ABSTRACT
In effect, Richard Trumka and supporting unions advanced the false dichotomy of “jobs versus the environment” that pits workers in carbon-based industries against the climate justice movement which has increasingly called for the defence of Indigenous self-determination. The North American labour movement has come to rely on carbon-intensive jobs in the emergent colonial-capitalist economy. The endorsement of Just Transition is gaining momentum in the Canadian labour movement as of late. Climate justice activist Naomi Klein observed the connection between low wage, precarious work, and the carbon-based economy in her speech to Canada’s largest private-sector union, Unifor, at their founding convention in 2013: It’s not just boilermakers, pipefitters, construction workers and assembly line workers who get new jobs and purpose in this great transition. There are big parts of our economy that are already low-carbon. They’re the parts facing the most disrespect, demeaning attacks and cuts.
