Workers' Climate Action conference, 10 and 11 October

Workers' Climate Action | 08.10.2009 10:16 | Climate Chaos | Energy Crisis | Workers' Movements

The Workers' Climate Action network's second conference takes place on 10 and 11 October at University College London.

WORKERS' CLIMATE ACTION CONFERENCE 2009
London, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October
www.workersclimateaction.co.uk

A space for discussion and planning open to climate activists, trade unionists, and all those interested in workers' struggle and fighting climate change.

Founded by socialists, anarchists, trade unionists, Climate Campers and other activists in November 2007, Workers' Climate Action builds links between the labour and climate justice movements, to fight climate change and ecological destruction on the basis of working-class organisation and class struggle. We want a workers-led 'just transition' to a sustainable, socially planned economy.

WCA activists have played a key role in helping to initiate and supporting the Vestas struggle, in which wind turbine workers on the Isle of Wight occupied their factory to stop its closure, sparking a 'red-green' coalition fighting for jobs and workers' rights and against climate change.

In the last two months, many new activists have got involved in WCA, so we're holding a conference to discuss our ideas, plan actions and get organised for the period ahead. We're an open, democratic network, so come along, and bring workmates, fellow activists and friends!

The conference is supported by the London Transport Region of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT).

***

SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER
11am-5.30pm, Wilkins Old Refectory, University College London, Gower Street, near Euston Station

11am Plenary Session - building a class-struggle environmental movement after the experience of Vestas
Speaker from Vestas; Fliss Premru, RMT; Bob Sutton, WCA

12.15pm Workshops
a) Introduction to the history and politics of the environmental movement. Roger Geffen and Ian Fillingham
b) What is class? Discussing class in today's climate change context. Alex Wood and Lewis Bassett

1.30pm Lunch

2pm Workshops
a) Into to trade unions and their role in fighting climate change and environmental degradation. Becky Crocker and Fliss Premru, RMT activists
b) Coal production in Colombia. Andy Higginbottom, Colombia Solidarity; Ben Pearson, Bristol Latin America Forum

3.10pm Workshops
a) Skills training: agitating in workplaces, engaging with workers. Ed Maltby, WCA activist involved in initiating the Vestas struggle; Mark Sandell, Workers' Liberty
b) Workers’ control and workers’ plans for a ‘just transition’: Lucas Aerospace and other examples. Paul Hampton, Labour Research Department

4.20 Break

4.30 Organisational brainstorm - discussing ideas for WCA structure/ongoing organisation and action/campaign planning to be carried forward to the Sunday sessions.

5.25 Closing speech

5.30pm Close

Social at the Grafton Arms, 72 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DU from 6pm. (Some comrades will be going to the Plane Stupid gig in West Drayton later.)

There is a creche for Saturday, if you would like to make use of it, please get in touch.

SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER
Organising and campaign planning. Meet 10.30am at Hackney Central Railway station. If you're late or lost call Stuart 07817 595 626 or Bob 07843 945 005

***

For more information ring 07817 595 626 or email

workersclimateaction.info@gmail.com

Facebook event

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=160377698355&ref=ts

http://www.workersclimateaction.co.uk

http://www.climatecamp.org.uk

http://savevestas.wordpress.com

http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk

Workers' Climate Action
e-mail: workersclimateaction.info@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.workersclimateaction.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

London again?

08.10.2009 10:30

Do these many Trot parties and their many fronts ever consider having these things outside of London?

Annoyed

Vestas

08.10.2009 11:24

Without engaging with the nonsense about WCA being a front, the reason it's in London is that it's accessible from lots of places - including the Isle of Wight, where the Vestas struggle took place. The original plan was to have it in Liverpool, Manchester or Sheffield, but it was moved to London because those places are very difficult to reach from the Isle of Wight.

Workers' Climate Action
mail e-mail: workersclimateaction.info@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.workersclimateaction.co.uk

Not a unique occurence

08.10.2009 12:00

Perhaps but this is not the first thing to have been done this way. Things I can remember recently, stop the war and student stop the war conference, hopi conference, uaf conference, another education is possible all been in london, ens conference will be in london. Not that I want anything do with most of these fronts but the point still stands. There are workers outside of the capital you know and vestas is not the only struggle!

Still annoyed

Anarchists?

08.10.2009 12:03

Were "anarchists" really involved to any great extent (or at all) with the founding of Workers Climate Action? Whatever the Nov 2007 date mentioned above was not the first meeting of WCA & there is no mention of anarchism in this earlier report from Feb 2007:

http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/02/09/workers-climate-action-network
This smells of recruitment and party building opportunism by Alliance for Workers Liberty, to recruit amongst the "environmental milieu" and increase their credibility in the "labour movement".

Where is the black in " 'red-green' coalition"?

WCA skeptic

Stop wasting MY energy and resourses

08.10.2009 13:18

I'd like to know in clear, buzz word free easy to understand talk, what exactly shutting down a power station is going to achieve. Where and who (dont anwer that) is coming up with and agreeing to this nonsence. Think about it, all the expence and work hours incurred to organise 300 people getting to Ratcliffe. Even at 30 quid a piece it still adds up to nearly £10,000! If you want more people to take seriously this action or any other, the onus must be on common sense. This action interprets as ' lets spend £10,000 on shutting down our own power supply.' Dont you think ' lets spend £10,000 on shutting down the house of commons power supply, EDOs power supply, HLS power supply etc' will get the populace smiling as they watch MPs, bankers,the rich etc carrying hot-water bottles to work this winter rather than watching vans trundle to the morgue with another poor OAP frozen stiff. I apologise in advance if I missed the value/ point of this article.

Lost in the fog