The Scottish Government must put its money where its mouth is on Just Transition

Aberdeen Trade Union Council (ATUC) at its monthly virtual meeting on Wednesday 4th November, unanimously condemned the Scottish Government's decision to outsource the manufacturing work of offshore windfarm contracts that could and should have been manufactured in Scotland.

Aberdeen TUC delegates are very alarmed that the Scottish Government speaks well when talking of a Just Transition but takes business decisions that act contrary to the spirit and intent of its own policy and against the interest of workers and their families in Scotland.

ATUC Executive member and Aberdeenshire UNISON Green Champion, Steve Gray said, "Now is the time for a Just Transition in Scotland. We need to move towards a modern low-carbon economy in ways which protect not only the environment, but also workers’ livelihoods, particularly those who currently work offshore and in sectors reliant on fossil fuels.

"Radical action is needed now to avert the environmental and economic costs of climate change. We need to move towards a planned economy that has environmental and social justice at its heart, and which provides jobs making products in a sustainable way, where workers have secure employment and good terms and conditions.

"Trade Unions are fundamental to delivering that vision and will assist the process of transitioning traditional industrial sectors in a fair and just way. Workers, if losing their job in these sectors, should be able to redeploy to new sectors and the opportunities for retraining must be provided."

ATUC support and solidarity to Bifab workers as Scottish government ends hopes for the communities in Fife and Lewis

Aberdeen Trade Union Council has described as "heart breaking"  to all those workers, their families and their trade union movement supporters, the collapse of a deal between Bifab and EDF for the manufacture of wind turbine jackets to support the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind project.

 As part of the campaign to save Bifab last year, the STUC organised the November 2019 Energy Conference which offered wide spread trade union and environmental organisations' support for a just transition and support for the Bifab community.

Follow up reports have been produced but the failure to support the Bifab workers shows the lack of political will across the UK and Scottish Governments to support a just transition for working people.

 

ATUC sends our support and solidarity to Unite and GMB members affected by this apparent failure on the part of the Scottsh Government and to the communities that will be affected.

Responding on Wednesday 21st October to the breaking news over the collapse of a deal between BiFab and EDF for the manufacture of eight turbine jackets to support the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind project, Unite Scotland Secretary Pat Rafferty and GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said:

“It looks like the Scottish government ministers have walked away from our best chance of building a meaningful offshore wind manufacturing sector, and in doing so have extinguished the hopes of communities in Fife and Lewis who were banking their future prosperity on it. 

“It’s a scandalous end to a decade which started with promises of a “Saudi Arabia of Renewables” supporting 28,000 full-time jobs in offshore wind and now finishes in mothballed fabrication yards and no prospect of any contracts or jobs on the horizon. 

Just transition report - offshore oil and gas workers' views

 

Click on image to see report

Aberdeen Trades Union Council is a long term supporter of a just transition away from fossil fuels and arms production towards renewables. We therefore welcome the Friends of the Earth Report  released this week, Offshore: oil and gas workers views on industry conditions and the energy transition, which is particularly relevant to the North East of Scotland.

The report builds on a survey of 1,383 offshore workers, revealing the impact of Covid-19 on their lives, their views on life in the industry generally and their hopes and solutions for the energy transition. In addition to the survey results shared, there are eight case studies in the report from the workers themselves, revealing an exhaustion with precarious employment in oil and gas and a huge appetite for alternative industries, including offshore wind and other renewables.

The report concludes with several recommendations, including the need for governments to engage in participatory policy-making with a representative section of the oil and gas workforce and their trade unions. We request that the government bodies and individuals listed in the report begin this process by meeting with a pool of survey respondents who have expressed interest in speaking with them.

Ryan Morrison, Just Transition Campaigner from Friends of the Earth Scotland. said, “I hope you think its a useful piece of work in the Just Transition struggle. We want to continue worki,g with workers, TUs and communities in crafting solutions for a just transition.”

Come along to the lobby of the Scottish Liberals in Aberdeen on 20th March and tell them that austerity has not worked.

The STUC has organised a leaflet and lobby of the Scottish Liberal Party Conference on Friday 20th March 2015 at Aberdeen International Conference Centre between 12noon and 1pm. The lobby will call for decent work and dignifies lives as part of a just Scotland and will challenge the austerity measures that the UK Government, of which the Lib Dems are a part, has put in place.

Kate Ramsden, Vice President of the ATUC said, "We are encouraging our delegates, associates and affiliated unions to join this very important lobby. We said from the start that austerity would not work. That it would hit the poorest hardest while those that caused the financial crisis, the bankers and the fat cats would carry on business and bonuses as usual. And we were right.

"That inequality would increase, that more children would grow up in poverty with their parents reliant on food banks to survive. And we were right.

"That the Government's policies would create a low wage economy that would reduce tax receipts and cut the money people had to spend in their local shops and businesses and that as a result the economic recovery would be much much slower. And we were right.

"We need to tell the Lib Dems that they have let down workers and created poverty and hardship for many people whilst the rich cream it in adding to their already enormous wealth.

"Please come along and hold the Lib Dems accountable for their actions in Government."

Thousands march for social justice

Trade unionists from the Aberdeen Trade Union Council  were amongst thousands of trade unionists and anti-poverty campaigners in Glasgow on Saturday 18th October to demand a just Scotland with decent work and decent pay, and an end to austerity, child poverty and foodbanks.

Hundreds of banners and balloons made a colourful display as the march made its way from Glasgow Green to George Square. At the same time tens of thousands marched in London and in Belfast to make the same demands and to call for decent wages and an end to the low wage economy created by this Condem Government.

In Glasgow, the assembled marchers heard from a range of speakers calling for an end to attacks on the poorest and most vulnerable in our country whilst the richest continue to amass huge wealth which could clear the deficit many times over.

Kate Ramsden, ATUC Vice President said, "The speakers told harrowing stories of the effects of the Government cuts on the most vulnerable; people with disabilities whose benefits have been cut and who can't get into work; the one in three children growing up in poverty, most of whom have parents in work - a new generation of working poor, on part-time, zero hours or self employed contracts; the young people who can't find work, the first generation whose prospects will be poorer than their parents.

"However they also reminded us how powerful we can be if we work together for a more equal society. The money is there - we know that. It's just in the wrong hands and that needs to change."

Tackling inequality and promoting social justice will benefit the economy as a whole

Growing inequality, poor wages and the growth of low paid, part-time jobs is bad not just for individuals but for the economy as a whole and we need to find ways to address it. That was the message from the STUC Conference, “Decent Work, Dignified Lives” held on 15^th October 2014, in the middle of Challenge Poverty Week.


Grahame Smith

The role of the trade unions in tackling poverty was high on the agenda, and kicking off the conference, STUC General Secretary, Grahame Smith called for the UK and Scottish Government to recognise the legitimate role of trade unions in society. He commended the recommendations of the “Working Together Review” in Scotland, which, if implemented, could change the whole culture of trade union involvement. Chaired by Jim Mathers, with representation from trade unions, employers and academics, the review looked at ways to optimise industrial relations.

This was endorsed by the First Minister Alex Salmond who pledged to implement the key recommendations including the establishment of a Fair Work Convention, and to take steps to promote the living wage across all sectors and to support living wage accreditation schemes. He described the STUC as a partner in delivering social justice in Scotland.