Trade unions and climate change: The jobs versus environment dilemma

Räthzel, Nora; Uzzell, David

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.07.010

Cited by 124 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It would be inaccurate to argue that all of the union delegates who participate in climate negotiations or the collaborations with the ILO and UNEP feel the same way about climate change or the environment more broadly (Räthzel and Uzzell 2011). Indeed, the sheer variety of interests amongst labour unions makes it difficult to unite them into a coherent set of demands.…”

Section: Globalizing Just Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global labour unions and just transition to a green economy

Stevis

Felli

2014

Int Environ Agreements

236

154

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Questions of justice in the transition to a green economy have been raised by various social forces. Very few proposals, however, have been as focused and developed as the “just transition” strategy proposed by global labour unions. Yet, labour unions are remarkably absent from discussions of the transition towards a green economy. This is surprising as labour unions are arguably the largest organizations in the world fighting for basic rights and more just social relations. This paper tries to advance the potential contribution of labour unions in this arena by asking: what is the full scope of “just transition” today and how have labour unions developed and refined it over the years to render the move towards a green economy both environmentally and socially sustainable? The concept of just transition is hotly debated within labour unions and has different interpretations, and hence different strategies. The last section assesses these interpretations by means of a normative framework, which seeks to fuse political economy and political ecology. Empirically, we add to the growing literature on labour environmentalism, as well as transitions more generally. Analytically, our goal is to place the various approaches to a “just transition” within a heuristic framework of environmental justice that is explicit about power relations when demanding justice, two themes central to this special issue

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Section: Globalizing Just Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global labour unions and just transition to a green economy

Stevis

Felli

2014

Int Environ Agreements

236

154

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“…"Pollution Haven" hypothesis, for example, argues that environmental legislations will result in shifting heavy polluting industries from developed economies to the economies having less environmental regulations to have a comparative cost advantage. This is because firms in conventional trade theory flow always towards the economies having more competitive cost advantages (Wagner, 2004;Rathzel and Uzzell 2011). Also, environmentalists in political left and trade union movement consider that environmental regulations, incentives and other measures will compose an adverse effect increasing unemployment (Jacobs, 1991).…”

Section: Definitions and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For TUC, in case of being shifted to green economy, job gains and job losses will emerge in different regions and different time slots and the transition will create significant differences between new and old jobs in terms of skillmix (Bird and Lawton, 2009). On the other hand, the Porter Hypothesis suggests that environmental regulations will trigger innovation and efficiency and may even provide to job gains, therefore these regulations will not make up a significant impact on competitiveness (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995;Wagner, 2004;Rathzel and Uzzell 2011). Also, Bezdek et al (2008), in their study, examined the relationship among environmental protection, the economy and jobs.…”

Section: Definitions and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Unionized Workers in British Green Sectors: Evidence From the Labor Force Survey*

Görmüş¹

2017

EJEF

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International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) suggest that green sectors should offer decent jobs respecting to unions and international labor rights and fulfill requirements of labor laws and collective bargaining system. Also, nonunionized working in green sectors poses a significant challenge in terms of creation decent jobs. In this line, this article presents several evidences from British Labour Force Survey to find some socio-economic obstacles behind unionization in green sectors by using logistic regression modeling method. The results suggest that union membership decision in green sectors is affected by a range of demographic and work-related factors used in the study. For example, those who are 16-24 age band, women workers, those who are employed by small sized enterprises and takes charge in high-ranked occupations are higher likelihood of nonunionized working in green sectors, compared to rest of the sectors.

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“…This reflects the influence of the 'jobs vs. environment' conflict on processes of integrating environmental perspectives into the union agenda (Räthzel & Uzzell, 2011 (Foster, 2000, p. 155f). It argues that the capitalist industrial system exploits the earth without restoring its constituents to it.…”

Section: Crisis: Backlash or Opportunity?mentioning

confidence: 99%