Industries around the world including the garment sector have to change if we’re going to survive the climate and ecological crisis. How can we make sure that worker and community rights are at the centre of this change? In this episode:Efforts in the Philippines to develop a Just Transition campaign for workers and communities (Rochelle Porras, EILER)What a Just Transition must involve, from a global union perspective (Alison Tate, ITUC)Campaigns to pressure garment manufacturers to stop polluting the environment that also highlight worker rights (Urska Trunk, Changing Markets)How environment movements and worker movements share the same goals in a Just Transition (Karin Nansen, Friends of the Earth)Steps the Clean Clothes Campaign can take to push for a Just Transition for garment workers (Tibbe Smith-Larsen, CCC) Please tell us what inspired you about this show, and share your feedback, comments and questions, by emailing: podcast@cleanclothes.org Speakers:Rochelle Porras, EILER, PhilippinesAlison Tate, ITUCUrska Trunk, Changing MarketsKarin Nansen, Friends of the Earth Uruguay & Friends of the Earth InternationalTibbe Smith-Larsen, Europe Coalition CoordinatorHost: Febriana Firdaus (febrianafirdaus.com)Field Reporters: Petra Ivsic and Aca VragolovicSound Engineering Support: Steve Adam (www.spectrosonics.com.au) Producer: Matthew Abud Clean Clothes Podcast Team: Anne Dekker, Johnson Ching-Yin Yeung, Liz Parker, Tanne de Goei Full Transcript HOST:Welcome to the Clean Clothes Podcast. In today’s show we’re talking about a Just Transition. It’s a big conversation. KARIN:We believe that the systemic crisis are interconnected, be it the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, water crisis, food crisis, and now the pandemic. So if we all want to overcome this crisis, this systemic crisis we face, we really need the people’s movements, people’s organisations, to come together. HOST:It’s about how we need to build a better world, if we want to survive in the future. And about what that means for the rights of all workers. URSKA:I mean in general we’re talking about one of the most polluting industries on the planet, synonymous with over-consumption, pollution, increasing waste crisis, but also exploitation of workers in the global supply chains HOST:And what the Clean Clothes Campaign Network needs to do. TIBBE:To have a consciousness about the environmental issues, climate issues, it’s still quite a new thing. And I think it really is a challenge for us as a Network now to understand what are these implications for workers, and what are the responses that we propose and what is it that we imagine a Just Transition looks like HOST:You just heard from several of our guests – we’ll meet them all again, later in the show. I’m Febriana Firdaus. The challenges of climate and ecological crisis are profound. But in many ways, we’re still working out what it involves for workers. How do we transition from the current business model to one that is good for workers and the environment? In mainstream debates a lot of the talk is about a just transition in the energy sector. Often Just transition is seen as something for the energy sector to carry out. We need to change the energy sector – but we also need much more than that This episode is about starting some of that discussion. With people in the Clean Clothes Network, and with others outside it. Right now, a Just Transition can have different meanings for different movements. But the campaigns will be stronger, if these meanings are connected. If the understanding is shared. How do we make that happen in our own countries, and our own places of work? Rochelle Porras is Executive Director of EILER, Ecumenical Institute For Labor Education and Research in the Philippines. ROCHELLEIt’s true, we have to really transition into a low-carbon economy otherwise we won’t have a planet to live in, the production system is absolutely not sustainable as of the moment. But I guess the problem lies in the implementation of the programs that the country-level policies when we talk about Just Transition. First and foremost Just Transition in developing countries like the Philippines receive less attention because the energy industry is still is facing the very basic of problems such as you know, many of our areas still don’t have electricity. So it’s mind-blowing for us to talk about these technological advancement when the very basic, you know we need electricity to run things, something as basic as that, we don’t have it yet. Likewise the Philippine energy industry’s also guided by privatisation, liberalisation, and so no public ownership. And renewable energy industries are primarily being provided and enjoyed by the biggest industry players as well. As a third-world country it’s a lot different. So a lot of production are happening in South East Asian countries including ...
