PCS Climate Change Week begins

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.

Read about what one of our green reps has been doing in his workplace – what inspires them and what they do to make change happen.

To attend any event or for more information, email green@pcs.org.uk

Activities

Reps and branches are holding to events and activities across the week. Email green@pcs.org.uk to let us know what you’re doing or if you need any help.