Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) Newsletter No. 40 – September 2022

Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) Newsletter No. 40 – September 2022:

Introduction

The Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) came into existence as a result of funding from Battersea and Wandsworth TUC. The GJA was launched to promote skills training and job creation to meet the needs of Britain’s rapidly growing low carbon sectors and to green the whole economy. The transition to a low carbon and resource efficient economy can drive sustainable economic recovery and job creation in every part of the country as well as making existing jobs more secure. But this requires a more strategic national and local approach to deliver the workforce skills needed and to stimulate demand for clean energy and energy efficiency services.

The Greener Jobs Alliance liaises at a national and local level to build the broadest possible support for the policies, investment, partnerships and commitments needed to drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Greener Jobs Alliance liaises with training bodies, colleges, universities, employers, local and national Government, trade unions, housing associations, campaign and community groups – to build the policies, investment and partnerships needed to drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

GJA ‘free’ Courses:

The GJA runs a number of ‘free’ courses on the environment for Trade Union Reps in different parts of the UK which have been attended by a number of CWU Reps with details published in the newsletter. Link to GJA Courses:https://greenerjobsalliance.co.uk/courses/

GJA Founder Graham Petersen:

The founder GJA Secretary and Newsletter editor was Graham Petersen who is well known to the CWU and has a long standing working relationship with the Union. He is a former TUC tutor and course designer who created safety reps training courses and the successful TUC Occupational Health & Safety Diploma Course. He was the head of the Trade Union Studies Centre at South Thames College before retirement from the post and has been a visitor and guest speaker at CWU events and meetings. After 30 editions, Graham stood down at the GJA AGM last year and has handed over to Paul Atkin as newsletter editor and Tahir Latif as GJA Secretary. Graham remains a GJA Steering Group member and is now working part time for the Wales TUC having recently written a publication for them ‘Greener workplaces for a just transition – a Wales TUC toolkit for trade unionists’ which was circulated by the CWU Health, Safety and Environment Department.

Paul Atkin Editorial GJA Newsletter Issue 40 – “Everything they touch turns to Truss”:

In this edition Paul Atkin in his editorial focuses on Liz Truss who he describes as “Our new and unimproved Prime Minister” pointing out that Truss opposes onshore wind power generation and plans aggressive new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and that she will try to have another go at ‘fracking’ – motivated by the current increase in costs for oil, gas and rocketing energy costs – hitting ordinary working people, the consumers whilst producers pocket massive profits. Paul argues that going for increased oil and gas extraction is suicidal for the climate and will have no impact on household costs. Onshore and offshore wind, and solar energy generation, can be expanded far more quickly, will reduce carbon emissions and bills, but would also dent the profitability of the fossil fuel producers, for whom Truss seems nervously protective. Their profits are huge, and Truss seems to want these greedy companies to keep them. Last week, the TUC released figures showing and exposing the excess profits for UK based fossil fuel producers totally £170 billion in the next two years. A windfall tax on that at the rate currently applied in Norway (56%) would raise £90 billion. The 78% Norway is considering would raise £132 billion. And these are excess profits; so, taxing the lot at 100% couldn’t be described as unreasonable, even by opponents of public ownership. Even the lowest of these rates would pay for Labour’s proposed £26 billion investment to insulate our housing stock by 2035 three times over, with £12 billion left over to insulate the schools and hospitals also. Similarly, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the widespread resistance to insulation is because insulated homes reduce bills by reducing demand for an otherwise profitable product.

Contents GJA Newsletter 40:

Editorial
TUC Motions Round Up and Fringe Meeting
An appeal to local authorities and TUs
If they can do it, why can’t we? Cheap public transport fares
Energy Professionals Survey shows no confidence in government
National Audit Office critique of skills policy
Joint unions action on heat
ITUC News
International Climate Jobs Conference
CACCTU Activist Workshops
LGND Worker Climate Conference
TUC Courses
UK100 Conference
New on the Blog this month
Green Bites

GJA at the TUC:

The GJA (Greener Jobs Alliance) had scheduled a co-hosted fringe meeting at TUC Conference with CACCTU (Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group) before the TUC was postponed until October. GLA and CACCTU will hopefully re-schedule the event at the re-scheduled TUC with speakers from the Trade Unions, Friends of the Earth, Greener Jobs Alliance and Campaign Against Climate Change. RMT and other unions will address the link between the climate and the cost of living crises.

See Page 1 of the GJA September Newsletter 40.

Link to the CACCTU Website: https://www.cacctu.org.uk/

GJA – “A trade union guide to action on local authority retrofit and energy”

In July the Climate Change Committee described the government’s record on energy efficiency as ‘shocking’. Read: ‘A trade union guide to action on local authority retrofit and energy’ – The Greener Jobs Alliance believes greater union engagement with local authorities on climate policies is essential and have published a new guide. In this guide the GJA uses their experience of working with the TUC, individual unions, and the education sector to offer practical suggestions for taking this forward.

See copy of GJA – ‘A trade union guide to action on local authority retrofit and energy’ attached.

GJA & Double Down News – ‘Mick Lynch RMT General Secretary on Rail Strikes and the Climate Crisis’

Covered by the GJA is an excellent and informative video recording of RMT general Secretary Mick Lynch. With a government aiming for managed decline of the rail network, Mick Lynch explains the RMT’s vision for an ‘integrated’ publicly owned UK Transport system of rail, bus and ferry services owned by and serving the UK public and benefitting the environment rather than ‘fat-cat’ private shareholders pocketing huge profits at the public’s expense in terms of cost, health and environmental damage.

See page 7 of the GJA September Newsletter 40.

The link to the interview: https://greenerjobsalliance.co.uk/the-future-for-rail/

Quote of the Month:

“No progressive vision of society can be built on the fossil economy because the fossil economy is death”

(Antonio Gutierres UN Secretary General)

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