ILPC 2027

The historical ‘capital-labour’ deal as it was established in the post-WW2 period was based on economic growth with high energy and resource use. Are trade unions and social dialogue structures still locked into a resource-wasting industrial mass production and consumption model of the past? This article takes an attempt to show how trade unions and key social actors develop new strategies and live up to new challenges in the context of sustainable development. Based on literature review and case studies from industrial regions this paper will put forward arguments how and why trade unions and social dialogue structures are in a position to overcome their narrow traditional role and take up broader issues, expand the dialogue and move away from the resource-wasting consumer-industrial production model. We also show how the trade union movement – at its different organisational levels – takes up this narrative. ‘Just transition towards a low-carbon economy’, how the green transformation should be managed and how its unavoidable costs should be distributed (among employers, employees, the state and consumers) is the main strategic approach of trade unions. This is a historical process entailing pitfalls and contradictions, particularly at times of the crisis, austerity policies and major labour market tensions. Contradictions and differing visions necessarily appear also between different organisational levels of the trade union movement. This article will focus on the conflicts of the green transformation of industrial regions in Europe at times of the crisis within which issues such as austerity policy, public and private investment, energy transformation, employment and social issues have become intertwined in a potentially explosive mix. Based on literature and document review, current policies and practices in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Poland and the UK will be evaluated by highlighting the main conflicts and open questions about burden sharing and distributional issues. The second part of the paper will be based on case studies about the transformation of energy-intensive industrial regions, from the UK (Humber region), Sweden (Norrbotten), Germany (Ruhr), Spain (Asturias) and Poland (Silesia) putting the main conflicts and trade union strategies into the centre of discussion.