, these were the key climate motions debated and passed at TUC this year:

C05 Industrial strategy, national security and a workers’ transition was the composite motion from Unite and GMB: 

It states: "Congress agrees that climate change poses a systemic risk to working class communities, but at a time of rising geopolitical tension does not believe that we can abandon fossil fuels until we know how the jobs and communities from the North Sea fields will be protected. Congress notes with dismay that the new government has adopted a target to stop drilling in the North Sea before any plan for jobs has been agreed."

and calls for "an industrial strategy policy that maximises our domestic energy strengths for national security, with all assets and options part of the solution: nuclear, renewables and oil and gas production"

Unison, UCU and NEU spoke against the motion, and it went to a card vote, passing by by 2,712k for to 2,457k against.

You can watch the debate from 44.50 here

Motion 19, Climate change and workers’ health was brought by BFAWU and seconded by FBU.  

By passing the motion, Congress agreed to campaign for a national maximum working temperature, a heat wave furlough scheme and a climate action plan, and to support Heat Strike when temperatures go above 36C. Heat Strike is not a legal union strike but can include direct actions, protests, workplace lunchtime walkouts, awareness raising, lobbying of politicians or community actions.

You can watch from 3.19.00 here

C18 Climate emergency the next steps was a composite of motions brought by Unison and PCS.

Both had the same core - a recognition of climate change as a class issue, and the need for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels based on a just transition, public ownership and a national climate service. 

GMB had submitted an amendment to the original PCS motion. As you can see this contradicts the intention of the original motion (what we'd call a wrecking amendment) and Unison and PCS did not accept its inclusion in the composite motion.

GMB and Prospect abstained and Unite said they were supporting the motion 'with reservation', so the motion was carried.

You can watch from 2:42:40 here

What next...

There are clearly contradictions between these motions, and debates will inevitably continue. It's important that these are framed in the context of the climate crisis as an urgent global issue that affects all workers. We're very grateful to all those who held that red line strongly at TUC.

Among much else, C18 commits TUC to "a year of green trade union activity including engagement with community and climate justice groups". We think this could be a very useful platform for activity where we can take the initiative.

Watch this space for further discussion and action.