Greener workplaces for a Just Transition
The aim of this toolkit is to help union officers and reps in England who want to take action on the climate emergency, future-proof their jobs, and negotiate for greener and fairer workplaces. It is designed to support the voice of workers and their unions.
It provides information, tools and ideas to campaign, organise and raise awareness. It also includes negotiating and bargaining checklists on different areas of workplace sustainability. It aims to ensure that workers, through their unions, have a central voice in the changes that will be needed in every workplace to ensure a just transition to a greener and fairer UK.
This resource is designed to be used on TUC and union training courses, as well as to support action in the workplace and at community level.
This toolkit covers:
Section one: Introduction
- Understanding the climate and nature crisis
- Climate change and social justice
- Nature loss
- What is a just transition and why is it a trade union issue?
- International action to address the climate and nature crisis
- UK level action to address the climate and nature crisis
Section two: What unions can do
- The role of the green rep
- Developing transition plans and agreements
- Environmental management systems, labelling and accreditation
- Negotiating on environmental issues
- Awareness raising
- Planning for the future’s skills needs
- Anchor institutions
- Wider community engagement
Section three: Workplace issues
- Adaptation and resilience
- Air pollution
- Biodiversity: supporting nature in the workplace
- Carbon management
- Building upgrades: heating, cooling, ventilation, and insulation
- Lighting and electrical equipment
- Finance and investment
- Homeworking
- Offsetting
- Procurement and supply chain
- Renewable energy
- Resource efficiency – reduce, reuse, recycle
- Travel
- Water
Section four: Tools and resources
- Example greener workplaces survey
- Transport review survey
- Quick checklists
- Model green claim
- Model joint environment and climate change agreement
- Climate emergency declaration checklist
- Transition agreement/model green new deal (GND) letter
- Green/environment rep appointment form
- Extreme weather and model collective agreement
- Sources of further information
- Glossary of terms
- References
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