Professor Linda Clarke, Professor of European Industrial Relations in the Westminster Business School (WBS), took part in the ETUI-ETUC conference: Towards a new socio-ecological contract, where she presented on trade unions and climate change.
The ETUI-ETUC conference, hosted online by the European Trade Union Institute and European Trade Union Confederation from 3 to 5 February, explored different lines of inquiry and discussion regarding economic, social and environmental sustainability, seeking to understand current challenges as well as to identify what can be done to rebuild labour relations sustainably. The conference was opened by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
As part of the conference, Professor Linda Clarke hosted the panel on trade unions and climate change in her role as co-editor of a special issue of the European Journal of Industrial Relations. This panel made a key contribution to the conference and to the audience’s understanding of the way in which trade unions are currently approaching the realities of climate change.
Professor Clarke began by introducing the panel and what will be discussed, and later presented on her paper with Dr Melahat Sahin-Dikmen on ‘Unions and the green transition in construction in Europe: Contrasting visions’, part of the European Journal of Industrial Relations issue.
Talking about the conference, Professor Clarke said: “This event marks a turning point by setting a new agenda for Europe, and in particular the trade union movement, away from a competitive market economy to a new post-Covid socially and environmentally sustainable green economy.”
Watch the panel discussion on YouTube.
