- South Africa’s main trade union federations – COSATU, FEDUSA, NACTU and SAFTU – will be launching a research centre to assist trade unions with technical expertise on the Just Transition.
- The new centre reflects the labour movement’s recognition that the climate crisis will entail substantial economic and plant-level restructuring.
- This transition will inevitably impose significant burdens on working people.
In response, unions and their members will have to engage on a variety of levels, from enterprise negotiations to community engagement and mobilisation to national and provincial policy development. The centre will provide the unions with technical expertise, including reviewing available research and the implications for workers; identifying and helping to analyse different levels of engagement with other stakeholders; and sharing experiences from South Africa and internationally.
The centre will initially be housed at research institute Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS). The French Development Agency, AFD, has committed funding toward the research to be undertaken by the centre. On Thursday 9 November 2023 a funding agreement was signed between the CEO of AFD and the Executive Director of TIPS.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
