PCS Wales Green Newsletter no.1 Feb/Mar 2009
The environment and trade unions
Over the last year or so, the debate on climate change has once again focused many people’s minds on the environment and how it affects us.
Clearly the climate is changing, with warmer winters and more rain, and we are also seeing more extremes, such as floods and hurricanes.
There is a growing realisation that oil is running out (some say oil extraction will peak by 2020) and that supplies of natural gas are running low.
Our ever greater demand for electricity is also an issue: how do we maintain supplies given that tradition methods of generation are not sustainable?
Significantly, the labour and trade union movement has begun to realise that it has a role to play and a voice to raise on these issues. Events such as the TU Climate Change conferences, the growing role of TUS Green reps and TUC Green Camp at Tolpuddle all underline this.
Why is it a trade union issue?
Trade Unions represent millions of workers. This puts us in a unique position and places upon us a duty to comment on major issues - the environment being one such issue.
Secondly, the debate on the environment directly affects workers. For example, if we as individuals believe that there should be a cut in carbon emissions, we can adjust our own lifestyles as an individual choice, however if we wish to achieve change at work, this is most effectively done through collective bargaining with the employer, as would be done with health and safety issues.
It is worth noting that public buildings such as those in which many PCS members work, have just been named as some of the worse offenders for poor energy efficiency.
Decisions about the future and the environment affect workers. The government is committed to nuclear power and this will mean jobs.
Usually the unions would support jobs but there is now an increasing recognition that there cannot be jobs at any cost. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a debate to be had, this could either be a narrow one, based on nuclear power v. jobs, or a wider one about creating jobs through investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, such as better insulation of buildings, increased use of solar and wind power, etc. The Green Party’s ‘Green New Deal’ is an interesting reference point. In short, unions acknowledge that it is possible to be green and create jobs.
As bodies that represent working people, there is a consciousness that climate change and environmental problems affect the most disadvantaged in society. New Orleans saw this within its poorest, predominantly Black communities.
These already economically and socially disadvantaged communities were equally the victims of the Hurricane as anyone else, but they were left to fend for themselves in the most barbaric conditions and labeled as criminals for their actions when all they were doing was quite simply trying to stay alive; whilst wealthy areas – where most residents could afford to evacuate – received near instant help.
The tsunami in Sri Lanka devastated areas by the coast where the poorest communities are forced to live, again these areas were the last to receive help as hotels were rebuilt first to ensure the income from tourism, rather than assisting those most in need.
It is not the rich, who can afford expensive homes in safe areas and insurance, who have been hit the hardest by the recent floods in the UK, some of the most harrowing media images were of the devastation caused on deprived council estates in the South Wales Valleys.
It is ordinary working people who do the dirtiest and most unpleasant jobs.
The unions have led the way in advancing Health and Safety issues, now it is being recognised that environmental issues are equally important. One controversial area is around coal mining. We all fought the miners’ cause in 1984, but today, if we were given a real choice, would we really want workers toiling in such a place, and is coal perhaps environmentally damaging, despite clean coal technology?
The whole environmental issue raises the question of what sort of society we wish to live in? The capitalist system is based on production for profit regardless of the consequences.
Firms such as Coca Cola are a good example of this (cf Mark Thomas’ book on this subject). The sort of society that the trade union and labour movement stands for, Socialism and Trade Justice, would be planned and managed by ordinary people based on need not greed, this would also include respect for the environment (there is after all only one Earth!!)
Green issues won’t go away – some are unchangeable – however they can be managed and solutions can be sought. The contributions made by ordinary people most affected by these challenges will be the only way that the problems will be solved.
Role and rights of a green union rep
So we all know about climate change and environmental issues – but what do PCS green reps do and what rights do we have?
A paper outlining the role of workplace environmental reps was discussed at the PCS national Green Forum in December 2007. This was later included in the 2008 conference document Becoming a Greener Union and defines the role as follows:
Role
1) Raising awareness and promoting green workplace practices with members – such as reducing waste, recycling, energy saving, green purchasing.
2) Liaising with the branch on green/sustainability issues that need to be raised with management.
3) Taking forward and promoting PCS policy and campaigns on green/sustainability issues in the branch – e.g. on energy/climate change, Fairtrade.
4) Carrying out environmental audits.
5) Monitoring employers’ activity on/progress towards green/ sustainability policies/targets.
6) Involvement in developing best environmental practice in the workplace – e.g. through committees/working parties, developing environmental policies/ management systems, drawing up workplace agreements etc.
7) Networking with other PCS green reps to share information and good practice.
Training
PCS Wales will be running a 3 day course for green reps from the 24 to the 26 March 2009. For more information, please contact Jayne Smith on 02920 666363 or email JAYNES@pcsorg.uk
Rights
At present, green reps do not have legal rights to time off to carry out the role or undertake training, extending the scope of union activities to cover environmental issues at work only happens through voluntary agreements with employers, however pressure has been growing in Parliament around this issue over the last couple of years. In 2006/7, John McDonnell tabled an early day motion (EDM) asking for workplace environmental reps to be given the same rights as other union reps.
A further EDM was tabled by Martin Salter MP last year on the same issue.
PCS has been at the fore of this campaign. We have been working with John McDonnell’s office and have now drafted an amendment to the Employment Bill that is presently going through parliament to provide for time off for training and carrying out activities along similar lines to those accorded to union learning reps in 2002.
The amendment is in keeping with a motion on climate change that was carried at TUC Congress this year as well as the TUC Just Transition pamphlet, A Green and Fair Future, which was published earlier in the year.
Both call upon the government to give statutory rights to environmental reps.
All PCS branches can get involved in the campaign by getting reps and members to contact their MP and asking for them to sign the EDM and support the campaign for rights for green reps.
Kevin Davies, a green rep within the Assembly Parliamentary Service (APS) writes:
"I am part of the green team within our workplace. There has been quite significant investment in Green issues within APS.
These are some of the ongoing initiatives we are undertaking:
- Travel survey to seek information about staff travel to work each day. We asked for reasons why they used a particular mode of transport and we are analysing the results. We are planning to seek advice from a company to draw up travel plans for staff if they want them. We are discussing whether we can go further with assistance on public transport costs and links with local public transport providers. The organisation is trying to measure carbon footprints and also analysing travel on official business. There is a long way to go but positives are coming out, in that staff are generally interested in the issues, but we have to accept there are real practical problems for some staff, with things like school runs and dependents meaning time is very important to some.
- Free reusable cups for hot beverages in work. Staff who use them get a discount of a few pence on a cup of tea/coffee. This helps to reduce paper cup waste.
- Looking at packaging used by the restaurant contractor.
- Restricting temperatures on individual heating systems.
- Reminders on a regular basis about energy efficiency.
Fairtrade: fair and sustainable trade for all
From 23 February to 8 March 2009 it will again be ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’. But, just as a dog isn’t just for Christmas, so Fairtrade isn’t just for that fortnight. It should apply all year round and it is something upon which we can all make a difference.
Fairtrade is designed to give the producer a fair price for his produce, be it cocoa, tea, coffee, bananas, cotton wool or chocolate, etc. The growers, invariably from the developing world, use the “fairtrade premium” they receive for their goods to provide key facilities in their community, such as a school, hospital, a communal meeting place, or local clean water wells; the choice is theirs.
World trade rules have tended to favour larger, wealthier nations and have upheld trade tariffs which block traders from the developing nations selling their produce – often their sole means of trade. The result can be massive poverty, regularly exacerbated by natural disasters.
With all the potential resources in the world, how can this trading imbalance between nations in the West and the developing World be justified or logical? Meanwhile, India and China are trying to catch up with Western wealth and productivity – and who are we to stop them, even though environmentally this is an unsustainable course.
We then face the call for charity payments and increased aid to these nations in crisis. The recipient nations understandably resent charity and aid with “strings attached”. Surely what we all prefer is “trade not aid”, so long as it’s fair. This is sustainable in the long term, as well as being more respectful; countries don’t want to become dependent upon charity.
The recent exposure of Primark reveals how companies cut corners in the race to produce the cheapest goods for sale. It has been shown that many of their garments were being made not in India but in Manchester in factory ‘sweat shops’ by labourers paid £3.50 per hour or less.
An apology does nothing for the brand and ethics of Primark! This is illegal: non-unionised workers paid below minimum wage, on our own doorstep. It is solely motivated by greed with no heed to the carbon footprint or being fair and sustainable in the long term.
Fairtrade is not the whole answer, but it can help bring about fairness in global business. One key lesson to be learnt from the current credit crunch and financial crisis is that businesses which are motivated purely by profit are not stable and sustainable in the long term and as a result we all lose out. Ever cheaper garments for us, means workers are suffering elsewhere. Individually, we can’t change the world, but by acting together we can take a few steps in the right direction. Fairtrade Fortnight would be a good place to start on a greener, more sustainable path.
Chris Hall is an MoJ GEC member and operates the “PCS Fairtrade Network”. He is also elected to the Co-operative Group North Wales Area Committee.
Cardiff Campaign Against Climate Change
Cardiff Campaign against Climate Change was launched on Earth Day 2005 when we organised Wales' first ever march for action on climate change.
We are a network of environmentalists, trade unionists and global justice campaigners. Our national campaign was launched after the US failed to ratify the Kyoto treaty and has organised an annual international day of climate protest.
Last year saw people march in 100 countries on 5 continents. Particularly important is the dialogue we have built up with environmental movements in the Global South - in Latin America ecology is the basis for mass movements.
All the evidence – from New Orleans to the floods in Britain in the last 2 years – suggests that climate change will impact worst on working class and poor people: There are already thousands of climate refugees who face racism and borders controls.
Organised labour has a key role to play in pushing for social justice solutions to climate change rather than market based solutions.
We need trade unions to push for a massive expansion of cheap public transport as an alternative to private motoring, free house insulation to reduce energy use and bills, a rapid transition to renewable energy, and the creation of thousands of green collar jobs.
Of the 10 biggest corporations in the world, four are oil companies, three are car companies, this is a massive concentration of corporate power that can only be broken by the battering ram of organised labour.
Last year, Campaign Against Climate Change was proud to organise Britain's first ever trade union conference on climate change, we aim to build an environmental movement among rank and file trade unionists for action on climate change. This year’s conference is being supported by PCS, CWU, Connect, FBU, UCU and others. The next trade union conference will be on Saturday 7th March, Franklin-Wilkins Building, Kings College, Stamford Street, London SE1 9NH.
If you are interested in getting involved in Campaign against Climate Change, attending the conference or would like more information, contact:
CardiffCCC@hotmail.co.uk
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