The Council of Trade Unions has today set outits agenda for climate and just transition policies for 2020 and into the newparliamentary term after next year’s election, with the release of ten keyactions for government to pick up.
“NextSteps on just transition to good, green jobs” was launched at CTUBiennial Conference today in Wellington, during a panel involving a worker fromthe Taranaki energy sector, the national spokesperson for School Strike 4Climate and representatives from CTU Rūnanga and CTU Komiti Pasefika.
“Working people in union are committed toensuring we take action to protect our planet. ‘Next steps on a just transitionto good, green jobs” provides the detailed agenda required,” CTUSecretary Sam Huggard said.
“At an economy-wide level a number of thekey levers for a just transition are in place. The need for economicdiversification is understood, and support and funding are in place to assistthis. For working people, however, it’s not enough to just know that the newjobs are there, they need to see a dedicated plan to manage the change processfor themselves and their workmates.”
The CTU’s ten policy areas for the CoalitionGovernment to address are:
– Fund the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap
– Support the participation of Māori in drivingjust transition processes
– Implement the Welfare Expert Advisory Group’srecommendations on active labour market policies
– Progress universal access to redundancycompensation
– Raise sufficient revenue to fund thetransition
– Use the purchasing power of key government fundsto ensure good jobs
– Ensure working people have a seat at thetable where the transition is being planned
– Ensure that the costs of climate mitigationpolicies do not hurt the poor
– Ensure the Climate Commission has justtransition as a key focus
– Commitment to a just transition processes inNew Zealand’s National Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement
“From the people building our wind farmsto the people developing solutions to how we use our precious naturalresources, to people working to keep us healthy as a changing climateintroduces new health challenges. Ensuring that all jobs are good jobs; goodfor people and the planet is essential. Together we can ensure that theyare.”
