Some 135 trade unionists from 15 nations gathered June 29 at SEIU Local 32BJ to discuss labor’s role in tackling the climate crisis and the international climate summit scheduled for Paris in December.



The summit was called by Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED), a global initiative to advance democratic control of energy and to protect the health and safety of workers and communities. Those objectives are seen as essential components to the solution of the climate crisis. TUED is associated with the Murphy Institute of the City University of New York.



An 1199SEIU delegation, led by Exec. VP Estela Vazquez participated in the one-day gathering.



The meeting consisted of panel discussions followed by questions and discussions from the floor. The first panel explored perspectives on the Paris meeting, also known as COP 21. Presenters were critical of many nations’ increasing dependence on corporations, or market forces, to achieve the necessary carbon-reduction levels to avert global disaster.



Canadian David Boys, deputy general secretary of Public Services International, warned of increasing privatization and austerity measures that reduce regulations and weaken environmental standards.



Marie-Christine Naillod, policy advisor of France’s General Confederation of Labor (CGT), warned that COP 21 might be the last chance to reach a global agreement. She also warned of deceptive solutions such as “green washing” in which companies falsely claim that its products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly.”



Speakers in other panels also pointed to the ties between the public good and protection of the environment. Wol-san Liem, director of international affairs for the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU), described the increasing strength of the alliance of environmental groups with Korean unions. “We see energy as a public good and human right that should be accessible to all,” she emphasized. Panelists from Greece, Yiorgos Archontopoulos, president of Thessaloniki Water Workers; Spain, Fatima Aguado Quiepo and Francisco Javier Cabezos Rubio of the Federation of City Service Workers; described electoral victories in in their nations, which, they say, portends well for the climate protection movement. They were joined on the panel by Simona Fabiani of Italy’s General Confederation of Labor, All the panel speakers talked about the importance of connecting the fight to protect the climate to the fight to protect working people against austerity measures and growing inequality.



Sean Sweeney, the director of TUED, opened the panel on labor organizing and member engagement by listing five pillars on which trade-union climate policy should be built. “It must be science based, independent, internationalist, transformative, and it must engage union members,” he said.



Panel members Fernando Losado, National Nurses United; Judy Sheridan Gonzalez, New York State Nurses Association; and Christopher Erikson, Local 3, IBEW, successful attempts to engage members in climate work.



An inspiring panel described recent developments in Canada, including the campaign against the Tar Sands, the indigenous and student movements and the election of Rachel Notley of the progressive New Democratic Party as the premier of the province of Alberta.



Panelists included Sari Sairanen of the Union for Canada, Donald Lafleur of the Canadian Labor Congress and Mireille Pelletier of the Confederation of National Unions of Quebec.



The final panel was devoted to the critical need to build a mass movement that stretches beyond labor. The panelists were Lenore Friedlander, 32BJ; Denise Fairchild, Emerald Cities Collaborative; Jacqui Patterson, NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program; and Dean Hubbard, Sierra Club Labor Programs.



Patterson movingly described the ravages of environmental racism. “For communities of color the climate is a threat multiplier for all problems,” she declared. She talked about working with unions such as the Laborers and Electrical workers.



Panelists stressed the importance of labor and environmentalists to join hands with activists in movements in communities of color such as immigration reform and Black Lives Matter.



TUED will continue discussions and help to organize broad labor participation at COP 21 events.