{"id":47500,"date":"2021-04-30T17:53:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T15:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=47500"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:33:29","slug":"taking-inspiration-from-international-workers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/47500\/taking-inspiration-from-international-workers-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking inspiration from International Workers Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greenpeace is committed to respect the hard-earned rights of workers and supports a socially fair and just transition away from polluting industries.<\/p>\n\n

\"A
A miner works in a shortwall coalmine in West Virginia.
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Why we are marking May 1st <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

Today we are celebrating International\u202fWorkers\u2019\u202fDay. Workers and their unions have played a critical part in shaping the world we know today. Often demonstrating incredible perseverance, resilience and stubborn optimism. If you enjoy weekends off<\/a> or sick pay <\/a>or parental leave<\/a> – then you have benefited too! <\/p>\n\n

People-power is at the heart of Greenpeace, and the workers movement has much to teach us. The power of collective bargaining and the courage of strike action are proof that people can work together to change the world for the better. All due respect to that. <\/p>\n\n

\"Activists
#ProtectEssentialWorkers, near the Capitol in Washington.
\u00a9 Tim Aubry \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

How will climate change impact workers?  <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

On the one hand, many people\u2019s livelihoods are tied to polluting sectors. Think oil and gas workers, aviation engineers, factory workers making petrol and diesel vehicles. The decline of these industries is inevitable as we cut greenhouse gas emissions, and this will impact working people and their families. Many are looking for a way out or to re-skill<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, there is a huge amount of work to be done in creating cleaner transport, building renewable energy infrastructure, insulating homes and restoring nature. These are all industries that will continue to grow. And with the right investment, training and support, a wide range of opportunities could replace the jobs lost. <\/p>\n\n

\"A
A technician inspects solar panels on the roof of Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta.
\u00a9 Yorri \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

This is the essence of the term just transition; moving to a more sustainable economy in a way that\u2019s fair to everyone. <\/p>\n\n

Done right, the transformation that\u2019s needed to reduce emissions can also be a chance to tackle many of the other injustices in our societies. Done badly, it could worsen them. Everyone should be able to support their loved ones and enjoy a decent quality of life. The bottom line is that there can be no environmental justice without social justice.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\"Workers
Workers at Dafeng Power Station, China\u2019s largest solar photovoltaic-wind hybrid power station.
\u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Zhiyong Fu<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

What needs to be done? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

A just transition won\u2019t happen on its own. We must work together to make sure that the investment and support is in place. <\/p>\n\n

Many unions and rank-and-file workers around the world have been making this point for years. The term just transition was born of the labour movement<\/a> and impacted communities. Its demands include things like; funding for re-training, employment guarantees when dirty industries wind down, good labour standards and pay in the greener growth industries, access to join a union, and provisions for relocation when appropriate. <\/p>\n\n

Plus a strong social safety net extended to whole communities and development plans for regions impacted. Past experiences teach us that industry transitions can have huge ripple effects and not everyone can or will relocate. <\/p>\n\n

Perhaps most urgent is the demand for investment and policies to scale up these growing industries and create new and decent jobs.<\/p>\n\n

No one size fits all: designing transitions tailored to each situation will need consultation and the active participation of workers and their unions. <\/p>\n\n

\"Installation
A crane lifts and attaches wind turbine blades.
\u00a9 Paul Langrock \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Who should foot the bill? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

Well, we know of plenty<\/a> of companies and super rich elites who have been profiting from dirty industries for decades. We say polluters should pay up. <\/p>\n\n

When fossil fuel companies seed doubt about the science<\/a>, or use carbon accounting tricks <\/a>to  deny the scale of the change ahead, or promise jobs they can\u2019t deliver<\/a>, or use climate change as an excuse for job cuts made for other reasons<\/a>, they aren’t doing their employees any favours. Instead, they are dragging them further down into the hole they are digging. <\/p>\n\n

So today, on International Workers Day, let’s all of us who care about a green and peaceful future think about what we can do to push for a just transition. Not just in words but in actions and policy demands. <\/p>\n\n

And let’s reaffirm our conviction in the power of people to work together to change the world for the better. Because we need that power right now, perhaps more than ever. <\/p>\n\n

\"Greenpeace
Greenpeace US delivers its message demanding Jeff Bezos and Amazon board members protect workers and the planet.
\u00a9 Marcus Donner \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Seven awesome examples of people power from the workers movement <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
  1. Brazil:<\/strong> Street cleaners<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro won an unprecedented victory after an eight-day strike which left tonnes of trash on the streets of the city right after the 2014 Carnival, and just before the World Cup. The slogan \u2018Don\u2019t treat us like rubbish!\u2019 resonated with many people, and they started work again with a 37% pay rise! <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"Street
    \u00a9 T\u00e2nia R\u00eago\/ Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Street cleaners protest outside City Hall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    \n
    1. Korea<\/strong>: South Korean welder and labor activist Kim Jin-suk<\/a> inspired her country back in 2011 by occupying the top of a 115-foot shipyard crane for 309 days to protest worker layoffs and defend workers\u2019 rights.  The result? The company rehired nearly a hundred unionists after a social movement inspired by her sit-in broke out across the country. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \"Labour
      \u00a9 Jaewon Lee<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Labour activist Kim Jin-Suk.<\/sub><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

      \n
      1. Australia: <\/strong>Green Ban\u2019s<\/a> in the 1970s, led by the Builders Labourers Federation in response to concerns by local communities held strike actions to protect parkland, low-income housing and buildings with historical significance. Construction workers would down tools and forced developers to change plans. In the longer term green bans influenced local planning structures as well as national planning systems.\u00a0<\/mark><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \"Mural
        \u00a9 Jay Galvin \/ CC 2.0<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Mural featuring Jack Mundey of the Builders Labourers Federation, Sydney, Australia.<\/sup><\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

        \n
        1. USA: <\/strong>The grape strike in Delano<\/a>, California was a labor strike that brought together Filipino and Mexican farm workers to fight for better working conditions. Starting in 1965 it lasted 5 years, and gave birth to the United Farm Workers<\/a> union. The movement grew and was supported by a consumer boycott of non-union grapes. In 1970, the workers and their union won an agreement with major table grape growers, affecting more than 10,000 farm workers.<\/mark><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \"Supporters
          \u00a9 Movimentos, Wikimedia Commons CC 3.0<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

          Supporters of Cesar Chavez, founder of the National Farm Workers Association.<\/sup><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

          \n
          \n
          1. South Africa: <\/strong>In the anti-Apartheid movement, the struggle<\/a> for basic trade union rights and the broader struggle for human rights were deeply connected. Uniting diverse sectoral unions, The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was founded in the early 1980\u2019s. It was an extraordinary period in history that brought together civil society movements, churches, labour, student movements, and the broader Mass Democratic Movement into a single united front. Thousands of people were detained, hundreds of thousands went on strike, and millions of people around the world took solidarity action. In 1994 South Africa’s first non-racial election was held and democratic rule was won. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
            \"Anti
            \u00a9 Paul Weinberg, Wikimedia Comms CC 3.0<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            Anti Apartheid protest, South Africa. <\/sup><\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

            \n
            1. Tunisia:<\/strong> Tunisian General Labour Union played a critical role in the The National Dialogue Quartet, alongside three other civil society organisations representing workers, welfare, the principles of the rule of law and human rights. The Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 in the wake of the Arab spring, when the democratization process was in danger of collapsing and the country was on the brink of civil war. They helped to establish a new constitutional system, and in 2015 the Quartet won the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              \"Meeting
              \u00a9 Dragan Tatic \/ Bundesministerium f\u00fcr Europa, Integration und \u00c4u\u00dferes, Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

              Meeting with the Tunisian Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Vienna.<\/sup><\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

              \n
              1. International: <\/strong>The Make Amazon Pay<\/a> campaign is a collaboration of warehouse workers, climate activists, and citizens around the world, taking on the world’s richest man and the multinational corporation behind him. Launched in 2020, calling out poor worker conditions, tax dodging, environmental impacts, and failings to properly protect staff during the Covid pandemic. Spanning India to Poland, Bangladesh to Mexico, this is an example of a truly international effort.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                \"Make
                \u00a9 Leonhard Lenz, Wikimedia Commons \/ CC 1.0<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

                The ‘Make Amazon Pay’ Alliance, Berlin.<\/sup><\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

                <\/div>\n\n\n\n

                <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

                <\/div>\n\n

                Sophie Allain is a campaigner with the Greenpeace International Fossil Fuel Workers and Just Transition Group <\/em>
                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Greenpeace is committed to respect the hard-earned rights of workers and supports a socially fair and just transition away from polluting industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":47501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"AXIOS format","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[65],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-47500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-energy-revolution","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47500"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84454,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47500\/revisions\/84454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47500"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=47500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}