PRESS RELEASE
19th September 2019
Sheffield’s trade union branches are weighing in behind the school students striking for the climate tomorrow Friday 20th September, says Martin Mayer Secretary of Sheffield Trade Union Council, the city’s umbrella trade union body.
“This time the school students are not alone” said Martin Mayer. “We have passed on dozens of messages of support to the school students from union branches across the city, and we expect to see a number of trade union banners on tomorrow’s march around the city centre.”
Climate change is a trade union issue and workers need to be at the forefront demanding real action to deal with the climate emergency, he added.. “There are no jobs on a dead planet” says Martin Mayer “so we need to make sure that not only do we transfer speedily to a green, zero carbon economy but we also need a just transition so that workers and communities are not left behind”.
“The school students have given us all a wake-up call” said Martin Mayer “Urgent action is needed to deal with what is now increasingly accepted as a climate emergency. We thank the school students for their brave stand which has really brought home to millions of people that we can’t afford to ignore the effects of climate change any longer”.
Last week the TUC Congress meeting in Brighton agreed a comprehensive motion on climate change that called for energy production, distribution and retail to be brought back into public ownership so that we can effectively transform to a green energy economy. It also passed a motion of support for the YouthStrike4Climate with a call on workers to take a 30 minutes workplace action in support on Friday.
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