Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union group Anti-fracking motion

Dear all,

Following discussions at the recent meetings of the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union group, we've produced a model motion for union branches / trades councils to argue against fracking.

Please let us know if it is passed, or if you would like a speaker at your event - we may be able to get local activists to help move the motion, or take part in local discussions, debates etc.

Many thanks,

Martin

Martin Empson

Treasurer, Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union group

www.cacctu.org.uk

079 585 35231

swpmre@yahoo.com

Anti-fracking motion

This union branch / Trades Council notes that:

·         2017 was the hottest non-El Niño year on record. The UK is nonetheless failing to meet its legal obligations under the Climate Change Act to cut CO2 emissions by at least 57% by 2030 and its own independent adviser, the Committee on Climate Change, believes significant hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is incompatible with UK climate targets.

·         The government’s latest Business & EnergyDepartment survey shows UK popular support for fracking is only 16%, and that determined community campaigns against fracking emerge wherever wells are planned.

·         To counter local opposition, government intends to centralise fracking planning decisions. 

·         In countries where fracking has taken place it has been accompanied by water and air pollution (including methane hotspots from fugitive emissions visible to Nasa scientists from space), health problems and birth defects; it is not safe for fracking workers. 

·         Fracking is opposed by Unite, Unison, PCS, Prospect, Fire Brigades Union (FBU), Universities & Colleges Union (UCU), and others, to tackle climate change, move away from fossil fuel, and protect the environment. Unions have taken on board fracking’s serious worker safety issues as well as its climate impact, and are skeptical of the industry’s promised jobs bonanza.Where anti-fracking campaigners have worked with individual trade unions and created trade union solidarity events, both parties have enjoyed increased solidarity. 

·         The Conservative Party is the only mainstream political party to support fracking.

This union branch / Trades Council believes:

·         Fracking is incompatible with climate targets, good health and clean water. 

·         The government must create a national climate jobs service to slow global warming and tackle local pollution, as outlined in the One Million Climate Jobs (OMCJ) pamphlet and campaign, backed by Bfawu, CWU, FBU, UCU, NUS, TSSA, PCS and Unite the Union.

This union branch / Trades Council resolves:·        

To actively and financially support the fight against fracking and other forms of unconventional gas and oil extraction.

·         To encourage members to take part in protests against fracking and for a sustainable energy policy.

·         To highlight the issue of climate change & environmental destruction to our members and promote alternatives. 

·         To support the OMCJ campaign and the TUC’s lobby for a Just Transition for workers affected by the industrial changes necessary to develop an environmentally sustainable future, as outlined in its 2017 policy on climate change.

TUC London, East & South East Pensioners’ Network

OPEN MEETING THEMED ON BREXIT

1pm – 2.30pm, Tuesday 13 March 2018

TUC Congress House

FREE ADMISSION (Registration Essential)

Please register: lese@tuc.org.uk / 020 7467 1220  

 

 

1.           Chair’s Opening Remarks

2.          Guest Speaker Panel:

-     Ali Torabi               TUC Lead for Brexit

-     Chris Walsh            Age Platform Europe (UK Section)

-     Tim Verboven        European Movement UK

-     Ben Norman          Unite Research Lead for Brexit

Joint Statement on Just Transition in the UK

Joint Statement on Just Transition in the UK

Supporters of this statement include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Greener Jobs Alliance, and People & Planet.

It’s time for a Just Transition in the UK, moving to a modern low carbon economy in such a way as to protect workers’ livelihoods, create new industries and deliver a fairer society in all regions and devolved nations. The need for action to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Change Agreement to keep global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, is urgent if we are to avert the environmental and economic costs of climate change. 

We share a concern that the Government’s Industrial and Clean Growth strategies fail to reference the need for a Just Transition. This embodies the principles of consultation between all sections of society; investment in skills and jobs; the creation of decent work; and social protection for individuals and communities, particularly those reliant on fossil fuels. It is necessary to confront the danger facing our industries and power system as employment in traditional sectors declines. Workers, if losing their job in these sectors, should be able to retrain and redeploy to a new job on equivalent terms and conditions, covered by collective agreements, and fully supported in their housing and income needs through transition.  

Government must take a decisive lead with plans to transform key sectors, through publicly and community owned energy supply, transport infrastructure, investing in energy efficiency and sustainable heating in our homes and in industry. The speed and scale of Government action must be increased, as advised by the Committee on Climate Change. Where necessary to secure change at sufficient pace and scale, options for public and community ownership or partial stakes in flagship energy projects and enterprises should be pursued.

Employment and social benefits for communities most affected by industrial change should be secured through local investment in new jobs and skills, the creation of local supply chains, and ‘community benefit’ clauses in public contracts and local ownership. The principles of social justice and equity must be adopted to ensure no-one is left behind in the transition to economic and environmental sustainability.

Meanwhile, internationally, the government should support the strengthening of workers’ rights and environmental standards in the global supply chains for low carbon industries, such as solar panel and battery production. 

We believe that all key stakeholders should be represented on consultation and implementation bodies linked to the industrial, skills and climate change strategies. This should include proposed industrial and sector bodies at national, regional and local levels

We therefore call on the UK government to:

i)                     incorporate Just Transition principles within the UK’s commitments to implement the Paris Agreement, including the UK’s Industrial and Clean Growth strategies.

ii)                   legislate for the right to appoint workplace environment representatives to help ensure workers’ views are fairly represented at local level. At company and sector level unions need the right to a voice in the economic restructuring decisions that will take place.

iii)                 establish a Just Transition Commission to develop a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead, along the lines of the welcome initiative of the Scottish Government to establish such a body.

Early supporters of this statement include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,  Greener Jobs Alliance, and People & Planet.March 2018

Trades Union Congress London, East & South East Race Relations Committee (RRC) support: IRISH HISTORY EVENTS 2018

Trades Union Congress London, East & South East Race Relations Committee (RRC) support: IRISH HISTORY EVENTS 2018

• Walking Tour of Irish and Jewish Communities in East London Sunday 11 March 2018, 11.45am This walk will look at the different and vibrant immigrant communities in East London from the Irish community of the 17th century to the Jewish community in 1870’s. Visiting Brick Lane, which was the home of the French Huguenot community (Refugees) in London from the 1680’s, then the Jewish Community fleeing pogroms in Poland and Russia, and more recently the Bangladeshi and Somalian communities. Then on to Commercial Road, and the history of women and men who worked and lived in the streets in that area. We will walk through to Cable Street and the site of the famous anti-fascist resistance in East London between Jewish, Irish and progressive forces against Police and the Mosley's British Union of Fascists. We will be exploring how this developed and how different communities joined in the fight against Fascism in the 1930’s up to the present day. This event is FREE (voluntary donations at event close) Please register: lese@tuc.org.uk / 020 7467 1220 __________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Trade Union presence on the St. Patrick's Day Parade in London Sunday 18 March 2018, 11.30am TUC London, East and South East representatives will be marching in London on the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Trade Union participation is in dedication to all the Irish Workers of the last few centuries which made Britain the most industrialised nation in the world. Through their mass concentration of cheap labour, British industry boomed through the high level of production in the factories, construction and transport. Irish women were als, formidable through their work in the street markets, the cotton industry and nursing. As a result, the Trade Unions membership rapidly increased and this year, it will be 130 years since the Match Girls Strike! Teenage girls of Irish heritage had the most successful strike in British history. After withdrawing their labour for three days, all their demands were met for better pay and conditions. The contribution of Irish workers in Britain must never be forgotten! www.london.gov.uk/events/2017-03-17/london-st-patricks-festival __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 • London Memorial to the Irish Famine (An Gorta Mor) Sunday 13 May 2018, 1-2pm (outside TUC Congress House) Sunday 13 May 2017 marked 170 years since the systematic number of deaths became more advanced during "An Gorta Mor" (Great Hunger) in Ireland. There will be a commemoration outside TUC Congress at 1 pm with guest speakers. This area in the Parish of St. Giles was the first recorded "Little Ireland" in London from the end of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century. It was populated with Irish workers living in poverty and squalor. Many Irish people fled the Famine to this part of London and soon died of starvation as well as typhus. The failure of the potato crop began in 1845 and impacted heavily on the Irish population, as other crops had to be purchased for survival at a very high price or forfeited to their landlords. Hence, the starvation took effect in 1846. During the following year, it was the beginning of more than a million deaths as Britain refused to supply grain to the starving Irish population. By 1848 was the year of revolutions throughout Europe, 170 years ago, the deaths of Irish people were in a very advanced stage and there was an even an attempt at rebellion in Ireland. It is important that we commemorate "An Gorta Mor" (The Great Hunger) in London. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ • LESE RRC Irish History Event Thursday 17 May 2018, 6.30pm, TUC Congress House Guest Speaker: Mary Doolin, PCS, Senior Full-Time Officer, will be speaking on the history of Irish women in the British Trade Union movement. This year it will be 100 years since our first woman MP following the success of the Suffragettes, who achieved the Votes for Women. It is also 130 years since the "Match Girls Strike" as teenage girls of Irish heritage achieved all their demands since they withdrew their labour for three weeks in 1888. Please register: lese@tuc.org.uk / 020 7467 1220 www.tuc.org.uk/lese-race-relations-committee 

• Please note that this list is not exhaustive and if an event is not mentioned specifically it should not be inferred that LESE does not support it

CHAMPIONS OF EQUALITY: TRADE UNIONS AND LGBT RIGHTS

CHAMPIONS OF EQUALITY: TRADE UNIONS AND LGBT RIGHTS

Event to be held at the following time, date and location: Tuesday, 20 March 2018 from 19:30 to 21:00 (GMT) Marchmont Street Community Centre 62 Marchmont St WC1N 1AB London United Kingdom View Map

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Champions of equality: Trade unions and LGBT rights Book launch and discussion with Peter Purton, author of Champions of EqualityandJane Connor, Lesbian and Gay Support the Miners. Peter Purton was the TUC’s first LGBT officer. His book, of interest to everyone interested in equality and trade union history, reveals how LGBTtrade union members organised to win recognition, then support, and how trade unions supported the struggles of LGBT communities in Britain and across the world. This is an inspiring tale, and in the dangerous world of the twenty-first century, it is a warning call to the LGBT community and those supporting it, to wake up to new threats, to remember how past victories were achieved. The labour movement has much potential as an active participant in the unfinished fight for equality, but this book shows the need for mutual engagement to make change possible.  Champions of Equality: Trade unions and LGBT rights in Britain, by Peter Purton, Lawrence & Wishart, London.  For information about Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, go to http://lgsm.org Meeting hosted by Socialist ResistanceTUESDAY 20 MARCH, 7.30pmat Marchmont Street Community Centre, WC1N 1ABKings Cross and Russell Square tubes Share this event on Facebook and Twitter We hope you can make it.Best,London Socialist Resistance

Save our Square – Waltham Forest Trades Council

Save our Square – Waltham Forest Trades Council

Slide-show of photos of demonstration against tower block construction in Walthamstow which will do nothing to help working class people who need somewhere to live in the borough.
http://community-languages.org.uk/waltham-forest-trades-council/?p=92

What we need (apart from the overthrow of capitalism and workers' control, of course) is more rent controlled council housing, not ghost towers for investment opportunities. 

 acknowledgements to Steve Cushion

All photographs copyright Mick Holder who is happy for them to be used on social media but if any commercial media wish to use them, they should contact him…

Welcome to the latest Rising Tide Newsletter:- GET ON TRACK FOR ANTIFRACK STOP FRACKING IN THE SOUTH-EAST :

Welcome to the latest Rising Tide Newsletter:- GET ON TRACK FOR ANTIFRACK 
STOP FRACKING IN THE SOUTH-EAST :-  When: 11am-6pm-ish, Friday, 2nd March (and Sunday 25th March).
What: South-East Anti-Fracking Site "Tour".Where: Meet outside Dorking Station at Antifrackers banner.
Who: You! Please bring food & flask. Wear warm waterproof clothing with stout footwear (its muddy!).
How: Trains Friday from London Waterloo at 9.54am & 10.24am arrive at Dorking at 10.42am & 11.12am respectively, plus from London Victoria at 10.02am arriving at 10.50am. Pick-up to Leith Hill , Horse Hill, Brockham, Balcombe and Broadford Bridge.
RSVP AT:- 

For Friday 2nd March:

https://www.facebook.com/events/212522362630688/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/friday-tour-of-weald-drill-sites-tickets-43130629875or email NILS.RESPONSE@RISEUP.NET if you hate data harvesters ;-p.
Following the successful RisingTide/RtP Gathering these are our first bash at helping activists & residents near local sites to see how best we can support local communities in opposing the fracking threat in the South-East, throughout 2018 and beyond (look out for a Tour-de-Frack too). We'll visit Leith Hill Protection Camp and there may be work going on at some of the sites at the time, with a chance for optional "investigations". Any logistical problems on the day 'phone 07549-018610. If you can help with transport please let us know.

For Sunday 25th (similar plan but different train times)
https://www.facebook.com/events/605353503140115/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/solidarity-sunday-and-tour-of-weald-drill-sites-tickets-43131099279

Along with the usual Leith Hill Protection Camp Solidarity Saturday, there's a chance there could be a Public Meeting on the 24th. Maybe make a weekend of it and camp overnight at Coldharbour?

MEGA SAVE-THE-DATE!

Saturday 27th April 2019, yes next year, forewarned is forearmed!
As part of the Stop New Nuclear Alliance Rising Tide are helping to organise a Mass Action at a Nuclear Power site and we hope you all can come.

That's all for now, see you on the streets.

Love Rising Tide UK,

  c/o LARC, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, LONDON E1 1ES

 Tel: 07708 794665
  www.risingtide.org.uk

  http://www.facebook.com/people/Rising-Tide-UK/515246801

  http://www.twitter.com/RisingTide_UK

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Tide_UK

  www.artnotoil.org.uk

  www.fossilfoolsday.org

  www.no-tar-sands.org

  https://floodthesystem.net