U.S. Union Movement Joins in U.N. Climate Change Talks in Bonn

Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, is in Bonn, Germany, for meetings to ensure that labor’s input contributes to larger United Nations global climate change discussions later this year. 

More than 4,000 representatives of governments, business, labor and environmental organizations from around the world are meeting here in Bonn as part of global talks on climate change. The June 2-12 sessions in the former German capital are focused on the outline of a new climate agreement we’ll discuss at a larger U.N. climate change conference this December in Copenhagen. 

Members of the AFL-CIO and 30 other international trade union representatives are taking part under the umbrella of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). We are here to follow up on our previous efforts that have resulted in language within the current climate change proposals that speaks to “Just Transition,” and to plan for a series of union events in Copenhagen. 

We are putting a trade union stamp on a shared vision for long-term cooperative action. The ITUC has emphasized the need for the U.N. climate change agreement to address employment and income, the inclusion of trade unions and other stakeholders in the decision-making process and a sensitivity to the needs of the poorest and least-developed nations. The ITUC calls for commitments to a Just Transition for “sustainable, low-carbon economies, as the key to guarantee a socially sustainable outcome.” The ITUC states that we need to achieve these goals: 

through socially responsible and green investment, low-carbon development strategies, and by providing decent work and social protection for those whose livelihoods, incomes and employment are affected by the need to adapt to climate change and by the need to reduce emissions to levels that avert dangerous climate change. 

Our work around these international goals complements our legislative efforts in Congress. All these issues—a focus on employment and income aimed at the retention and creation of good jobs; investment in new and reengineered technology; energy efficiency; assistance to workers, communities and low- and moderate-income families—are at the core of the strategy the AFL-CIO has pursued in Congress. 

The Waxman-Markey bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, echoes these themes. The legislation addresses good jobs with major investments in carbon capture; domestic investment in advanced automotive technology (electric cars, infrastructure and batteries); renewable energy and energy efficiency; assistance to energy-intensive and internationally competitive industries. It provides transition assistance to workers and includes financial assistance to consumers and low- and moderate-income families. On the international level, it includes resources to address deforestation, technology transfer and assistance to developing nations. These last items are important issues within the U.N. talks. 

As we meet with government delegations in Bonn, there are questions about incorporating Just Transition language in the text. The Waxman-Markey bill and the existing practice in many nations makes it clear that Just Transition is the strategy trade unions have fought for in each of their nations. As one of our delegates said: 

The message governments here need to hear is that there is a transition coming and we have a choice before us. One is a good one that is just and fair and results in opportunities and assistance for workers and communities. The other is a bad one, and they need to understand that there will be consequences. 

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