On 20 September hundreds of thousands of young people will take
part in the latest of the climate strikes
inspired by Greta Thunberg, the
Finnish school student who decided to strike in protest at the lack of action
and urgency by governments on climate change.
Several of these school student climate strikes have taken
place this year in Scotland with protests organised
in George Square in Glasgow and at Holyrood in
Edinburgh. However the 20 September strike breaks new ground following Greta’s call
for adults to join them. This has sometimes been expressed as a call for a
general strike but some people have called on companies to also support the
action.
Members of UNISON in Scotland have been active on climate
change issues for some years, initiating the national union’s campaign for
pension funds to divest
from fossil fuels and setting up a Green Network
for activists to come together to discuss how to take the issues up in the
union and with employers. Last year, they organised a Green UNISON Day where
branches held
activities to raise awareness of the issues.
This year, the Green
UNISON Day coincides with the 20 September Climate Strike Day and is a real
opportunity for branches and activists to make the issue a priority for our
members and our employers.
Due to our draconian anti-trade union laws UNISON and other
trade unions are unable to call for strike action. However there is nothing to
prevent workers taking annual leave or flexi-leave on the day to join school
students marching in the streets to demand action.
Green UNISON Day creates opportunities for a wide range of
activities which will demonstrate not only solidarity with young people taking
action across the world but also practical steps to get union members and
employers working to address the real climate emergency that confronts us all.
Scottish UNISON Branches are already making plans and these
include:
·
Lunch time gatherings, meetings and lobbies.
·
Inviting school strikers to address workplace
or branch meetings. UNISON’s Glasgow City Branch have gone further and after
inviting a school climate striker to speak to the branch have given financial
assistance and asked other Glasgow branches to do likewise.
·
Promoting the day by publicising it to members
in advance and in particular briefing members in schools on the Climate Strike movement, encouraging them to be
supportive of school students taking action
·
Taking actions in support of UNISON’s campaign
for Pension Funds to divest from fossil fuels, writing to Pension Fund
Committees and Boards and local Councillors
·
Planting trees as symbolic of the need to
restore forests
·
Publicising UNISON policy
on Councils taking a lead on renewable energy by setting up Municipal Energy
Companies to generate and locally distribute electricity
·
Calling on employers to declare a Climate
Emergency and for Councils to work with UNISON and other unions, public
sector bodies, employers and communities to devise plans within six months to
address the emergency.
The past few weeks of extreme weather with record high temperatures
followed by days of torrential rain disrupting train and road travel,
threatening infrastructure like dams,
has illustrated that climate change has already arrived and that the climate emergency
that Greta and others have been protesting about is already here.
It is working people and the poor who will suffer
most. Faced to live and work in increasingly difficult environments, prices
of travel and food increasing, public service money to be diverted to repair
and protect bridges, rail tracks and roads from weather damage, will force us
all to pay for the climate crisis just as we paid for the banking crisis.
Whilst the rich can afford their air-conditioning and moving to areas away from
flood risks, working people will continue to suffer when temperatures soar and
be given sandbags when flood waters rise.
UNISON branches participating in the Green UNISON Day, supporting
the school strikers and demanding action from employers and governments are
showing a lead to other trade unions.
Stephen Smellie, Depute Convener, UNISON Scotland.
.
