MODEL MOTION FOR TRADE UNIONS ON THE “TIME TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE!” DEMONSTRATION AND CREATIVE MOBILISATION ON 7 MARCH 2015.
This branch/region/trades council notes with concern the findings of the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Penal on Climate Change and agrees to support the “Time to Act on Climate Change!” national demonstration and creative mobilisation in central London on March 7th.
It notes in particular the conclusion of the report that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen”.
It also notes the strong recommendation that governments take immediate and concerted action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a catastrophic increase in global temperatures of between 4.5 and 6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial conditions by the end of the century.
In view of this, and the clear evidence that global warming is already affecting the world’s weather patterns, we are dismayed at the failure of governments to reach a binding agreement on limiting emissions and are continuing to implement energy policies that involve the large scale burning of fossil fuels.
It believes that public pressure, including that from trade unions, must be mounted to ensure that this situation is rectified at the crucial COP talks in Paris in December 2015. It further believes that measures like those proposed in the “One Million Climate Jobs” report would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also, by boosting the economy, offer an alternative to austerity.
The branch/region/ trades council therefore resolves:
- To encourage members to join the “Time to Act on Climate Change!” demonstration on 7 March, to take the branch/region/trades council banner, and to contribute to the theme blocks of the demonstration as appropriate to the industries covered by the union - Transport, Water, Energy, Food, Divestment, and Climate Jobs.
- To give whatever assistance it can to any local action to mobilise support for the demonstration and to encourage other trade union bodies in our area to do likewise. This may include contributing to the cost of a coach to take local people to the demonstration.
- To affiliate to the Campaign against Climate Change and to send a representative to meetings of its Trade Union Group. [Affiliation fees: branches and trades councils £25, regions and County Associations £50, national unions £150.]
- To make a bulk order for copies of the new edition of the One Million Climate Jobs report for sale to members. [Copies can be ordered through the link at http://www.campaigncc.org/greenjobs.]
