COP26 - Bus to Glasgow rally, Sat 6th Nov

 On Saturday November 6^th ATUC and UNISON Aberdeenshire will be providing bus transport for trade unionists and other local activists to join the COP 26 rally in Glasgow from 11am to 4.30 pm. 

The bus will leave from  Inverurie market place at 7am and will pick up along the way, including Albyn Place Aberdeen at 7.30am. Buses will return the same day, aiming to be back for 9pm.

For more information and to book a place on the bus please email secretary@atuc.org.uk by 5pm on Friday 22nd October

Find out more about the demo and the bloc participating here.

Pre COP 26 Protest Rally in Aberdeen

On Saturday 23rd October, a coalition of local groups and organisations are planning a pre-COP 26 protest rally from 11.45 am to 2.30pm pm in Marischal Square with a host of speakers, musical entertainment and food by Food not Bombs. Read more HERE

ATUC supports urgent action on climate change as Rainbow Warrior visits Aberdeen

Steve Gray joined politicians and climate campaigners when he spoke on behalf of Aberdeen Trade Union Council at the Greenpeace Just Transition event at Aberdeen Harbour.

The event took place on Saturday 24th July. The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior had docked in Aberdeen as part of its journey to engage workers and citizens in discussion around a just transition, in advance of the COP26 Climate Conference coming to Scotland.

Steve spoke of the impact of climate change on the communities in the North East of Scotland and the role of trade unions in supporting just transition and climate justice. He called for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

 

Freeport proposal must benefit workers and communities

Following the last meeting of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, President Graeme Farquhar  has written to councillors seeking assurances on Freeports.

Dear Councillor,

Aberdeen Freeport

Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) is the collective voice of trade unions in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and has affiliated branches representing tens of thousands of workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

We note that the Scottish Government issued an invitation for bids for ‘Greenports’ in early 2021, and at its meeting on 3 February 2021 Aberdeen City Council’s City Growth and Resources Committee instructed the relevant Chief Officer to work with the UK and Scottish Governments, the Harbour Board and all other stakeholders to conduct a feasibility study for a Freeport for the City Region and report back to the next meeting on 11 May 2021. 

This follows the positive response of Aberdeen City Council in May 2020 to the UK Government consultation on Freeports, and the 2020 report of the Council’s Economic Policy Panel (on which there is not trade union representation) which noted that Council Officers had already been working “on the feasibility of a free port/enterprise model for the city region”.

A Freeport, or any enterprise, cannot function without workers and the implications for workers are fundamentally important to the design and principles behind a Freeport. We are disappointed that the Committee has not yet seen fit to communicate with ATUC, with a view to examining the implications of different Freeport models for workers. We remain ready and willing to work with Aberdeen City Council to do this, and in the interim wish to make a number of comments.

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.”

A just transition for Aberdeen - come along and hear how this can be achieved in the North East

ATUC is hosting an open event on a just transition for Aberdeen, on Wednesday 25th July at 7pm in the ATUC premises at 22a Adelphi, Aberdeen

The event will look at the opportunities and barriers for workers and society in north-east Scotland.

It will ask what climate change and sustainability imperatives mean for a region like north-east Scotland which relies heavily on oil and gas production for employment and economic prosperity.

Click here for the Facebook event page

The idea of a 'just transition' is gaining increasing attention in policy and governance circles as a means of ensuring that the move to a more environmentally-attuned society does not create or enhance inequalities. 

In the context of places like Aberdeen and the north-east, this has come to mean ensuring that people employed in industries such as oil and gas are given the opportunity to transition to work in activities compatible with climate change and environmental targets. 

Dr Leslie Mabon from Robert Gordon University will kick-off a discussion on what a just transition for Aberdeen might look like and how this might be achieved, by presenting examples from other regions with close relations to high-emitting industries.