Speech by General Secretary Michael J. Leahy to the 32nd International Metalworker's Federation (IMF) World Congress, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Resolution 1 – Climate Change: Taking the Power Back
Congress, President, Michael Leahy, IMF British Section and President of the IMF Steel and Non-Ferrous Section, seconding resolution 1.
Congress, this resolution needs to be unanimously supported. As we meet here in Gothenburg this week, the world is faced by two huge threats.
One is the economic and financial crisis.
The other is the serious threat from man-made climate change. Nobody doubts the urgent need for action.
But where are the solutions? One focus must undoubtedly be the opportunities offered by the green economy.
Why? The reason is simple.
The green economy has grown enormously in the last decade, both across the world and in the UK, and is projected to grow even more rapidly in the coming years.
The environmental goods and services sector alone was worth $548 billion globally in 2004 and is projected to reach $800 billion by 2015.
Only two weeks ago, the go-ahead was given in the UK to build the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, with an investment of £2 billion for the first phase.
It is estimated that by 2050 the overall added value of the low carbon energy sector could be as much as $3 trillion per year worldwide and could employ more than 25 million people.
Congress, the British Section supports this resolution because the IMF is a global union federation and as such we have the opportunity and the responsibility to lead the way, much as we have done in the past when faced with other difficult situations.
The IMF British section welcomes this resolution and congratulates the IMF and the work of Rob Johnston for developing this statement on climate change, particularly at such a difficult time.
But this is only the first step. The IMF needs to campaign to promote our position with other global union federations – working towards a new Kyoto Agreement in Copenhagen later this year.
A new international agreement that will reduce emissions and create a level-playing field. An agreement that will avoid carbon leakage and protectionism. And an agreement that rejects only market-based solutions.
Congress, if we are to do this, we need to establish solidarity and common positions among IMF affiliates.
We need to fully analyse and examine the opportunities for sectoral approaches for steel and metals, aerospace, automotive – for all our industries.
This should be alongside renewable energy or carbon capture and storage technology.
It is in our members’ and our communities’ interest to work towards this shift to a sustainable, low-carbon global economy.
However, this process is not about writing blank cheques. Change must be fair – it must involve the workers and their representatives.
Green jobs must be decent jobs with good labour standards as well as good environmental standards. But green jobs should also be found in a greener steel industry or a sustainable automotive industry.
And just as we have a proud history of protecting the health & safety of our members, now we can be at the forefront of protecting the environment for our members and their communities.
Through collective bargaining and worker involvement, trade union green reps and our solidarity, we can ensure a greener, fairer future.
Congress – support the resolution.