At the webinar which we held on 24 August we had four great speakers:
Sarah Boyack, chairing, drew on her experiences as an MSP in the last Scottish Parliament and reflected on the strength of a shared voice of trade unions and climate organisations. She hoped that the new Parliament, with 62 new MSPs, would now get on with “the task of creating the new jobs and the public ownership that will benefit everybody”.
Richard Hardy, National Secretary for Scotland of Prospect said that after 8 years on the Just Transition Commission, they could point to lots of good reports but very few wins for workers. He hoped that we see a change in approach from the government’s slavish adherence to the market. “If it was going to deliver a just transition it would have done it by now”.
Dave Moxham, speaking for the Scottish Trades Union Congress, called for interventionist Scottish Government action for job creation, including monitoring and enforcement of contractors in energy supply chains. All its agencies should engage on future-proofing industry with the participation of their workers – “if you don’t have the workers with you, you may have them against you” he said.
Caroline Rance of Friends of the Earth Scotland showed how climate denial was putting at risk up to 500,000 jobs in the UK. “Reversing ‘Net Zero’ policies won’t bring back old jobs”, but the right policies done the right way “can bring good new jobs across the country and benefits for everyday lives”, she said, using examples of buses, renewables generation and home insulation.