Background
At our national green forum in December last year John McDonnell MP, chair of the PCS parliamentary group of MPs, proposed that we to table a parliamentary amendment which would seek to amend the ACAS code of practice on trade union duties and activities to provide for statutory rights for environmental reps.
As environmental reps do not at present have legal rights to time off to carry out the role or undertake training, extending the scope of union activities to cover environmental issues at work only happens through voluntary agreements with employers.
Pressure has been growing in parliament around this issue over the last couple of years. In 2006/7 John McDonnell tabled an early day motion (EDM) asking for workplace environmental reps to be given the same rights as other union reps. A further EDM was tabled by Martin Salter MP last year on the same issue.
We have been working with John McDonnell's office and have now drafted an amendment to the Employment Bill that is presently going through parliament to provide for time off for training and carrying out activities along similar lines to those accorded to union learning reps in 2002.
The amendment is in keeping with a motion on climate change that was carried at TUC Congress this year as well as the TUC Just Transition pamphlet A Green and Fair Future that was published earlier in the year. Both call upon the government to give statutory rights to environmental reps.
Why do we need green reps?
Last week the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband announced that the Government would amend the Climate Change Bill by increasing the target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from 60 to 80 per cent by 2050.
Over half of carbon emissions are workrelated so organisations have a vitally important role to play in tackling climate change.
Collective action in the workplace can lead to changes in policy and structures as well as individual behaviour and so is more effective in cutting carbon than actions taken by individual consumers. Staff at all levels need to be engaged in the task of helping to reduce emissions - union environmental reps play a key role in raising awareness and ensuring that environmental issues are included in the bargaining agenda with employers.
Employers have however been slow to implement carbon reduction and wider environmental measures.
Civil service employers were strongly criticised earlier in the year by the parliamentary Environment Audit Committee (EAC) which produced a report that described the government's performance in greening its own estate as "extremely poor" and "very disappointing".
We welcome the EAC's recommendation that the Office of Government Commerce works with civil service unions on greening government departments. I am now engaged in talks with the Cabinet Office, alongside other civil service unions, to take this recommendation forward.
Support for rights for workplace environmental reps
The campaign for rights for workplace environmental reps is supported by green organisations such as Friends of the Earth and the Campaign against Climate Change. Last month the Green Party carried a motion at its autumn conference calling for statutory rights for environmental reps.
The vital role union reps can play in tackling climate change has also been acknowledged by government ministers. In June, Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn visited the British Museum where PCS led on one of the TUC's Greenworkplaces projects last year. Speaking afterwards at a TUC conference on climate change he said:
"Today I saw at first hand the valuable role that union reps are playing. I visited a 'Greening the workplace' project at the British Museum, where union reps have worked in partnership with management to raise awareness of climate change in the workplace and identify opportunities for carbon savings.
I was impressed with the work I saw and with the real commitment and enthusiasm. What is clear is that bottomup union and employee led action can really make a difference."
What you can do Contact your MP and ask them to support the amendment and encourage members in your branch to do so too. A model letter can be found here in MS Word format and is also available on the PCS website here.
Please pass on any responses from your MP to campaigns officer Laura Cockram on 020 7801 2820 or laurac@pcs.org.uk so we can track which MPs support the amendment.
