Green Labor Journal Highlights Clean Coal Opportunities
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Generating clean energy by developing ways to make electricity using clean coal technologies could create more than 7 million new green jobs over the next 15 years, according to several studies.
The latest online edition of Green Labor Journal reviews several studies that show the potential for clean coal to create jobs and lower carbon emissions. The article discusses policy options for stimulating job-friendly investments in advanced coal generation through regulation and legislative initiatives. The Green Labor Journal is a collaboration between the National Labor College and the AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs. Check out the latest online edition here.
Climate Change Talks: Compromise, Consensus and Solidarity in Cancun
AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh was a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the last of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the other blogs here, here and here.
As the climate change talks wrapped up last Friday, the two weeks of hard work by trade union members paid off when negotiators included language calling for a “just transition” to a cleaner environment in the final version of the long-term cooperative agreement (LCA) text that the various governments would discuss. A just transition to a green economy means workers would have the right to a voice in their workplace, the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively and access to training on the latest technology.
Earlier in the day, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow put it on the line:
Governments must raise their sights. We expect ambitious targets, we expect fair climate financing for the most vulnerable nations, we expect a deal on REDD [Reducing Emssions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation], we expect a commitment to transparency and we demand the respect for workers which requires the commitments of all governments to a just transition.
Climate Change Talks: Unions Still Optimistic on ‘Just Transition’ Language
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AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the third of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the first blogs here and here.
Many people had modest expectations for this round of climate talks. But there is still a chance they will be pleasantly surprised.
As the negotiations continue, our international union delegation is troubled by the absence of “just transition” language in the text on a global shared vision for the future
A just transition to a green economy means workers would have the right to a voice in their workplace, the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively and access to training on the latest technology.
Political Climate Can’t Stop Climate Change Initiatives
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AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the second of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the first blog here.
Congress’ failure to pass climate change legislation and the election of a conservative majority in the next House have led many delegates from other countries to ask if the United States can meet the commitments it made in Copenhagen to reduce carbon emissions.
Workers Seek ‘Just Transition’ to Green Economy in Cancun Climate Talks
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AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the first of a series of blogs on the talks.
After the acrimonious climate change talks in Copenhagen last December and in Bonn last June, delegates to the 16th meeting of the Committee of the Parties (COP 16) come to the table in Cancun with reduced expectations. The delegates hope these climate talks will result in specific decisions that can serve as stepping stones for the next major meeting on climate change (COP 17) in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2012.
Apollo Alliance Honors AFL-CIO’s Baugh
The Apollo Alliance’s Right Stuff Award honors outstanding individuals whose work exemplifies the group’s mission to catalyze the new clean energy economy. Last night in San Francisco, Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, joined the list of Right Stuff honorees whose work is creating a new green economy.
The Alliance said Baugh received the award because:
As leader of the AFL-CIO’s manufacturing policy and legislative initiatives, Bob has had a life-long commitment to labor and the environment and has never believed in the false choice between jobs and the environment.
Restoring U.S. Manufacturing Vital to National Security
The days when the United States could mobilize hundreds of factories and trainable workers to quickly produce what the nation needs to fight a war are gone. Thousands of factories are sitting idle and the workers who make our ammunition, GPS systems and build our planes are nearly all overseas.
Testifying today before a House subcommittee, several experts called for an immediate rethinking of our national economic policies so as to regain our global lead in manufacturing before it is too late. As manufacturing goes abroad, so do the skills workers need to produce today’s computer-driven, advanced technology weapons and the research and development that support them, they warned.
It’s time to make the “Made in America” label really mean something again, Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. We must stop importing most of what we consume and begin to manufacture more of it here, he said.
Managing Expectations and Decisions on Climate Change
AFL-CIO Union Industries Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), attending the next round of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the last of a series of blogs on the talks. Be sure to check out part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
The contentious April United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCFF) meeting came with demands by the five states who had not agreed to the Copenhagen Accord that the next draft text for an agreement make no mention of it.
Many others, including the AFL-CIO and ITUC, urged that the process not start over but that it should build on language where there had been consensus. Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe, the savvy chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), the main body responsible for the climate treaty, did both.
The draft text, while never mentioning the Copenhagen Accord by name, contained the elements from the Accord. It also built off the earlier drafts clearly incorporating the language where consensus had been achieved on such issues as just transition, forestry and adaptation as well as areas where much work remains. The focused question and answer process the chair has imposed has helped the dialogue. All are anxious to see how this information is incorporated into a new draft that was expected to be delivered before the final plenary this afternoon.
Mood of Climate Change Talks Change Like The Weather
AFL-CIO Union Industries Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), attending the next round of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the fourth of a series of blogs on the talks. Be sure to check out part 1, part 2 and part 3.
As anyone who has ever negotiated a contract knows there is a rhythm and mood to the talks. Copenhagen was tough. The buildup of expectations far exceeded reality and as the days progressed frustration and anger became the prevailing mood. It took 30 heads of state to hammer out the Copenhagen Accord that all but five states agreed to.
Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Sudan opposed the accord and continued to agitate against it. The main body responsible for the climate treaty, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), had an acrimonious set of meetings in early April. This was followed by a Bolivian-sponsored First World Conference of the People on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in mid April. The newly elected AWG-LCA chair, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe from Zimbabwe and Daniel Reifsnyder from the U.S., the vice-chair, had their work cut out for them in Bonn.
Japan Moves Closer to Clean Energy Standards
AFL-CIO Union Industries Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), attending the next round of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the third of a series of blogs on the talks. Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2.
Earlier this week, two leaders of Japan’s Trade Union Confederation (RENGO) briefed the global union delegation on climate change legislation under consideration by lawmakers in Tokyo.
Toyoji Sugiyama, director of RENGO’s social policy division, and Mitsuru Maruta said the legislation is backed by Japan’s new government, which was elected last year with RENGO’s support.
