An alternative socio-ecological strategy? International trade unions’ engagement with climate change

Greening transport in Sweden: the role of the organic intellectual in changing union climate change policy

“…Such visions have been criticized for imposing a consensus-oriented post-political logic on sustainability governance (Bailey & Caprotti, 2014) and for obscuring the need for engaging critically with the impact of capitalism on climate change. Researchers investigating how climate agendas are developing in trade unions have, along similar lines, shown that unions also tend to draw on discourses of ecological modernization: They commonly do not challenge capitalism and the processes causing climate change, and they often rely heavily on 'technological fix' arguments (see, for example, Felli, 2014;Hrynyshyn & Ross, 2011;Nugent, 2011;Snell & Fairbrother, 2010. This has been observed also in the Swedish union context (Lundström, 2017).…”

Is Labor Green?

“…Studies find that workers, since they depend on their employers for jobs, can be blackmailed into supporting capital interests in industry (i.e., workers are under pressure to prioritize their individual interests over the collective union's interests), which potentially sets up an antagonistic relationship between labor and environmental groups (Kazis and Grossman 1982). Specific industrial sectors such as road construction and resource extraction often take the position that "environmentalism kills jobs" or support weak ecological modernization efforts, which is often in conflict with other union organizations that support environmental protection and blue-green coalition building (Estabrook 2007;Felli 2014;Rathzel and Uzzell 2011). This can encourage public leaders and the media to use "jobs versus the environment" rhetoric, even though research shows that environmental protection does not typically contribute significantly to job losses (Bell and York 2010;Freudenburg et al 1998;Matthews 2011;Kojola 2017).…”

Beyond growth: new alliances for socio-ecological transformation in Austria

“…In practice, this means that trade unions often back company strategies in the interests and logic of competition, or attempt to negotiate improvements via social partnership structures. These usually operate within the prevailing modernization strategies that focus above all on technological and market-based solutions (Felli, 2014), and rarely push for more fundamental structural changes.…”

“…Although this perception of environmental movements by unions ignores the wide variety of fields where environmental movements actively engage in social and economic issues (Sandler & Pezzullo, 2007), it can explain the existing reservations unions have against environmental groups and their political goals. Further, unions often render environmental problems potentially harmful to their main political interestemployment and income distribution (Felli, 2014;Galgoczi, 2014;Hrynyshyn & Ross, 2011;Savage & Soron, 2011;Walk & Brunnengräber, 2000). However, a systemic transformation of the economic system towards sustainability necessitates strong alliances that drive the process of reconstruction.…”