Remembering Workers in Transition

 Kentucky ocal miners protest for lost wages after mine declares bankruptcy

This is Labour Day in North America, the yearly opportunity to celebrate a labour movement which began to ensure that workers would have decent hours, living wages, and safe conditions. There are still parades in cities across the continent, including in Toronto, but they have grown smaller. The public has grown less supportive of unions and the movement through the decades. often unaware that what they take for granted in terms of working conditions and wages did not come easily.

Today I suggest we pray for those labourers who are in industries such as coal and oil which are changing rapidly and leaving tens of thousands unemployed. They are not villains because they work in fossil fuel industries and the prospect of retraining, relocating, perhaps losing homes is something which we should all understand.

I notice that the Green Party of Canada has identified a recent federal Task Force on Just Transition as a key to what they term "just transition." 
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/task-force-just-transition.html

“But now Canada has set a standard with the report of the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities. The Greens fully support the seven principles and 10 recommendations from that landmark report,” said Ms. May. “Our budget and platform contain a commitment to the $300 million recommended by task force members to establish community support and a jobs bank.”

Among the key recommendations from the report are locally-driven transition centres for communities disproportionately impacted, a pension bridging programme, and comprehensive funding for workers to retrain and stay in the labour market.

Ms. May said that the fear and anxiety among workers in the fossil fuel industry is understandable. “They are concerned about their families and communities, the stability of their future livelihoods and identity. We will listen to and respect their concerns. Workers are key to making a just transition work for our economy, and for their communities.



Fishers confront Minister John Crosbie in 1992

The United Church has long supported the notion of just work with just pay, and we are committed to environmental responsibility as part of a sustainable future. Ruth and I will soon be in Newfoundland, where I first served in ministry nearly 40 years ago. The cod fishery was on the verge of collapse, a catastrophe which ironically forced the migration of thousands of unemployed Newfoundlanders to Alberta for work in the oil industry. 

This Labour Day we can say a pray for those who will be in transition and pay attention to what all the parties include in their platforms as we approach a federal election.