I. Just Transition: A Labour Response to Environmental Problems

POLICY 915
JUST TRANSITION TO A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY IN ENERGY
I.
Just Transition: A Labour Response to Environmental
Problems
As early as 1896, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius predicted that carbon dioxide
emissions from burning of coal would lead to global warming. In 1972, the first United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment identified climate change induced by
human beings as a pressing issue.
By the late 1990s the issue had hit home. Dramatic climate changes were linked to
equally dramatic events like the catastrophic flooding in the Quebec's Saguenay region
and in Manitoba's Red River valley. The great ice storm of 1998 that ravaged parts of
Ontario and Quebec caused billions of dollars of damage. A month after the ice storm
the federal government set up a National Climate Change Secretariat.
Industrialized countries cannot continue to do business as usual. Intensive
industrialization has improved our quality of life, but at a cost. When our forests, lakes
and oceans are endangered, so are the life systems we rely on for our very survival -the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil we depend upon to grow food. Our
previous path was not sustainable. As a society, we need to rethink the way we treat the
Earth. We need a TRANSITION to sustainable development.
The World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable
development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. The labour movement recognizes that we
need to move toward sustainable development.
Sustainability must integrate three components: social, economic and environmental.
Sustainable development usually involves combining two of these -- economic and
environmental -- in decision-making. But as workers, we know that the social
component is crucial. Solutions to environmental problems all too often involve plant
closures, layoffs and social devastation of industrial communities. Workers and their
communities too often bear the brunt of changes required to protect the environment.
This is fundamentally unfair. We need a JUST transition to sustainable
development.
The CEP must ensure that solutions to environmental problems address the interests of
workers and the communities where they live. The cost of change should be fairly
distributed throughout society. No worker should be asked to choose between his/her
livelihood or the environment. Sustainable employment must be part of the solution
along with a sustainable economy and healthy ecosystems. Just Transition is about
planning for these changes in a fair and equitable way.
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Major environmental problems are linked to the extraction, production and use of some
energy sources. Addressing them may jeopardize jobs. Climate change caused by
greenhouse gas accumulation is a particular concern. To face this challenge,
industrialized countries have decided to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Jobs in the
fossil fuel industries may be at risk, depending on how the transition is undertaken.
The CEP recognizes that a Just Transition Program is necessary for workers in the
energy industry as well as in downstream energy-related industries. The focus of this
policy document is the development and implementation of a Just Transition program in
these industries. Further work will be required on industrial policy and environmental
problems linked to the energy industry.
Our union is determined to promote solutions that will protect workers, employment, and
communities. We see this commitment as inseparable from our commitment to
sustainable development. It reflects a basic belief of trade unionists: People should
participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
Statement of Principles
A Just Transition Program is guided by the following principles:
1)
Sustainable employment and economic development
A sustainable economy is one which provides stable employment over time. It is based
on sustainable production that respects the health and social well-being of workers as
well as the health of the environment. It means quality jobs in production systems that
produce safe, durable products.
2)
Sustainable unions and the labour movement
The labour movement has long had a vision of a better society for all. We have
struggled for decades for decent wages and working conditions for individual workers.
Ours is also a social vision: We have fought for social programs like medicare and
unemployment insurance that benefit everyone. The fight for a Just Transition continues
this tradition. By developing a progressive program for good jobs, stable communities
and a clean environment, we will help to make our union attractive to unorganized
workers while boosting our credibility as efforts to solve our environmental problems
continue.
3)
Sustainable communities and society
Environmental justice requires balancing the concerns of citizens and communities with
environmental and economic needs. Equitable decision-making on environmental
problems and resource and land use requires participation by all -- particularly those
who will be most directly affected. We are committed to social stability and a good
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quality of life for all. Just as our natural resources should benefit all Canadians, the
costs of solving environmental problems must be fairly distributed.
4)
Sustainable resource use and healthy ecosystems
A healthy society and economy depend on the health of natural ecosystems. The
priority must be the preservation of these natural systems for future generations,
assuring that the capacity of air, water, land to support life is enhanced -- not degraded.
Where ecosystems have been degraded, they must be restored. Biological diversity is
as valuable as economic diversity, so that genetic, species and ecosystem diversity is
vital.
5)
Society's right to decide on environmental issues
Society and its citizens have the right and the responsibility to make decisions on
environmental hazards, even where absolute scientific proof of harm is not yet
available. But too often, public policies are decided by private interests like transnational
corporations and their lobbyists who claim that they should be allowed to continue doing
business as usual until it is proven beyond any doubt that the environment is being
degraded. We must ensure that public policies are developed for the common good in
consultation with everyone affected, including the labour movement.
II.
A Just Transition Program
Environmental protection is a priority for a majority of Canadians, just as occupational
health and safety are a priority in the workplace environment. As a union, we must
protect our members from any negative effects of environmental protection, just as we
protect ourselves from hazardous substances on the job. The key is participation in the
decisions that affect our lives.
Just Transition Program
The objective is to meet the needs of the communities and workers affected by the
moves to minimize the environmental impacts of industry.
The first priority is to ensure that governments and industries start long term planning to
modify, modernize or retrofit production so that it becomes sustainable. To this end,
governments and employers need to invest in research and development. Investment in
best available technologies is the best indication that employers are committed to
operating in a community for the long term. When modification is not possible,
transferring workers to another unionized plant must be an alternative. Appropriate
training and relocation funds must be available. Shutdown can only be a last resort.
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Key Elements of a Just Transition Program
•
There is no single Just Transition program. Any specific solutions must be adaptable
enough to accommodate a wide variety of needs. There will be different types of
transition programs according to circumstances, and the issues at stake.
•
Workers and their unions need to play an active role in addressing environmental
problems. We have knowledge and expertise that no other group in society
possesses with regard to hazards produced by industry. Our contribution is essential
to defining problems and finding solutions.
•
Governments must involve workers and their unions when considering changes in
environmental regulation. A detailed analysis of employment impacts and
employment adjustment must be mandatory for every environmental spending
program and regulatory change. Funding must be specifically allocated to worker
adjustment and assistance.
•
On the employers' side, any environmental approval or compliance certificate must
include a local adjustment plan. Legislation requires that some employers set aside
funds for clean-up of contaminated land after closure of a plant or mine. The same
principle should apply for the protection of workers and communities. Society needs
to recognize that human cost liabilities accompany environmental cost liabilities. In
the same way that employment standards have long been established, minimum
standards for local adjustment plans must be set. For projects with limited life spans
such as mines, transition mechanisms must be part of the environmental
assessment process.
•
Communities must be part of a Just Transition program. When plants close for
environmental reasons, it is not only workers who suffer. Municipalities lose taxes
and this lack of revenue can threaten their ability to invest in needed infrastructure,
and essential services. Communities lose their economic base and suffer a
disproportionate impact compared to the rest of society. The labour movement must
work with community and municipal representatives to implement a Just Transition
Program at the community level.
•
Different levels of government, in collaboration with employers, the labour movement
and community groups must develop economic strategies that are environmentally
sustainable. Such strategies would be supported by community economic
development programs, promotion of environmentally constructive technology, the
development of green industries and environmental regulation. They must be
supported by regulatory and financial incentives that encourage employers to
convert to environmentally sustainable operations.
•
Public and private investment in research and development of green technologies
will be necessary in our move towards sustainable production. Economic -- including
value added local production, worker-based enterprises such as co-ops, and new
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community-based enterprises -- is essential for single industry communities.
Displaced workers must have preferential hiring rights when green industries receive
public funding.
•
Workers will need new skills and retraining in the face of transition to a sustainable
economy. Yet educational and retraining services are being eroded. We need to
reverse this trend, making education and training economically accessible to those
who need them. The public education system should be a partner with the labour
movement in tailoring education and training to best fit its members' needs.
Moreover, we need a national program that identifies occupational qualifications and
provides vocational assistance to workers seeking to change occupations.
The Needs of Displaced Workers
Assessing the needs of displaced workers is the first essential step when a workplace
closes or shrinks. These needs include:
•
Support for sustainable jobs in all sectors, including both the public and private
sectors, manufacturing, resource and service industries. This may include
supporting industries that implement alternative production processes and/or
subsidizing the wages of workers displaced from higher wage industries.
•
Support for re-employment. We must ease the transition to new employment through
career planning and advice. Displaced workers should receive preferential hiring in
emerging industries.
•
Protection of income for up to four years. During the Just Transition period, workers
need to maintain their status as employees. If employment income is less than in
displaced jobs or if there is no alternative work, workers need to maintain
classifications, with enhanced contributory earnings, to Canada Pension Plan/
Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and private pension plans.
•
Workers having the option of "bridging" to pension with no benefit reductions where
it makes sense.
•
Education and training for career development, including subsidization for a
maximum of four years at full living wages. Such subsidies should also permit
workers to pursue educational directions not usually subsidized because they are
not viewed as being likely to result in quick employment. Our objective is the widest
possible range of choices for the displaced workers.
The Funding of a Just Transition Program
The costs of environmental change need to be fairly distributed. Workers alone should
not be asked to bear the ultimate costs of environmental improvements. A Just
Transition Fund, jointly managed by unions, governments and employers, must be
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established to assist all workers and communities affected. Funding sources can
include Employment Insurance, programs of Human Resources Development Canada,
a portion of existing taxes, employers, international agencies and other appropriate
sources. As an example, a percentage of existing taxes and royalties collected on fossil
fuel energy sources and uses could be redirected to the Fund.
Eligibility to the Just Transition Program
Two groups of workers should be eligible for funding support. Workers in industries
directly affected by environmental regulation or change would be automatically eligible
for Just Transition assistance. Also eligible would be workers indirectly affected,
including people who work for suppliers dealing exclusively or almost exclusively with
the affected industry. This second category would also include the working population in
single-industry communities where the principal employer is affected. The basis for
eligibility would be a reasonable link between environmental change and job loss or
worker dislocation.
Although workers would be the primary focus, funds could also be distributed to
communities directly. They could also be used to support hiring displaced workers into
"sunrise" industries or supplementing their income.
III.
CEP: A Voice in Establishing a Just Transition Program
We must ensure that public policy decisions aimed at protecting the environment are
made by the public, not by private interests. It is in the interest of all Canadians,
including workers, to protect the common good.
We will ensure that the labour movement is a key player in defining public policies. Just
Transition needs to be an integral part of every major environmental debate. CEP must
also ensure that Just Transition is central to the delivery and implementation of
environmental projects, initiatives and legislative programs.
We have to promote Just Transition as a central element in discussions of
environmental change. Our active contribution to this debate will assist the public in
recognizing justice for workers as part of the transition to sustainable development. To
do this effectively, we must persuade governments and employers that this serious
concern must be addressed as part of environmental planning.
The CEP will campaign actively for a Just Transition. The campaign requires a
communication strategy that will sensitize the public to our concerns. This
communications strategy will involve alliances with community groups and
environmentalists. Our Just Transition Program must address the needs of communities
and working class people at large, strengthening the labour movement by underlining
our commitment to the public good. A Just Transition campaign can build our credibility,
helping us to organize the unorganized.
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IV.
A Just Transition Program in the Energy Industry
Energy is vital to our economy, particularly in a cold climate. It represents seven per
cent of our Gross Domestic Product and is a crucial factor in virtually all the goods and
services we produce and consume.
The extraction, processing and consumption of traditional energy sources have created
major environmental problems -- climate change, toxic waste, smog, radiation and loss
of wildlife habitat. While large corporations that do not hesitate to damage the
environment are responsible for a large part of our problems, the full story is more
complex. Environmental problems are also created by consumer choices. Toxic
products affect the natural environment as well as workers inside plants and citizens
who live near them. Often, tackling a specific environmental problem means developing
a health and safety program for workers, a public health policy and an environmental
policy.
Tackling environmental problems can involve job loss. Implementation of the Kyoto
Protocol, created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will have a major impact on jobs
in the energy industry. One study estimates that the stabilization of greenhouse gas
emissions at 1990 levels by 2005, would lead to 7,000 jobs being lost in the industry.
On the other hand, another study calculates that introducing effective measures to
combat climate change will create 2 million new jobs over 15 years.
V.
A CEP Just Transition Program for Workers and
Communities relying on the Energy and Energy Related
Industries
As the principal union representing energy workers in Canada, CEP regards a Just
Transition Program as a priority. We are committed to giving voice to energy workers
and communities where they live when decisions that affect them are taken by
governments and employers. Workers need a seat at the table.
Key elements of this program
•
The CEP will work with governments, employers and other stakeholders to develop
a Just Transition Program in the energy industry. The CEP will develop a plan of
action to implement this Program.
•
The CEP will work to develop a jointly managed Just Transition Fund that can be
used for our members in the energy industry, the communities where they live and
downstream industries.
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•
The CEP will continue researching and developing positions on environmental
problems linked to energy and its related industries. Forecasting potential
environmental problems will allow us to develop timely positions and take the lead in
defining solutions. CEP will research such solutions by gathering information on the
best available technologies used to reduce or eliminate different pollution sources.
Local Unions will be able to use our research and policy positions to work with their
employers to reduce environmental impacts.
•
The CEP will develop a communication plan to publicize our position on Just
Transition and the Energy Just Transition Program.
•
The CEP will remain the biggest union in Canada in representing energy workers by
continuing to organize workers in new industries linked to production of alternative
energy sources as well as in the traditional energy industry.
•
The CEP takes an international perspective by committing to the implementation of
Just Transition programs in both industrialized countries and developing countries.
Multinational corporations too often sidestep environmental regulations in rich
countries by transferring dirty production to third world countries. We will work with
our allies at the international level to ensure that clean production and best available
technologies -- together with financial incentives to use them -- are available to
industries everywhere. Decent international labour standards must be respected and
implemented in all countries. These include the rights to unionize and to earn fair
wages in good working conditions. Poor wages should not be used by developing
countries to attract industries.
•
Canada should do more to promote energy conservation as well as the best use of
energy sources and the products derived from them. Energy is becoming a rare
resource. Traditional sources of energy are diminishing at the same time that a
growing number of people on earth are dependent on them.
•
Private industry has been given the right to extract and use public natural resources.
All Canadians should benefit through fair royalties and income taxes and by
expanded job creation.
•
Special attention must be given to Alberta. This province will be the hardest hit by
the implementation of the Kyoto Treaty to reduce greenhouse gases.
VI.
•
Recommendations on the Just Transition program
The Executive Board should set up a Just Transition Implementation Committee on
Energy. This committee can also develop positions on environmental issues as
needed.
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•
The Executive Board should decide what other industries will be examined in the
light of sustainable development and Just Transition.
•
The Executive Board should consider ways of expanding the principles contained in
Just Transition so that these principles can be developed for workers and
communities affected by similar significant problems.
•
The Executive Board should ensure that resources are provided to carry out the
work on Just Transition.
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Annex I
Global Warming and the Kyoto Protocol
Traditional sources of energy have allowed many societies around the world to grow
and progress, but not without costs. Many pollutants are released into the air, water and
soil by extracting, processing and using traditional sources of energy. However
important these may be, it is climate change that has clearly emerged as one of the
main international priorities of the new millenium.
Global Warming: burning too much fossil fuel
The Earth's atmosphere is made up of a mixture of many gases. Our atmosphere traps
the sun's heat like a greenhouse, heating the surface of the earth and allowing life on
earth as we know it. But atmospheric build-up of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, is leading to an increase in global temperatures and
changing climatic patterns. Release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by
burning oil, gas and coal is upsetting the natural balance that has existed for thousands
of years. Today's atmosphere contains 40 per cent more carbon dioxide that it did at the
start of the industrial era. That level continues to grow. Most experts agree that average
global temperatures could rise by 1 to 3.5 degrees Celsius over the next century.
In Canada, possible consequences of this global warming include an increase in severe
weather events like droughts, winter storms and tornadoes; flooding and erosion in
coastal regions; greater invasion of insects, diseases and fires in our forests and farms,
and damage to our lakes, rivers and streams.
Global warming not only endangers the natural environment, it puts people's lives at
risk. Every year some 16,000 Canadians are estimated to be dying prematurely
because of air pollution that is produced mainly by burning fossil fuel. Excessively hot
weather can aggravate health problems when it is not a direct cause of death. For
example, 70 people die annually from hot weather in Toronto. Urban smog, produced by
pollution and heat, can permanently damage the lungs. The risk of respiratory disease
increases because the effects of grasses and allergenic pollens grow more powerful in
warmer weather. Children, the elderly and people with sensitive conditions like asthma
are hardest hit.
Society's solution to global warming: The Kyoto Protocol
Climate change is not a new problem but finding solutions is a hard and long process. In
1988, a major conference of scientists in Toronto called for a 20% cut in carbon dioxide
emissions by 2005. Following that conference, extended efforts by many groups led to
the Convention on Climate Change, presented at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro. Due to strong objections from the United States, the Convention did not include
legally binding limits on emissions.
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After Rio, governments worked for several years to strengthen the climate treaty by
adding limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, in Kyoto, Japan, in December
1997, 160 countries around the world, including Canada, committed to reduce gas
emissions of industrialized countries to an overall reduction of 5.2% below the 1990
level. Under the Kyoto Protocol, 38 developed countries and the countries in transition
in Eastern and Central Europe are expected to meet individual targets between 2008
and 2012. Canada needs to reduce its emissions to 6% below the 1990 level by this
period, the USA by 7% and many countries in Eastern and Central Europe by 8%.
But Canadian greenhouse gas emissions have kept rising. A reduction of 6% in
greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 level will translate in a reduction of 26% by
2010.1
1
Canada's Emissions Outlook: An Update, National Climate Change Process Analysis and
Modelling Group, December 1999, p. 42
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Six greenhouse gases are regulated under the Kyoto Protocol. 2
2
A Guide to Kyoto: Climate Change and What it Means to Canadians,International Institute for
Sustainable Development, 1998, p. 3
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To reach their target, industrialized countries will have to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions by installing energy efficient machinery and clean-up processes for
industries, as well as using alternative sources of energy. But the Kyoto Protocol also
plans to introduce flexible mechanisms, so that countries can reach their emission
targets in the most cost effective ways. These flexible mechanisms are presently under
negotiation and involve:
–
Investing in activities which store carbon such as planting trees;
–
Trading of emission reductions of greenhouse gases between countries. It
provides for countries with a commitment under the Protocol to buy and sell units
of emission reductions amongst themselves.
–
Clean development mechanism and joint implementation. The Clean
development mechanism provides an incentive for industrialized countries to
invest in initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing
countries. Credit for such savings can be shared between the countries. Under
Joint implementation, projects can be developed in partnership among developed
countries and nations in transition in Central and Eastern Europe.
Compliance regimes and flexible mechanisms are still in negotiation and should be
completed by November 2000. The Protocol will go into force if it is ratified by 55
countries representing at least 55 per cent of emissions from industrialized countries.
Canada has not ratified the Protocol yet. When ratified, the Kyoto Protocol will go
beyond voluntary emission control and will be legally binding for reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions.
A National Climate Change Strategy: the Canadian response to global
warming
Following the Kyoto Conference, the federal government has established a National
Climate Change Secretariat in February 1998. It reports to the Deputy Ministers of
Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada. In coordination with the
provinces, it analyses the implications for Canada of complying with the Kyoto Protocol,
the options for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the adaptations to climate
change. To do so, 450 experts have been grouped in 16 Issue Tables/Groups
representing sectors involved in climate change, such as electricity, transportation and
municipalities. Options will be reviewed and analysed to determine which actions
Canada will undertake regarding the Kyoto Protocol.
Montreal Convention
September 2000
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