Environment

By Fred Wilson

A state of emergency has seized Paris this December, although sometimes it is hard to determine just which emergency is foremost. Armies of police surrounding the Le Bourget Climate Conference and smaller groups at every transit station and downtown shopping centres speak to one emergency. The massive posters and displays on the COP21 and environment and climate themes that dominate public spaces throughout Paris and its underground metro stations point to the other global emergency that brings us here.

Here on Day 3 of COP 21, Human Rights and worker rights have emerged as one of the key issues in the early negotiations. In the current draft text of "Article 2" there is a provision committing the parties to recognition of human rights and just transition for workers in implementing the COP21 agreement. However, a number of countries including Mexico, Norway, and the US are pushing to have these commitments moved to the non-binding preamble section. That is unacceptable for the labour delegates at COP who are lobbying hard to have Article 2 maintained in its present form.

Unifor's delegation to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (“COP21”) has arrived in Paris for this historic world gathering. I am in Paris with a group of senior staff and Ken Smith, President of Local 707A, who is arriving today.