“Teachers came in significant numbers to the education workshops held in the more accessible “Green Zone” and were determined to tell the world about ongoing issues with overwork, poor pay, staff shortages, lack of funding and governments not listening”
By Jenny Cooper, NEU Executive member and TUC ITUC delegate to COP 28
COP 28 (the 28th Conference of Parties on Climate Change!) was held in an authoritarian regime where unions are banned. It was therefore ironic that the UAE provided the backdrop for the first ever COP in which the international trade union delegation managed to get written agreements on workers’ rights, social dialogue and social protection, as part of a “just transition” to net zero. From a trade union perspective this was obviously a good outcome.
We also, in common with other NGOs, had the remit of demanding the phasing out of fossil fuels and the position of keeping to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial average temperatures. By the end of week two the world was set on a fast track to climate hell and then at the eleventh hour, following strong lobbying, a huge protest and a powerful “People’s Plenary”, the text was added back in, stronger than it might have been but still only a “transition away” from fossil fuels. Needless to say this is not adequate to protect lives in most places but may work for those that have already dug their bunkers or booked their ticket with Elon Musk to Mars.
When friends and colleagues ask “How was COP?”, I find myself stutteringly devoid of an answer. COP is all of these things: a safari which explores the common habits and behaviours of the fossil fuel lobbyist, a summit which never quite reaches the top, an emotional rollercoaster of frustration, sadness and desperation, an uplifting gathering and mobilisation of all those organisations that do good in the world and an awakening of the potential for cruelty, dressed up as progress, to be dished out by the haves to the have-nots. (So a bit like life then!!).
In 28 years, this was the first time there was a COP Education Day, of interest to me as a teacher trade unionist, and after extensive lobbying, I was allowed three minutes to put my case at a “high level ministerial meeting”. Upon arrival, I was initially denied entry to the room, perhaps because I did not fit the appearance of “high level” or maybe simply because I did not have a PA and security team to advocate for me unlike the Baroness Barran and Princess of Morocco. But I did get to say my piece and others followed; one later commented that she would not have spoken had I not gone first.
Like all workers the world over, teachers should be listened to when teaching is being discussed. Teachers came in significant numbers to the education workshops held in the more accessible “Green Zone” and were determined to tell the world about ongoing issues with overwork, poor pay, staff shortages, lack of funding and governments not listening – this sounds like a list from the NEU in the UK but was actually participants from Kenya, India, Canada and more. As long as the world continues not to prioritise education, how can we deliver on meaningfully educating future generations to look after the world?
This, in truth, is the real education that happens inside the COP – multiple groups coming together to join the dots. Through many side events and meetings we heard of the links between climate change, migration and workers’ rights; between fossil fuels, renewables, privatisation and power; between sustainability, education, health and decent jobs. And we learn that the most important thing is not switching to electric and heat pumps or counting your carbon footprint or making pledges. The most important thing is people. It always was. To quote indigenous Grandmother Mary Lyons, present at COP 28: “Someone asked me outside – who are you? Now, Mary Lyons is my colonial name. So I told them the only answer I know- I am the Earth and the Earth is me”.
In a short meeting with Labour MPs who were attending the COP, I was able to discuss some of the matters mentioned above and the links between them. They were largely eager to agree that we must have a Just Transition which includes workers’ rights and proper social dialogue, rather than the tick-box consultation approach that is a common feature of all neo-liberal economies. There remains, however, in all parties, a gap between ordinary people’s experience of life and that of politicians- I found myself having to spell out to one MP that workers can struggle to get to work and that in many sectors it is only the CEO that can currently afford an electric car but that many would benefit from better-funded and subsidised public transport systems.
On returning from Dubai, many were pleased to read Labour’s statements regarding the unjust transition currently happening to steelworkers in Port Talbot. Unions representing these workers presented their own proposals for a just transition; they are not resisting a move to clean steel but have proposals which would mean the transition could be just for workers and helpful to their surrounding communities. But parties in opposition, prior to upcoming elections, are often happy to agree. For real change to happen for workers and citizens under a future government, though, we need a complete reversal of anti-trade union laws, a proper seat at the table for both workers’ representatives and local communities on matters which affect their lives (nothing about us without us) and an end to top-down control which is granted by privilege not experience. This is where the Citizens’ Assembly model proposed by Extinction Rebellion comes in, but has so far only been meaningfully discussed by the Greens; the Tories held a climate citizens’ assembly in 2020 and have since ignored the outcome.
Whilst our own steel workers face redundancy, coal miners in Columbia, who formed part of our union delegation, are experiencing a new left government who are undertaking a properly run just transition, and these workers are enjoying a seat at the table. Conversely in South Africa, miners are resisting the proposed transition away from fossil fuel mining thanks to terrible exploitation by the companies controlling the grab for renewable power (most of whom have no interest in South African people let alone workers). These are the real political choices between power and responsibility.
This imbalance of power and responsibility is of course being played out in Palestine right now. Civil society organisations, including ourselves, came together at COP 28 to reiterate the position that“there is no climate justice without freedom” and that that includes the freedom of the Palestinians. Yes, we were banned from carrying Palestine flags. But some wore the keys to their grandparents’ homes in Gaza and this resonated with every group present who had been forcibly removed from their lands including indigenous groups – guardians of the forests, migrant workers from the Philippines, those forced out by flooding in Bangladesh, war in Sudan and sea level rise in the Small Island States.
The success of getting the wording we wanted into the final texts is of course small fry in the great scheme of things. Words in government law and international treaties can and will be ignored; as with war crimes in Gaza. Asad Rehman of War on Want, speaking at the COP 28 People’s Plenary, reminded us that the real work begins back home – “go back to your countries and mobilise”. COP on its own will not save us, he said; we always knew that, and we agree.
- Jenny Cooper, is an Executive Member of the National Education Union and a Trades Union Congress (TUC) ITUC delegate to COP 28. You can follow her on Twitter/X.
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