Green Workplaces Newsletter August 2014

Issue date

01 Sep 2014

GreenWorkplaces News

Aug 2014

Organising

TUC Congress fringe Monday 8 September: Climate change - What the world needs now…

12.30 to 13.45, Room Hall A, BT Convention Centre, Liverpool.

Chair: Sue Ferns, TUC General Council
Rt. Hon. Caroline Flint MP, shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change.
Gail Cartmail, Deputy General Secretary, Unite
Dave Green, National Officer, Fire Brigades’ Union

Conference Saturday 20 September: The International Fight for Climate Jobs

Tower Building, London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road, London, N7. Launch of new 1m climate jobs report

“The union effect: greening the workplace”

The key message at the TUC’s 10^th annual green reps conference in July was that greening the workplace is core union business.

The world of work took part, with over 120 shop stewards, policy and employers’ reps from EDF, Tata Steel, Natural England, Fujitsu, BAE Systems, Britannia Hotels, Allianz, Royal Mail, BT, Defra, Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Port of Felixstowe, Croydon Council, HMRC, South Thames College, Babcock International and many more besides.

You can view the storify at: https://storify.com/TUCeconomics/the-union-effect-greening-the-workplace...

The conference launched a new Labour Research Department report, “The Union Effect: Greening the Workplace” and welcomed shadow energy minister, Tom Greatrex MP to the debate.

The chair, Sue Ferns, Director of Research at Prospect recounted that at a recent meeting with Caroline Flint MP, Caroline had challenged the unions to set out the “business case” for green reps being given statutory rights. Sue, TUC General Council lead on sustainability, told the packed room: “‘The Union Effect’ is our answer to that challenge.” The report sets out our credentials and backs up our case for rights.

Kay Carberry, TUC Assistant General Secretary, talked about the crucial contribution unions make to sustainability at work, the case for statutory rights and the need for all of us to work together to build a low-carbon economy.

Union effect cover

Kay pointed out that “building greener workplaces is absolutely central to some of the big challenges facing all of us: how we tackle the increasingly dangerous threat of climate change; how we make the most of our limited energy resources; and how we rebalance our economy towards a cleaner, greener future”.

Kay, singled out UCU’s project at the Furzedown low-carbon zone featured in the report, called it “a great example of trade unions, the local community and an employer joining together to promote sustainability”.

Before Tom Greatex took to the platform, Kay emphasized the need for rights for green reps pointedly stating: “Give us the tools to do the job and we’ll do it. We’ve shown what we can do on health and safety…we’ve shown what we can do on workforce skill……give us the chance to show what we can do on workplace sustainability”.

Tom Greatrex MP also focused on the rights and responsibilities of trade union reps in building sustainable workplaces as well as outlining Labour’s energy policy.

Acknowledging that unions are in a unique position to influence and bring about change in the workplace he said that: “real lasting behavioural change is the key to real lasting environmental change ….making changes in behaviour comes down to those at grassroots”. He recognized that unions had an important role to play in “challenging accepted wisdom and statements by less enlightened employers”. He praised the Port of Felixstowe, featured in the Union Effect, for its reduction in CO2. The Port has reduced its carbon emissions by 12.5% since 2007 and is on its the way to achieving a target of 30% by 2017.

Tom also challenged the government’s policies on energy – the energy market was clearly not working and he advocated ring fencing between supply and generation and regulating the Big 6 energy companies. He confirmed Labour’s commitment to the 2030 deadline to decarbonise energy in the power sector and called for the creation of an energy security board to guard consumer interest.

On carbon capture and storage, he accused the government of negligence in not driving CCS technology: “the only currently developed way to reduce industrial carbon emissions”.

But perhaps it was on the subject of green reps that delegates were most eager to hear what the Shadow energy minister had to say. Tom challenged unions asking “how do the trade unions fit into the current energy framework and how do we make space for the human approach in government policy”. The union answer to this is simple – grant green reps statutory rights.

The Union Effect makes not only the environmental but also the business case for unions working jointly with management. It adds further weight to a growing evidence base of collective initiatives making a difference in energy and resource use at work.

The report shows workplace progress in cutting CO₂ emissions at:

· Allianz Insurance: down by 54.8% per employee between 2006 and 2013

· Defra: down by 12% per employee between 2009/10 and 2012

· EDF Energy: down by 32% per employee from commercial buildings between 2006 and 2013

· Great Ormond Street: fell from 2007 to 2011 but then rose in 2012

· Felixstowe: down by 11.9% per container between 2007 and 2011.

Unions aren’t laying claim to the full credit for these achievements, just arguing that working together helps ensure employers join the transition to a low carbon, sustainable future.

The case studies in The Union Effect show measurable environmental progress and clear evidence of union involvement. Unions are able to show the benefits of change to more energy efficient equipment and procedures, including lower emission, vehicles; new boilers or CHP units; new cooling for data centres; and installing solar PV systems.

During the Q&A session that followed, Tom acknowledged the “good evidence base” set out in the new study.

UCU Congress launches green reps handbook

UCU launched its handbook for environment reps: ‘Staff Organising for Sustainability’ at its Congress in Manchester at the end of May. The guidance has been produced as a resource for existing reps and to help in the recruitment of more. The main message is that there can be no effective staff engagement without representation. A hard copy has been sent to all reps and branches and is available online.

UCU Congress also saw a well attended fringe meeting addressed by Charlotte Taylor from the NUS and Suzanne Jeffery from the Campaign Against Climate Change. Meanwhile, The Greenwich Community College’s climate change motion was passed unanimously. It reinforces UCU’s existing policy commitments “to encourage branches to elect green reps and bring to members' attention materials on climate change for use in curriculums and as campaigning materials, such as those produced by the Campaign for Climate Change”.

Green issues at Tolpuddle

by Keith Hatch, South-West Unionlearn

The organisers at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival always manage to make sure there is a wide range of debates and speakers at the festival. The 2014 event was no exception and included a timely debate on the need for green jobs that will provide sustainable employment without negative impact on the environment.

The key speaker at this debate was newly elected Green MEP for the South West, Molly Scott Cato. Molly is a Professor of Green Economics and led a fascinating and impassioned debate on the subject which raised a number of issues, not least of which was the rush towards fracking.

Speaking after the debate Molly said: “It was a pleasure to be invited to speak at Tolpuddle. Since being elected as MEP in May, I feel a particular attachment to this part of Dorset that inspired the growth of trade unions. The invitation came shortly after my first appearance on Any Questions, when I was able to speak warmly in favour of trade unions as an important source of protection for working people and encourage all listeners to join a trade union.”

Molly explained: “As a green economist I was deeply disappointed to see the ConDem government abolish the Agricultural Wages Board. It reinforces the position of the Conservatives as on the side of landowners rather than rural workers but is particularly disappointing on the part of the Liberal Democrats who hold many rural seats across the South West.”

Being a Green Party MEP Molly of course highlighted their policy in a number of areas, but it was interesting to hear how Greens would address rural issues and encourage employment in the countryside.

Molly said: “It was interesting to be part of a panel focused on future sustainable livelihoods in the countryside and to discover what we share and what areas we still need to discuss together. Greens and Socialists agree on the need for our political representatives to have a strong role in framing the economy, rather than leaving us the victims of what are falsely termed 'free markets'. In the context of Tolpuddle, I was able to raise some issues that have not been such a focus of socialist politics for a century or so: the issues of land taxation and land reform.”

Molly concluded that; “The Green Party sees land as part of our common wealth and so we have a policy of taxing those who hold and have the benefit of using land. We also need to review EU farm payments so that they go to smaller farmers rather than wealthy landowners. And we want to encourage a better distribution of land so that more rural people can work their own land either to feed their family or to sell food in local markets. We need to challenge the system of large estates controlled by absent landlords and share land fairly.”

Fruity Friday at AMEC Energy

by Will Aicken, Prospect Environment Rep

The AMEC office at Winfrith, Dorset took part in a Fruity Friday event on 16^th May. Organised nationally, the theme of the event was to promote healthy eating and lifestyles through the consumption of fruit and fruit based drinks, and in the process raise funds for a worthy charity, the World Cancer Research Fund.

So for a day, all staff were encouraged to part with their calorific and salt laden cakes and crisps and bring in a selection of fruit and healthy drinks to be sold during a bring and buy sale. Items on sale ranged from the familiar apples and bananas to more exotic lychee and kumquats. And in the spirit of Fruity Friday, staff were encouraged to wear yellow for the day (hi-viz vests did not qualify!)

In total, staff raised a grand total of £166. Plans are now afoot to make a wide selection of fruit available for purchase daily in the office tea-bar, in response to a recent staff survey. No doubt the event will be repeated next year!

UCU building networks

UCU regions and nations are being asked to provide up-to-date lists of environment reps to help support the development of networks in 2014-15. Branch AGMs have been targeted to identify the appointment of new reps.

The networks will help information exchange, development of joint campaigns, training activities, and recruiting new reps. UCU plans to hold an event for each one in the next academic year and reps and branches will be consulted on the arrangements.

Join UNISON and Save Our Buses

by Sarah Pearce, UNISON

Bus services are a vital public service but government cuts are placing them under threat. That's bad news for the public, who rely on buses, bad news for the economy and bad news for everyone who works for bus companies and passenger transport authorities.

That’s why UNISON is backing the Save Our Buses campaign, which seeks to highlight the impact of the government's cuts and promote the value of bus services.

Bus

As Dave Johnson, National Secretary at UNISON points out: “bus services are vital to people for many reasons – getting to work, schools, shopping, getting to the hospital. But they’re under threat as never before”.

Bus services taking a hit...

Communities outside major urban centres have been most badly hit. More than 1,000 services in these areas have already been reduced or withdrawn - that's one in five of all council-supported bus services.

Implications are huge. Bus services prevent social exclusion among the unemployed and people with disabilities. And it’s the low-paid and women who most likely to use buses.

Cuts

Bus services are being scaled back in different parts of the country. Over two-thirds of the 88 local authorities in England alone have already decided to make cutbacks to buses.

Many more bus services are likely to be lost as 77% of local transport authorities in England are either planning to, or cannot rule out, further cuts in the future.

It's worth remembering that buses account for two-thirds of all journeys by public transport, and the industry employs 123,000 people.

Socially necessary

The Campaign for Better Transport points out that local authorities provide subsidies for buses that are socially necessary but not commercially viable - but this is at risk because of a 28% cut to local authority transport revenue funding.

This is a real threat for the 25% of UK households who do not have access to a car. Even for rural households this figure is 10%; in built-up metropolitan areas it rises to 32% and in London 43%.

Climate change and emissions

But cuts to bus services are also bad news for the environment. Climate change means that we need to shift away from high carbon modes of transport, like driving, to lower carbon modes like public transport. Cuts to buses take us further away from meeting vital emissions reductions targets.

Research by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) points out that the “UK’s domestic transport emissions are still rising...buses offer a viable low carbon alternative to car use, but increasing bus patronage requires political will and financial support, which are both currently lacking.”

There are massive CO₂savings to be made:

· 130g CO₂ emissions per kilometre for car passengers, but 69g CO_{2 for} bus/coach passengers.

· City bus journeys are half the CO₂ emissions per passenger compared to the car.

· If car drivers switched from car to bus or coach for just one journey in 25 it would mean one billion less car journeys on our roads and a reduction of 2 million tonnes of CO₂.

Clearly, as CBT points out, as well as a shift out of cars and onto buses, other measures are needed: fuel efficient driving, improved efficiency, renewable energy use at bus depots and cleaner vehicles using low carbon technologies.

Buses and coaches run on existing infrastructure, and so are flexible. They can deliver additional capacity quickly with minimal additional costs. According to CBT, all the indications are that a modal shift from cars to buses could make a real impact to emissions reduction from the UK.

But as CBT state on their website, “in practice services decline and fares go up, people who have the option to are more likely to choose the car over the bus. Unless buses are properly supported by governments we will miss this very important opportunity to put the UK on the road to a low carbon future.”

You can find out more about the save our buses campaign on the UNISON website and at: http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/save-our-buses/sob-campaign-pack . You can also follow @SaveOurBuses_UK on Twitter.

Unionlearn linking with CommunitiesLiving Sustainably

by Keith Hatch, Unionlearn.

Communities Living Sustainably (CLS) is a national initiative that aims to encourage behaviour change among individuals and communities so they can cope better with the environmental, economic and social impacts of a changing climate.

Twelve community partnerships of public, private and voluntary sector bodies have been chosen across the country and awarded up to £1 million from the Big Lottery Fund. They aim to explore and develop ideas to make local communities more sustainable.

In Dorset, at the only CLS project in the South West, unionlearn have been attending consultation events to promote the need to engage with workers and employers.

CLS in Dorset is a partnership project led by Dorset Community Action, with a number of core activity partners including local councils, Dorset NHS, business groups and environmental organisations. The programme will be delivered in Bridport and Dorchester and their surrounding areas.

Unionlearn are emphasising the need to look at green skills and adaptation in the workplace in the face of the changes climate change will bring.

This CLS programme aims to build upon the many climate change and sustainability initiatives in West Dorset, and bring together various non-governmental organisations, community groups, local authorities and small businesses.

Keith Hatch from unionlearn said: “CLS projects offer an ideal opportunity for unions to engage with other groups around issues of sustainability in their community. It is important that workers have a voice in these discussions”. Keith continues: “At a recent consultation event in Bridport it was useful to be there to stress the impact climate change will have on jobs and the way people work. But it was just as important to highlight the opportunities a move to a low carbon economy could have with regard to skills.”

“I would encourage reps and branches to see if there is a CLS project in their local area and make sure they are invited to attend meetings.”

For a full list of where CLS projects are check out: www.communitieslivingsustainably.org.uk/profiles

Using your pension savings to protect the planet

by Sophia McNab, ShareAction

With over £3 trillion invested in the UK pensions industry, the decisions made by our pension funds shape the nature of our economy and the health of our planet. While we are saving for our future, our pensions are funding climate change. And by neglecting environmental issues, our pension funds aren’t just endangering our climate; they’re putting our savings at financial risk too. But it is our money and we have a right to say how it is used. Engaging with your pension provider is a powerful way to tackle climate change and build a greener workplace.

ShareAction offers free training on engaging with your pension provider on climate change. Interested in finding out more? Get in touch with ShareAction’s education officer, Sophia McNab at sophia@shareaction.org or check out the website http://shareaction.org/empowerprogramme

A training session is being held on 16^th September, 6-8:30pm, at ShareAction’s offices in London Bridge. RSVP to Sophia sophia@shareaction.org

ShareAction is a not-for-profit organisation working to mobilise the power of financial institutions to create a cleaner, fairer world. Their work is supported by a range of unions including CWU, Unison, Unite, Prospect, TSA and UCU.

People’s climate march – preparations underway

In the USA and UK preparations are underway to mobilise unions in the lead up to the UN summit in September.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is urging governments to support an ambitious global agreement to dramatically reduce global warming pollution.

Unions will take a stand alongside other civil society and campaigning organisations to demand a world with an economy that works for people and the planet, a world safe from the ravages of climate change, a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is helping to co-ordinate. The People’s Climate March in New York on 21 Sept is expected to be one the biggest held in the city.

Time to Act Campaign

The Campaign against Climate Change is mobilising for an event in London Met University on 20 September to coincide with the events in New York. The revised edition of the ‘One Million Climate Jobs’ pamphlet will be launched.

Global Labour Institute Summer School

The annual event in July at Northern College, Barnsley brought together trade unionists from all over the world. One of the sessions saw Sean Sweeney and Lara Skinner from TUED lead a climate debate with Gary Smith, National Officer of the GMB. Watch the video here:

http://usilive.org/iss14-unions-climate-change-and-the-great-inaction/

Policy

Motions at Congress 2014

The following motions on the Congress agenda may interest green reps:

07: Transatlantic Trade and

Investment Partnership (GMB).

08: The Transatlantic Trade

and Investment Partnership (UCU).

16: British shipping (Nautilus International).

17: Energy policy (BACM –TEAM).

49: Floods and climate change (FBU).

50: Public transport (RMT).

51: Rail privatisation (TSSA).

68: Maritime and offshore industry (RMT) and amendment (Nautilus International).

73: Ethical procurement

and union recognition (BECTU).

Making energy efficiency the UK’s top infrastructure priority

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/08/make-energy-efficiency-uks-top-infrastructure-priority/

by Sophie Neuburg, Friends of the Earth

The Government’s failure to take cold homes seriously has brought unions together behind a call for Labour to make energy efficiency a top infrastructure priority.

An ambitious, jobs rich, domestic insulation programme, starting with the homes of the fuel poor, are key asks of the Energy Bill Revolution campaign, of which Friends of the Earth is a key founder. EBR’s many backers include UNITE, PCS, GMB, the TUC and UNISON, which has just launched a new report, Warm Homes into the Future.

Recently, the Government released its draft fuel poverty strategy. Long awaited, it comes too little, too late, full of weak targets and caveats. The new strategy has neither the vision nor the ambition to deal with the problem. It is only the latest item in the catalogue of half-baked ideas and meaningless rhetoric that has been the Government’s attempt at energy efficiency and fuel poverty policy.

Since 2012, rates of home insulation have fallen by well over 60%, and huge numbers of jobs have been lost in the industry as a result. The Government’s flagship Green Deal programme has been a complete flop. It’s been buoyed up in recent months only by the cash incentives offered under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund. The Fund had to be closed suddenly when offering people a big wadge of cash to do something that will save them money, shockingly, turned out to be quite popular.

And the energy company obligation (ECO), which is the only funding available to insulate the homes of those on low incomes, has been savagely cut. Insulation rates are falling further, costing thousands of jobs.

It’s no wonder unions are getting behind this. Making energy efficiency the UK’s top infrastructure priority, and embarking on a major, publicly-funded energy efficiency programme to insulate every home in the country, would save the average household £300 on their energy bill. And bring millions out of fuel poverty.

But that’s not all. A large-scale insulation scheme is the only infrastructure programme which could create jobs in every constituency across the UK: well over 100,000 of them according to analyses. Such a scheme would boost GDP, and modelling shows that the economic benefits would outweigh those of almost any other kind of Government investment. It would also bring money straight back to the treasury – the German KfW Bank’s energy efficiency scheme is estimated to have brought in €3 to €4 in Treasury income for every €1 invested.

Fuel poverty-related disease presents a huge cost to the NHS, and the Chief Medical Officer has said that every £1 spent on energy efficiency would bring about 40p in NHS savings. No one has even tried to quantify the economic cost of work days missed due to fuel poverty-related illnesses. Or the cost to society of children failing at school because they keep getting sick and missing lessons, or have nowhere warm to do their homework.

A major insulation programme would do, in spades, everything Infrastructure UK says major investment is meant to, and which the country needs so badly: strengthen the economy, create jobs, and increase living standards. So it was heartening to see Labour Peers officially backing Lord Whitty’s energy efficiency amendments to the Infrastructure Bill just before recess. It was just a shame, and quite puzzling, that energy efficiency didn’t appear in the bill in the first place. It isn’t big and shiny, and doesn’t make opportunities for minister photo-calls in hard hats and hi-viz. But what better candidate for investment than the very fabric of our lives, the homes we live in?

Labour’s energy efficiency Green Paper is due to be released very soon. The party must be wary of trying to cash in on their opponents’ weakness on the issue by coming out with something only slightly better. Unions, as well as fuel poverty groups, business, and environmental groups like ourselves at Friends of the Earth, are increasingly making clear they will be happy with nothing less than an ambitious programme to insulate all homes occupied by those on low incomes to a good standard by 2025, and a persuasive loan offer for those able to pay for it themselves. Our expectations are high, and I very much hope we won’t be disappointed.

Fracking puts climate change at risk, objectors argue

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/07/fracking-puts-climate-change-at-risk-objectors-arguesk/

by Philip Pearson, TUC

Most of the 2,419 organisations and individuals responding to the government’s statutory consultation on its nationwide fracking plan objected to it.

“A substantial majority were against the licensing plan being adopted because of concerns over environmental effects,” the report says. Effects on public health, landscape, biodiversity, water resources, water contamination, climate change, traffic generation and supposed employment benefits all feature in responses. Nevertheless, as it announced at the end of July, the government’s game plan for onshore gas drilling is essentially unchanged.

The exception is “new planning guidance” covering National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But guidance is just that, little different from before.

Climate change was the biggest single cause for concern among responders. The Campaign to Protect Rural England, Protect Kent, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Earth – Scotland, Greenpeace, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Scottish Environment argued that the effects of shale gas (methane) on greenhouse gas emissions were understated. Significant effects on climate change (including fugitive emissions) were not sufficiently identified, assessed and reported.

Although the government’s report acknowledges that methane and CO2 will escape during drilling, fracturing, flaring and well completion, as well as from fracking fluids, such concerns were “not significant”:

The public is reminded that “the UK Onshore Operators Group has developed guidelines for shale gas operations, which set out good practice for minimising fugitive emissions.”

But do these guidelines provide an adequate response to the concerns raised?

But the guidelines approach risk management on the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable,” for example:

The Well Operator shall ensure that a well is so designed, modified, commissioned, constructed, equipped, operated, maintained, suspended and abandoned that –

a) so far as is reasonably practicable, there can be no unplanned escape of fluids from the well; and

b) risks to health and safety of persons from it or anything in it, or in strata to which it is connected, are as low as reasonable practicable.

So far as is reasonably practicable is a general duty under the Health & Safety at Work Act, and means that the degree of risk in a particular situation can be balanced against the time, trouble, cost and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid the risk. If these resources are so disproportionate to the risk that it would be unreasonable to expect any employer to have to incur them to prevent it, the employer is not obliged to do so unless there is a specific requirement that he does.

Elsewhere, the guidelines say:

Operators should be committed to minimising and, if possible, the elimination of environmental and health risks associated with fracture fluids and additives
Minimising Fugitive Emissions will not always be practicable at the exploration/appraisal stage of a development where separation and flaring of natural gas should be the preferred option, minimising venting of hydrocarbons wherever practicable
Operators should make available and disclose emissions data in line with best practice and any regulatory reporting requirements (e.g., flaring would be in accordance with DECC approvals)

The large areas now open for fracking include 10 of the UK’s 13 national parks, 24 of the 31 constituencies of ministers attending Cabinet and all 10 of the UK’s largest cities.

Events

TUC Congress fringe: what the world needs now…

Date: Monday 8 September

Time: 12.30 to 13.45

Venue: Room Hall A, BT Convention Centre, Kings Dock, Liverpool.

Refreshments available

At the UN’s 2014 Climate Change Summit in New York, taking place just two weeks after our Congress, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will call on governments, industry and civil society to unite behind a new UN treaty on climate change.

The challenge we face this year and next is to close the gap between easy promises to cut our greenhouse gas emissions, and the hard choices needed.

Last winter’s storms and floods tell us the challenge is huge and urgent. Yet climate sceptics are all over the media. And the Coalition’s short-term political gaming of our energy policy increases uncertainty and discourages investment in green and decent jobs.

We can prevent the Earth’s average temperature from rising by more than 2^oC above pre-industrial levels. But this means government, unions and industry working together for major new investments in low carbon power supply, rail infrastructure and electric vehicles, and saving our forests. Every workplace should be a green workplace, where we save energy and resources.

Speakers:

· Rt. Hon. Caroline Flint MP, shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change.

· Gail Cartmail, Deputy General Secretary, Unite

· Dave Green, National Officer, Fire Brigades’ Union

Chair: Sue Ferns, TUC General Council lead on the environment, and Director of Research & Communications, Prospect.

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