USA must pressure China to adopt decent global emissions trading standards: AWU

Australian Workers’ Union National Secretary Paul Howes this week met with Republican and Democrat Senators to lobby them for a global emissions trading scheme which protect the jobs of resource industry and manufacturing workers in Australia and the USA.

" If we are to protect jobs in Australia and the United States developing countries like China need to be part of any global emissions trading scheme," Paul Howes told the media after his meeting with US political leaders in Congress.

The AWU leader is in Washington DC as part of the Australia-America Leadership Dialogue, which includes Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson.

He took time out from the Dialogue meeting to lobby US political leaders, including the powerful Republican Senator, Arlen Specter, for a global emissions trading scheme. He had the opportunity to meet with the US Senators and their staff from states like Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Ohio as well as with the United Steelworkers of America.

Global leadership if Australian and US workers aren't to be climate change victims

"Climate change and global emissions problems don't just stop at our coastline, our borders. This is a global issue and if we are to resolve it in the interests of our members the AWU needs to find partners everywhere - unions and environmental groups and politicians - who are prepared to listen and work together for a solution.

"The AWU has made Climate Change and emissions trading a core union campaign issue for the next few years in order to give a voice to our members in the resource, steel, alumina and metallurgical mining industries.

Innovative solutions to create good green jobs - not kill jobs

Large multinationals have no particular loyalty to Australia

Once Australia and the USA introduce climate change regimes, their aluminium and steel industries will be decimated by unfettered production in India, Brazil and particularly China, Paul Howes warned the US Senators..

" The companies that produce aluminium in Australia are large multi-national companies they have no particular loyalty to Australia and they will produce aluminium wherever is cheapest and most efficient to do that.

Production shifted offshore causing greater problems for our Climate

United States can't continue to sit on the Kyoto sidelines - must show leadership

"When the United States shows leadership, others will follow," he said.

The AWU's national secretary told reporters, at a briefing after his Congress meetings that as Australia's biggest energy and resources union he wants to form alliances on climate change with US unions and politicians as part of an agenda by the union to make both countries climate change pacesetters.

He said he was hopeful that the United States learns from Australia how quickly a country can move on climate change control.

He told US media that when Kevin Rudd was elected Prime Minister in 2007 his first act of business was to sign the United Nation's Kyoto Protocol, and one week later he attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali.

Need to build new alliances in the energy debate

The BlueGreen Alliance has already lobbied the US Congress urging that the competitiveness provisions of any Climate Change legislation "be strengthened to ensure that existing manufacturing capacity in the United States is not encouraged to relocate offshore to avoid the increased costs of energy resulting from the pricing of carbon."

The Australian Workers Union and the Steelworkers signed a strategic alliance in February 2005 aimed at building cooperation on issues involving common employers.