Global Day of Workplace Action to Climate-Proof Our Work – New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

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On June 26 working people from New Zealand and around the world are taking climate action.

“Climate Change is a threat to all of us. We must do more to look after our planet. Extreme weather events are already destroying jobs and livelihoods and, if we don’t act now, temperature increases will lead to the loss of millions of jobs, ” said CTU Secretary Sam Huggard.

“Working people are standing together and asking employers what their plan is to reduce emissions and ensuring that they are climate-proofing their operations and climate-proofing work.”

“The CTU is a member of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and together we are working for a ‘Just Transition’ to secure the future and livelihoods of working people and our communities in the transition to a low-carbon world. Working people in union can encourage their employers to climate-proof their business, and put Just Transition measures at their heart of their plans.”

“All working people need to know how their employers are planning to reduce emissions and have a sustainable future for the business.Sign up for the Global Day of Workplace Action on 26 June and ask your boss for their climate plan!”

“Of course there are no jobs on a dead planet, but together we can ensure good jobs on a living planet,” Huggard said.

4 COMMENTS

  1. ““All working people need to know how their employers are planning to reduce emissions and have a sustainable future for the business”
    I imagine employers are wondering about this too. Perhaps some suggestions from the unions could be forthcoming .
    D J S

  2. “The union movement in New Zealand has a long history of leading debate and resistance around issues of social justice, from taking a stand against Spain’s fascist Franco to refusing to assist in the loading of ships carrying New Zealand police officers to Samoa in 1929 who went on to kill many Samoans in the Mau movement. With this pedigree of social conscience and history of taking action it should follow that the union movement and its members would again rise and offer leadership to the latest challenge to social order and justice, and indeed potential catastrophic change to the planet.”

    http://briefingpapers.co.nz/trade-unions-and-the-climate-change-fight/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz3xWUKQQDY

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-vpUYQLDAw

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHQu3SeUwUI

  3. NZ has committed to reducing GHG emission by just under 10% per year.

    Most employers will do nothing to cut their emission as a cut will mean less output for most.

    So we can expect a falling GDP as a result of our GHG commitment.

    Grass root workers organisations will have to drive this change.

    So called renewable energy takes a lot of oil to set up in place and maintain so don’t be fooled by the words.

    For every person in NZ we consume 1.81 litres of fuel a day or 660 litres a year.

    The demand for energy has to reduce rapidly. I see no policies anywhere to drive this imperative.

    It is not a matter of substituting fossil derived for other forms of harvesting energy.

    Since our reduction commitment our GHGs have continued to increase steadily.

    Workers organisations have a vital role in pushing for reduction of both GHG and demand for energy.

  4. Beyond just liquid fossil fuel consumption at 660 litres per capita used by all folk in NZ per year, we also have to increase this figure to over 1600 litres of crude oil per capita per annum. We rank number 12 globally. The USA ranks number one at a criminal level of consumption at over 4.39 litres per capita daily or over 1600 litres per capita per annum

    That is a lot of crap sucked out of the ground to fill the atmosphere with GHGs.

    But it doesn’t stop there.

    http://www.energymix.co.nz/our-consumption/new-zealands-consumption/

    As well in NZ we consume 4.7 billion litres of natural gas an equivalent to 800 litres of crude oil per capita per year.

    So why are we consuming all this and destroying our future.

    Is the product or service needed at the level or is there a better less wasteful way of addressing the demand, The demand may need suppressing.

    Business NZ and employers can’t handle this sort of thinking nor can economists.

    The workforce will need reorganising as we work though emissions reduction. It will also mean less hours of labour in some domains and more hours in areas where manual labour replaces fossil fuel consumption.

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