Workers’ Rights Message Taking Hold in Copenhagen

Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, sends us this report from the second day at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Read our previous blogs on the climate change talks here, here and here.

Something promising is happening in Copenhagen.

Yesterday, the government of Norway announced support of “just transition” language, a key part of our approach to a new green economy. Under a just transition program, workers have the right to a voice in their workplace, the right to form a union and bargain collectively and the right to have access to training on the latest technology. And that message appears to be working.

Our labor delegation also met privately with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson. It was an open, productive discussion of the just transition concepts and how they related directly to our efforts in Congress. She got it, telling us that she appreciated our frank approach in addressing climate change and in linking it to job opportunities.

Jackson said she wants to see EPA’s work lead to green industry development. We told her we want to see the same and we urged her to spread the just transition message in the statement we gave to her team. 

In other developments, France has proposed a financial transaction tax to help pay for international adaptation to new climate change rules. This is similar to the idea the AFL-CIO has been proposing to raise revenues in the United States for job creation.

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