Attendees were able to discuss climate change with government representatives and to learn more about the government’s climate change and sustainable transport plan. Bangkok aims to become a low carbon city, and it was discussed that the transport sector has a tremendous role to play in achieving this.
Attendees heard first-hand stories from environmental activists, including campaigning around quality public services. Green jobs were also discussed, as were the issues of outsourced labour, migrant workers and the potential threat of rail privatisation.
Camilla Roman, International Labour Organization (ILO) coordinator for green business in Asia Pacific, made a presentation on the ILO’s position on climate change on the final day of the seminar. Workers were able to take what they’d learnt from the seminar to develop their own climate change action plans.
ITF education officer Alana Dave said: “It was brilliant to hear about the strong commitment of the group to educate their members on climate change. We hope that the government will work with unions to support Thailand’s ambition of having a low-carbon capital, and look forward to offering support to our members in drawing up their own climate change plans.”
This seminar was funded by the LO-TCO Secretariat of International Trade Union Development Co-operation and is part of the ITF’s programme on climate change.
You can learn more about the ILO’s position on climate change at www.ilo.org/ilc
You can read this article in Thai on the ITF Climate Justice blog at http://www.itfglobal.org/climate_change_blog/?p=370
