[P2P-F] just transition as union-driven proposal

Wed Aug 31 08:16:02 CEST 2011

Dear Orsan,

COuld you introduce the history of just transition proposals, documented
here in this article, with references at the bottom of the article,

Really need extra material in the short term, thanks for stepping in if you
can.

see
http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/2008/07/12/universalizing-transition-rights-through-guaranteed-income/

One sign that a universal income benefit is on the horizon is the recent
call from United Professionals for “Transition
Rights<http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/blog/tag/transition-rights/>”
which parallels labor unions’ “Just Transition Fund” [1].

According to the UP article, Transition Rights are about “freedom to explore
what [job] you want to do next, without financial devastation.” The
principle of the “Just Transition Fund” is to ensure that workers who lose
their jobs due to environmental policies are not forced to commit “economic
suicide.” [2]

A Guaranteed Livable Income would universalize ‘Transition Fund’ principles
to extend them to all people–especially those excluded from formal work [3].

Hand wringing about where the money would come from for a guaranteed income
(since money <http://www.livableincome.org/money.htm> is a human invention),
or worrying “what if people won’t work,” are only worn-out excuses (going
all the way back to Malthus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthus>!) that
allow billions of people to live with the lethal pendulum of income
insecurity dangling daily over their heads – depleting their health and
needlessly shortening their lives. [4]

So … It should be simple and obvious for humanity to choose between the
pathetic (because it is avoidable) nightmare of forcing everyone, including
children, to compete for jobs and income, or the achievable goal of
universal income security. [5]

References:

[1] Just Transition Fund

UK Trades Union Congress sponsored document “Green and Fair Future”
documents the history of Just Transition and calls for a JTF in order to
make sure that “all the conditions exist for a genuinely just transition to
a low carbon economy” http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-14922-f0.cfm

Canadian Labour Congress 2008 convention: “In creating the legislative
framework for investments and expenditures to deal with climate change, the
Federal government should establish Just Transition Funds.”
http://www.labourcouncil.ca/CLCgreen.pdf

[2] Tony Mazzocchi: “Workers Must Be Compensated Fully If Jobs Are Lost for
Environmental Reasons — We Call This ‘A Just Transition’”, 2000,
http://www.kclabor.org/mazzgreen.htm

Mazzocchi who coined the term “Just Transition” was called the “Rachel
Carson of the American workplace”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Mazzocchi

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