“The multifaceted & all-encompassing nature of the climate crisis means that every single thing that trade unions fight on is going to be impacted by it.”
By Niamh Iliff
Why the Climate Crisis is a Working Class Issue was at the heart of one of Sunday evening’s TUC fringe events. The focus was on ‘building a year of trade union climate action’, and the meeting was organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group (CACCTU) alongside the Greener Jobs Alliance. There is also a motion on this subject submitted to this year’s Congress by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU).
Tahir Latif, speaking from the Greener Jobs Alliance, argued that climate has slipped down the agenda – something that needs to be urgently rectified – and that by starting a year of climate action this autumn, the importance of the climate crisis to trade unionists can be driven home.
Sarah Woolley, BFAWU General Secretary, highlighted that the climate crisis is “Happening here and now and affecting every one of us”, with working class people hit more. And for this reason, policies cannot just be left to governments and corporations – we need the labour movement to lead in ensuring climate justice and that action matches the scale of the crisis we’re living in.
Sarah also set out some of the concrete actions BFAWU are taking through running online meetings to bring members together, reviving their green newsletter and seeking to build alliances with other unions, community groups, young people and internationally.
Sarah Kilpatrick, President of the National Education Union, placed the climate crisis as part of the broader context of the multiple crises unfolding across society and impacting on children. With children growing up in a fearful and uncertain world and yet having no time in the school day for them to ask questions, or learn critical thinking and to discuss the uncertainty in their lives and futures: “there is no greater existential threat than that of an uninhabitable planet”. Sarah highlighted the need to demand changes to the education curriculum to enable children to learn more about the climate and for time in the school day for children to ask questions and to discuss.
Suzanne Jeffrey from CACCTU explained that the multifaceted and all-encompassing nature of the climate crisis means that every single thing that trade unions fight on is going to be impacted by it. This Suzanne argued, highlights the importance of building knowledge and understanding amongst trade unionists, especially as the far-right weaponise the climate crisis, and despair and distress of the working class to aid their own agenda.
Miranda Irwin from the campaign Heat Strike demonstrated just one of the industrial ways in which the climate crisis is critically impacting workers now, with heat making workplaces more unsafe. In 2022 the UK passed 40°C for the first time in recorded history, and 2025 was the hottest May on record again. Miranda outlined some industrial demands as the climate crisis deepens, including a maximum working temperature and a heat wave furlough scheme to protect workers. As part of raising the importance of the climate crisis and the need for action Heat Strike are encouraging workers to sign up to their website to get notifications on being part of taking action on the hottest days of the year.
Liz Wheatley from Unison put forward how they wanted to be ambitious about what unions can do and how they have been encouraging branches to have environment officers, bringing members together- many are already planning what to do in the year of climate activism. The union is also taking up the impact of climate emergency on public services and have set up briefings for branches and members. Sessions are focusing on different sectors of the union and themed, for example, around International Women’s Day, and climate refugees (this is especially important with how the far right have been organising), and an intergenerational approach that involved retired and young members uniting workers.
- You can follow the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group on Twitter/X and BlueSky.
- You can follow the Greener Jobs Alliance on Facebook and Instagram.
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