Join Liverpool Trade Union Council in this one-day conference to plan the next steps for union activists in Liverpool & Merseyside. You will hear why and how trade unionists can organise and act around the issue of Climate Change with workshops on a Just Transition & the Lucas Plan, building the climate strikes, and the role of Green reps as well as discussing what a socialist Green New Deal could look like.

The Climate Emergency is here and happening for all to see, with Australia and the Amazon burning, floods in Yorkshire and the Antarctic melting. Already, many communities in the UK and across the world are being affected. The political response has been pitiful and successive COP conferences have failed to materialise into action.

Nevertheless, school strikers for climate and activists from Extinction Rebellion across the world have placed the issue on the front pages during 2019 with their protests and direct actions. Meanwhile, the Labour Party Manifesto included one of the most powerful political programmes on climate ever seen, with elements drawn from the Green New Deal, a Green Industrial revolution, a Just Transition and the creation of a million Climate Jobs whilst bringing entire sectors of the economy back into public ownership. At the heart of those policies were jobs, housing, living conditions and equality - all of which are the bread and butter of the Trade Union movement.

To meet the scale of the crisis we face, large area of employment will have to shift to a Zero Carbon economy, and Trade Unions will be crucial in negotiating with employers, protecting rights at work and unionising the new industries. Workers and their communities cannot pay the price of the climate crisis.

It is time for the Trade Union movement to fully join the Climate resistance.

The time is now.

Registrations start at 9.30am

10.00 Welcome - Dave Walsh, President of Liverpool TUC

10.05 Introduction with:

Laura Lévy, Youth Strike For Climate Liverpool

Clara Paillard, PCS union

Ben Percival & Ruth Austen-Vincent, Extinction Rebellion Liverpool

Kim Johnson, Riverside MP

10.45 Workshop session 1 - choose between:

Just Transition: what can we learn from the Lucas Plan with John Routley from the Lucas Plan group.

Green reps: what do they do? How do you become one? with Gwyneth Farleigh, UNISON

12.00 Vegan lunch

12.20 Film about the Lucas Plan - 30 minutes (optional during lunch)

13.00 Workshop session 2 - choose between

Climate & Trade Unions: Building for Climate Strikes with YS4C Liverpool and PCS union

What does a Socialist Green New Deal looks like? with Tim Jeeves (Merseyside Labour 4 Green New Deal) and Danni Paffard (Green New Deal UK).

14.15 Reports & feedbacks from workshops

15.15 Concluding session: Next steps

16.00 Close of event

Accessibility info: The Meeting House is wheelchair accessible with a lift to all floors. They have a hearing loop installed in our Large and Small Meeting Rooms and a portable hearing loop if required. If you want to discuss your access requirements, please contact us asap.