Greening of Industry: Some Policies to Address Environmental Concerns & Promote Greening of Jobs

Transcription

1 Greening of Industry: Some Policies to Address Environmental Concerns & Promote Greening of Jobs

2 What are Green Jobs? Jobs that reduce environmental impact of enterprises & economic activities such as - - those that help to protect ecosystems & bio-diversity - Jobs that reduce consumption of energy, materials, water, decarbonise economy - minimize or avoid generation of waste Idea of green jobs is not absolute, there are shades of green But does it mean green jobs are decent jobs? what is the place of safe & decent work for workers in the concept of green jobs?

3 Green Jobs are not necessarily decent jobs Quality of green jobs? health hazards of a green jobs? - many green jobs in recycling and reuse operations are dirty, dangerous & difficult/demeaning - Ex.. the t recycling industry (IT, plastics, waste industry, Ship breaking) Picture Source:

4 New Green BUT old bad management Many green jobs are done in conditions that will be considered indecent low pay, no social protection, poor health and safety standards, exploitative employment relationships & gross violations of employment rights.

5 Decent & Green Jobs link MDG 1 (poverty reduction) and MDG 7 (protecting the environment) So, how do we promote Green & Decent Jobs in manufacturing sector? Greening of industry comes not just from growing more trees or investing in effluent treatment plants or energy efficient production processes (important as these are) BUT we also need to look at how business conducts its business. What employment & working conditions need to be promoted for green & decent jobs?

6 Areas of action for Green & decent jobs Need for re-looking at flexibility in the area of production and employment Working conditions (OSH) Terms of employment (wages & contracts of employment) regularization of employment relations Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining

7 Production & employment practices of industry incompatible with environment protection practice of outsourcing & sub-contracting hazardous and polluting work employment of contract/casual, inadequately skilled low paid labour to do hazardous, dirty work Lack of responsibility towards waste disposal (outsourcing to contractors) - pollute agricultural land & ground water why is hazardous, dirty work (ex. jobs related to industrial sanitation and maintenance, cleaning of furnaces, machinery, etc) not considered skilled enough, requiring regular work force and paid accordingly?

8 Production & employment practices of industry incompatible with environment protection Occupational safety & health and Environment protection are the two sides of the same coin - the right of the people to live in clean environment is accepted much readily but right to work in clean-safe environment is not adequately appreciated Income/wage policies for green economy: poverty wages do not contribute towards sustainable development Respect for Freedom of Association & Right to Collective bargaining enabling conditions for sharing in gains from growth, for democratic decision making over work place changes towards greener economy, for representative social dialogue

9 Not in my backyard approach to pollution unsustainable Closure & shifting of industry is not always a good solution but this policy has often been implemented by governments when pressurized by NGOs on account of industrial pollution industries usually shift to rural backward areas where they continue to pollute While industry gets incentives & support for relocation, workers are not so lucky - relocation causes job losses and dislocation of workers lives (since workers often cannot not shift to new locations) and these are more often than not, organized workers. Contract-casual casual workers get no compensation at all.

10 Not in my backyard approach to pollution unsustainable Closure & relocation policy will only increase the immiserisation of the people which in turn will lead to conditions that are not conducive for environment protection. The need is to make the industry invest in pollution control and cleaner technologies rather than allow them the easier way of closing down while they shift pollute elsewhere.

11 Some other issues GDP growth measure it grows even when we destroy environment, employ child labour, start a war or destroy jobs or cause accidents (like Bhopal) Financialization of the economy short-termism of the stock markets, rewarding of destruction of productive capacity and causing job losses Accounting & financial standards favour short term valuation to the detriment of medium or long term strategies do not take into account pollution or environmental costs Development Model: hazards of export oriented growth, need for more local, human centred, rather than growth centred economic model

12 Any Questions?