In 2024, Britain’s Trade Union Congress voted to back a Year of Trade Union Climate Action, engaging with community and climate justice groups. Major unions are promoting participation by their members and affiliates. A statement for the campaign says:
It needs all of us
Trade unions need to stand up for our class. All workers, their families and communities are at risk from extreme temperatures and weather events, and global food shortages. We also have essential knowledge about how to build a better, safer future: a public transport system accessible to all, training young people, protecting nature, growing food, and securing a just transition for workers in high carbon sectors, moving towards public ownership of key sectors like energy.
This is a social justice issue
Those who are already losing lives and livelihoods to climate breakdown have done the least to cause the problem. In the UK, as elsewhere, the worst impacts will fall on the disabled, elderly and young, racialized people and those on the lowest incomes. We need to stand together in global solidarity with workers and communities around the world, while demanding climate solutions that help those most in need here in the UK.
The market can’t solve this
We’ve seen the failures of relying on privatization and market solutions. We need climate jobs; investment in renewable energy and home insulation as the only way to get energy bills down and keep them down; we need to move towards public ownership and democratic control of energy and other crucial services. What we don’t need is another decade of austerity.
Making our voices heard
The ultra-wealthy and corporate media claim to speak for working people but are only interested in lining their pockets. They want to scrap regulations that protect workers, keep our air and water clean and tackle climate change. We can only oppose them successfully by coming together and organizing, within our workplaces, across sectors, and in communities, raising our voices to demand action.