Transport workers set climate change agenda

Transport workers set climate change agenda

Transport workers will take responsibility for tackling climate change tomorrow, 4 August, as representatives of hundreds of trade unions meet at a groundbreaking conference in Mexico City. This one day event, solely dedicated to finding strategies for fairer, more sustainable and less polluting transport, will then feed into the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) four-yearly congress, which begins the following day*.

The conference’s standalone status ahead of the ITF congress reflects the organisation’s recognition of the urgency of addressing and changing the role of transport in accelerating climate change.

The conference will recommend three resolutions which, if passed, will be binding on the ITF and its policies for the next four years. To support its search for new strategies and alliances on climate change the ITF has also worked with the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University, USA, to develop ideas about the problem and the solutions which it requires. A discussion document will be unveiled at the conference and will be made available at www.itfcongress2010.org/files/extranet/-2/24239/ITF%20Climate%20Change%20Conference%20Discussion%20Document%202010.pdf as a resource to stimulate debate during the Mexican meetings and beyond.

Alana Dave, ITF Education Officer, explained: “This conference is a historic first for the ITF, and one that reflects a growing recognition that transport unions need to respond to the issue of climate change at a workplace level and beyond.”

She continued: “Transport is a significant and growing source of emissions, responsible for around 14 per cent of the global total. We aim to take a lead in promoting a science-based approach which utilises ‘reduce-shift-improve’ strategies that will contribute to the major transformations which are necessary in the transport industry and society as a whole. We particularly support the creation of sustainable jobs and a just transition.”

The conference will study three resolutions on climate change proposed by the ITF’s member unions around the world. The most wide-ranging of these is Motion One, which is already being backed by 51 trade unions. It is shown in full at the end of this press release**.

The ITF is committed to building alliances to avoid dangerous climate change, and continues to work with Global Unions at the international level, such as at COP15 in Copenhagen and the forthcoming COP16 negotiations in Cancun in December 2010.

ENDS