Wakefield TUC

Talk by Catherine Porritt and Stuart Boothman

The local context

  • Wakefield is a small, semi-rural district. Deindustrialised former mining area. Surrounded by three motorways, so a hub for logistics - an air pollution, low wage, and climate problem. Logistics industry a problem for unionisation. Lots of small enterprises, largely non unionised beyond some workers being in the RMT. Two big Amazon sites, also with no union representation.

Origins of Just Transition Wakefield

  • Difficulty of Friends of the Earth work in the wake of miner’s strikes.

  • 2014 foundation of ‘With Banners Held High’, commemorating the end of the miner’s strike and supporting justice for Orgreave.

  • Some work locally and regionally on just transition. Unite Community brought an anti-fracking motion to the Trades Council. Showed potential of Trades Councils as an arena for this kind of work.

  • Workshop in 2019 at With Banners Held High on just transition - TUC, Unite, and Prospect speakers. 

  • This became the springboard for creation of Just Transition Wakefield - a formal partnership between FoE and the Trades Council, a separate organisation but remains an affiliate of the Trades Council.

What JT Wakefield and the Trades Council have been doing

  • Been involved in the campaign against ticket office closures with the RMT - ‘transport workers are climate workers’. Also supporting the Better Buses Campaign - franchising is currently being rolled out.

  • Working with the Stop Burning Trees campaign on just transition for Drax workers and for the region.

  • Catherine is involved with West Yorkshire Eco-Educators - an online meetup of teachers, giving opportunity to talk about environmental education and engage with schools.

  • Important role for health and safety and green reps. Bringing motions to local and regional TUC about climate justice and the importance of green reps. Lots of work engaging with trade union structures, but needed because it is the only way to change policy.

  • Catherine and Stuart have been engaged with council committees - keeping a worker and trade union voice in these processes, as sadly even with a Labour council, trade unionism is rarely mentioned or engaged with.

Key points from Q&A and discussion

  • How much have Drax workers been involved in writing the Stop Burning Trees report? Unfortunately not, attempts made to engage Drax workers but they are focused on workplace issues like health and safety and fire and rehire. Takes a long time to build bridges and support.

  • GMB calling for investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) - but unclear if CCS works and is a genuine solution which we should be investing in. Need to push back on false solutions pushed by some unions.

  • Glass manufacturing locally - decarbonisation needed for the industry to be able to export to Europe, so investment needed in renewables and power grid etc. Clear question of workers’ jobs.

Resources and links