Getting ready for PCS Climate Change Week

Climate change is a trade union issue. Many of our members work for government departments that are on the frontline of dealing with the impacts of climate change, such as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ). However, government resourcing undervalues the crucial role public servants play, putting the future of our planet at risk.

Climate Change Week is your chance to get involved with campaigning on this vital topic, a chance to set the agenda and discuss how union members can work together to influence environmental outcomes.

Events

We are launching PCS Climate Change Week with an online meeting at lunchtime on Monday 23 September which will give an overview of the wider context of climate change and how we can connect our campaigns, including the rights of workers and the rights of nature. Guest speakers will talk about calling for big polluters to pay for the damage they’ve caused in the global south, the need for a global exit plan to manage a globally just transition and how to combine the collective strength of the trade union movement with the environmental movement.

For those employer groups that have an environmental remit, there is a meeting in Birmingham on Wednesday 25 September. Sessions will be held to look at best practice in environmental campaigning, how we can influence upwards to the government and ministers, and how we can promote the critical nature of our work to a wider audience. The aim of the meeting is also to discuss green bargaining and working up a green bargaining claim for the union.

For green reps and environmental activists in the London and SE region there is an in-person lunchtime event on Thursday 26 September 12.30 to 2pm, The Abbey Centre, 34 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BU. It will be a chance to meet others and share ideas, as well as hear from the DEFRA environmental action group on the impacts of under-resourcing on environmental policy.

If you are interested in attending any of these events, please email green@pcs.org.uk

Activities

We are encouraging reps and branches to organise activities in workplaces. Jennifer from DWP Tyneside and Northumbria is holding a stall on 24 September at Tyneview Park, and another on 26 September at Benton Park View, using materials requested from PCS.

Branch green officer Sherry, from DWP Wirral, is also holding a stall in her workplace with information on bike to work salary sacrifice schemes, car pools and a tool to check your carbon footprint.

Email green@pcs.org.uk to let us know what you’re doing, if you need any help or want to order materials.