Campaign Against Climate Change Conference Saturday September 20th at London Met

Saturday 20th September 2014 12.00-17.00
 Tower Building, London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB (directly across the road from Holloway Road tube station)

During a weekend of international climate change protest, the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group will be launching the new edition of the influential "One Million Climate Jobs" booklet, and making links with activists in other countries.

Key speakers include Kjersti Bartos, Vice-President of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, Fernando Losado from the US Nursing Union, and Philip Pearson, the TUC's senior officer for energy and climate change. Speakers from NUS and People & Planet will lead a workshop on "Students, Environment and Climate Jobs". There will also be Skype links with representatives of the Climate Jobs movement in South Africa and some of the US and British trade unionists who will be on the New York "People's Climate March" on September 21st.

Book your place online

Join the Facebook event

Conference Timetable

12.00 – 12.30: Registration

12.30 – 12.40: Conference opening

12.40 – 2.00: Opening plenary: "The International Fight for Climate Jobs"

Speakers:

Kjersti Barsok, Vice-President, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Oslo)
Fernando Losada, National Nurses United trade union, USA (by Skype)
Philip Pearson, TUC Senior Policy Officer for Climate Change and Energy
Dipti Bhatnagar, Friends of the Earth International, Mozambique (by Skype)
Jonathan Neale, Editor, “One Million Climate Jobs” Report

2.00 – 2.15 Break

2.15 – 3.45 Workshops:

a) "Unpacking Climate Jobs"
Lead speakers: contributors to “One Million Climate Jobs” report

b) "Building a Better Future by Campaigning for Climate Jobs"
Lead speakers:
Clara Paillard, PCS Green Rep and NW TUC
Ken Montague, Secretary, CACCTU

c) "Students, Environment, and Climate jobs"
Lead speakers:
Laura Williams, Project Officer – Green Impact, NUS
Andrew Taylor, People & Planet

3.45 - 4.00 Break

4.00 - 5.30 Closing Plenary: "Time to Act on Climate Change!"

Speakers:
Chris Baugh (Assistant General Secretary, PCS) on the New York “People’s Climate March” (by Skype)
Maxime Coombes (ATTAC, France) on mobilising for the Paris 2015 COP
Suzanne Jeffery (Chair, CACCTU) on the UK “Time to Act!” campaign.

Trade Unionists confront the climate crisis on Saturday June 8th

 

The conference aims to put the climate crisis at the centre of the debate about how to deal with the economic crisis. We need to find alternatives to the government's austerity programme designed to deliver jobs and move us in the direction of a low carbon economy.

This is part of an interview with Graham Petersen, the UCU's national environment co-ordinator, on the current Red Pepper website. The full interview can be found at

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/confronting-the-climate-crisis-graham-petersen-interview/

Graham is one of the many trade unionists who will be contributing to the "Confronting the Climate Crisis" conference on June 8th. Others include officers and rank-and-file members the CWU, FBU, PCS, TSSA, Unison, Unite, and several other unions.

They will argue that in its impact of the price of food, the prospect of harsher winters and larger fuel bills, and the potential for creating climate jobs, climate change is already, in Graham's phrase, a "core organising issue" for the  unions. But there is a larger issue.

In the past the trade union movement was in the forefront of campaigns on the great moral causes of their age, from the anti-slavery movement in the nineteenth century to the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980's. The First International was launched by trade unionists to support the cause of Polish independence.

The challenge of not leaving to our children and grandchildren a planet devastated by climate chaos is the great moral cause of our age. In the words of Suzanne Jeffery, Chair of the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group, the June 8th conference is an opportunity for today's trade unionists to "step up to the mark" as our predecessors did.

Register for the conference now at  WWW.CLIMATETRADEUNION.EVENTBRITE.COM. Alternatively send your details (including return address) with a cheque made payable to Campaign against Climate Change, to Martin Empson, Canon Green Court, West King Street, Salford, M3 7HB.

You can also join our facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/156810361152225/ and help to generate interest in the conference by tweeting your comments using the hash-tag #ctcc2013.

Sign petition for student amnesty at Metropolitan University

This Coalition government is making a pig's ear of education policy with the news this week that a number of free schools that have been rushed through now not opening in September, leaving children without a school place, and the collective punishment of students for administrative problems at London Metropolitan University.

A petition has been launched on the latter issue which states:

We believe that it is completely contrary to natural justice that students should be punished for problems emanating from their University.

We therefore demand that the UK Border Agency agree to an immediate amnesty for the international students at London Metropolitan University affected by the Agency's decision to revoke the University's ‘Highly Trusted Status’. This would enable them to continue their studies while the problems at London Met were addressed.

We believe that the UKBA's decision is a disproportionate reaction to a situation that could be addressed without the recourse to such drastic action. The UKBA's decision punishes thousands of students who are entirely innocent of any alleged immigration breaches and sends a disastrous message to the rest of the world that UK higher education is not accessible to international students. Its actions threaten the immediate futures of thousands of London Metropolitan students, as well as the future of the University, and casts a huge shadow over the very valuable contribution that international students make to the culture and sustainability of UK higher education.

Sign the petition HERE