The Conference, ‘Climate Change and the Scottish Workplace’ held on 15 February 2008.
The Conference was chaired by Keith Aitken, writer and broadcaster, and attended by 45 delegates.
Grahame Smith, General Secretary STUC, who introduced the day and briefly covered the role of the STUC, both in supporting its affiliates to address environmental issues at the workplace and as a key social partner engaged in debate at the national level.
Keynote speaker: John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth: spoke highly of the role of the STUC as a key stakeholder, with a particular role to play in addressing climate change issues at the workplace. He spoke about the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Bill and also covered policies on energy and transport. Mr Swinney emphasised the importance of ensuring that Scotland’s workplaces become more sustainable and again mentioned the role of trade unions in this respect.
During Q&A he faced questions on flexibility and home working, energy efficiency and energy policy.
Session 1 Employment: threats and opportunities
Presentations were made by:
• Maf Smith, Director, Sustainable Development Commission Scotland, who covered the scientific basis for the contention that the world is warming unsustainably and some of the likely consequences;
• Simon Baker, Lewis Wind Power, and John Price, Amec Wind, who discussed the Lewis Windfarm project, highlighting the efforts made to ensure that local economic and employment benefits were maximised; and • Liz Bogie, Senior Manager, Sustainable Development, Scottish Enterprise, who highlighted the work of Scottish Enterprise in providing leadership on Climate Change, working in partnership with other agencies and influencing through a wide range of projects and programmes.
Session 2 Climate Change and the Workplace
Presentations were made by:
• Paul Noon, General Secretary, Prospect and Co-Chair of TUSDAC, who discussed the role of TUSDAC and initiatives undertaken to date and how trade unions were leading the shift towards more sustainable workplaces; • Brendan Dick, BT Scotland, provided a comprehensive overview of the work undertaken by BT Scotland to ensure that their employment practices and facilities management contributed to a more sustainable economy; and • Alan Barclay, Governance Director UK and Europe, Diageo, who described how resource efficiency and sustainability have underpinned the development of the new distillery at Roseisle.
Session 3 The Regulatory Framework
Duncan McLaren, Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth Scotland, provided the initial presentation, arguing that a new relationship must develop between Government, business and civic society, in order to tackle the issue of climate change.
A panel session, involving Duncan and Russel Griggs, CBI Scotland, and Stephen Boyd, STUC, followed and a number of issues discussed: the need to focus on ‘better regulation rather than ‘deregulation’, the ownership of industry and the conflict between growth and sustainability.
Keynote speaker: David Martin MEP, Member of the European Parliament’s Temporary Climate Change Committee, who provided a comprehensive overview of action currently being taken/considered at the EU level and its possible implications for Scotland.
The Conference concluded with an MSP Panel, involving Bill Aitken MSP, Conservative Party; Patrick Harvie, MSP, Green Party; Alex Neil MSP, SNP; Hugh O’Donnell, Lib Dems; and David Stewart, MSP, Labour.
Issues
• It is clear that measures aimed at improving the sustainability of work (i.e. the encouragement of home-working) could potentially become major components of the bargaining agenda in both the public and private sectors;
• Climate change could mean changes to the physical workplace environment, work organisation and job design - trade unions must be alert to ensure that these changes are implemented in a way that benefits workers;
• Climate change is probably the key challenge facing society over the coming decades - how trade unions relate to this agenda will have a major impact on how the public, particularly young people, regard the trade union movement;
• The loss of jobs in some areas may or may not be offset by opportunities in others - it is fundamental that trade unions must be at the forefront of ensuring jobs growth in emerging sectors are maximised; and
• As with lifelong learning, trade unions are uniquely well-placed to ensure that sustainable development policy and implementation includes an effective workplace dimension.