“Giulia Laganà of the Just Transition Centre: “Tackling the climate crisis is a question of political will; unions can help to push governments to reacquire that””

The ‘just transition’ is a hard fought-for concept that demands a fair and inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy for all. But it has also become a buzzword used liberally by businesses and bureaucrats…

The International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Just Transition Centre (JTC) has fought for a just transition on Tesla workers’ picket lines and with investors whose broken funding promises leave unions and their members high and dry. Giulia Laganà, the Centre’s director, says it is time to “go back to old school union tactics,”…

Laganà spoke with Equal Times shortly after she and her co-director (until the end of 2024) Diana Junquera Curiel were awarded the 2024 WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award, one of the world’s leading sustainability prizes, in recognition of the JTC work in ensuring that “workers actively participate in shaping the green transition”…

…We get unions all over the world to talk to – and learn from – each other’s strategies and tactics. We help them to form coalitions between the global south and north. We provide material, cross-sectoral support to get people involved in negotiations and discussions. …