This is a short piece for the next issue of Socialist Resistance. Faut de mieux it also has the model resolution I put to my union branch. Or would have if it had been quorate.

The trade union movement’s voice has been virtually inaudible in the debate on climate change. Every crackpot right wing think tank has been dreaming up solutions that will make preserve the wealth and power of the rich. Trade unionists in Britain have barely begun to start asking how they can start putting working class solutions on the agenda. All that is about to change.

The first trade union conference organised by the Campaign against Climate Change (CACC) is taking place on Saturday 9th February at the University of London Union, Malet Street, London. Socialist Resistance is encouraging all its supporters and readers to build support for the conference by getting resolutions through their union branches and persuading union members to attend. You should also be trying to get your union banner along to the CACC demonstration in London on December 8^th.

Supporters of this paper are centrally involved in organising the conference, along with members of the SWP, the Green Party, CACC and other organisations.

An impressive range of plenary speakers includes Mark Serwotka of the PCS, Tony Kearns of the CWU, Matt Wrack of the FBU and Caroline Lucas of the Green Party. Workshops on what you can do in your workplace, building cities for the future, contraction and convergence, the international aspect will give space for discussion and debate.

In the next few years climate change will force itself onto the agenda of every trade union in Britain. Socialists and trade union activists need to be prepared to have alternative solutions to offer in place of those proposed by our rulers. Events like the CACC trade union conference are one of the ways we will be able to provide these answers. It is time to start talking about this issue in your union and for your union branch to support this conference.

Model Resolution

This ~~~ accepts that the scientific evidence proving that human activity is contributing to the warming of the planet is overwhelming.

In the developed world it will be the poorest who will be most severely affected by this. In the global south it will be those with the fewest resources who will face a future without adequate food, clean water and will be obliged to migrate in order to survive.

This is an issue which will increasingly become of the highest importance for working people and trade unionists in Britain. This ~~~ therefore resolves to:

1) Support, publicise and encourage members to attend the Campaign Against Climate Change demonstration on Saturday December 8th.

2) Seek to ensure that our union’s banner is carried on this demonstration.

3) Support, publicise and encourage members to attend the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference on Saturday 8th February 2008.

4) Donate £150 to the campaign organisers to help defray their expenses
Sponsor the conference in the name of this ~~~.

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