An International Seminar “European Green Deal and Employment” took place from October 19th to 22nd, 2023 in SETÚBAL/Portugal. The Seminar was promoted and organized by LOC/MTC — Catholic Workers League/Christian Workers Movement —, with support from EZA (the European Centre for Workers' Affairs), and funded by the European Union. It was attended representatives of workers’ organisations from Portugal, Germany, Spain, and Slovakia.
The opening session was attended by Father José Lobato, Administrator of the Diocese of Setúbal, by André Martins, the Mayor of Setúbal, and by Américo Monteiro, the National Coordinator of LOC/MTC. Maria Reina Martin, Vice-President of EZA, coming from an international meeting, greeted those present a little later. On behalf of LOC/MTC, Américo Monteiro thanked for all the support for organizing the seminar, and thanked all the national and international participants and main speakers on each session, for the effort they made to take part in this Seminar and for offering their contribution to the debate on this important topic. Then Américo Monteiro took the opportunity to mention Pope Francis' latest apostolic exhortation, “Laudate Deum,” a call to respond to the main concerns related to climate change, rising sea levels, droughts, and many other phenomena that are impacting the Planet and leaving many people adrift, and that in Paragraph 10, responds to many of workers' main concerns, valuing the efforts being made to mitigate climate change, stating that if this entire process is correctly developed, it can lead to the creation of jobs and not to their reduction as many fear.
The Mayor, in addition to greeting everyone and showing his satisfaction for Setúbal having been chosen for this event, in his address, he said that the Just Transition Fund requires critical analysis, and that workers' rights must be respected in the transition process to a more environmentally sustainable economy. These transitions always include an ideological component in which the class struggle has a huge influence. In this scenario, the Trade Union movement plays a vital role in advocating for workers' rights.
Father Lobato also thanked for holding the event in the Diocese of Setúbal, and for the contribution of the local members of LOC/MTC in organizing and participating in the event. He said he regrets and recognizes that the Church has not paid the attention it should to the labour world, despite the fact that, with the encyclical Laborem Exercens/1981, on human work, significant progress has been made, especially regarding the dignity of workers. Regardless of their occupation, dignity lies with the worker.
The first session, moderated by Pedro Pinto from LOC/MTC, dwelled on “The European Green Deal, its impact and influence on Employment, and the importance of Social Dialogue.” Vera Weghmann, from the University of Greenwich, reflected on the issue of waste, the circular economy, a just transition so that more jobs can be created, recycling, and the attention to be paid to waste workers. Employment in the waste sector has grown, and it is a labour intensive sector, however, a large proportion of waste workers are from the informal sector and immigrants. There is little concern for the working conditions, safety and health of those who collect and segregate the various types of waste. One of the main challenges is that waste management is automated, both in sorting and recycling, although the tendency is for this sector to grow. There is no zero waste, if there is growth, there is more waste. One has to think about how the production of an object starts, and what will happen to it at the end of its journey. Europe has not been able to reduce the amount of waste, against what was actually proposed. Single-use packaging is one of the biggest sources of household waste. One must rethink the use of our Planet's resources. By recycling, we pollute less, but we do not solve the Planet's sustainability issue — it will only happen by reducing consumption and changing lifestyles.
In the second session, moderated by José Janela da Quercus, Eugénia Pires, an economist and researcher from COLABOR, elaborated on the topic “The impact, and economic and social consequences for workers of implementing the goals of the European Green Deal.” The speaker framed the emergence of COLABOR and the projects it has launched, which study the impact of technologies on employment, which should always be seen as an instrument at the service of Man, and not to subjugate him. She presented the various elements that make up the European Green Deal, as well as the application of the Deal's goals, framework, mechanisms and financing, and she pointed out a strong contradiction between rhetoric and practice, according to a vision of a minimal State that only distributes subsidies to technology and that does not hold companies accountable when they do not comply with the rules. Regarding the impact, and economic and social consequences for workers from the point of view of implementing the goals of the European Green Deal and Employment, she explained that it presents the vision of a continent that is being projected to be net zero by 2050, which is not guaranteed. For this transition to be successful, it must be just, promoting professional reskilling, creating employment opportunities, energy-efficient housing, mechanisms against energy poverty, and access to clean, affordable, safe energy. It appears that the poorest have less capacity to contribute to this transition, as they do not have the economic conditions for such.
In the Third Session, moderated by Angelina Patrício from LOC/MTC, Susana Fonseca from the ZERO Association addressed the topic: Sustainable Development and Just Transition. She framed the work of this association, which goes beyond environmental issues, and pays great attention to the creation of critical public policies. Regarding the impact and challenges in Europe and the World, she said that the European Green Deal represented a turning point not only in environmental matters, but also in the Just Transition, with perspectives even for outside Europe. The focus on the pandemic led to forgetting the major crises, such as the recession, climate change, and the great crisis of biodiversity collapse. And now, with the wars, everything has become even more complicated. She spoke about the overshoot day, about consumerism and waste, about the ecological footprint and emissions, about the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), and the difficulties in achieving progress in a world that follows the natural order of things. All this in a world in which some people still do not have access to the minimum necessities of life. She spoke of the great need to reduce demand, because just switching to other materials causes a great demand for those other materials. It is important to invest in changing public policies, because brands will not be the ones worrying about products lasting longer and being repairable, as for the SDGs, people are just following the natural order of things, and we need a profound change in this order.
The fourth session was a round table discussion, moderated by Susana Santos from CFTL/Base-Fut, with the following speakers: Wilfried Wienen from KAB from Germany; Salvador Ferret from ACO from Spain; Lubos Martinak from NKOS from Slovakia, and Rui Lavoura from LOC/MTC from Portugal. From the interventions made we highlight the following: The European Commission's decisions on the Plan for the Circular Economy are being followed, although there are no major indicators. In 2020, a new Plan was put forward aimed at ensuring product sustainability, and at empowering consumers and public entities. Major differences between countries and their practices in Europe were also identified. It has been difficult to move away from the concept of a linear economy, based on extracting-producing-disposing. The principle of the circular economy is to regenerate nature, because when the focus stops being the extraction and exploitation of finite resources, continually degrading ecosystems, nature has space to thrive, biodiversity is ensured, and the productivity of agricultural land is protected. The issue of the supply chain, the ethical relationship between customers and social impact, integrated into the balance sheet for the common good, were also addressed; and the position of Pope Francis who criticizes the growth paradigm — power in the hands of a few — was also mentioned, as if good and truth can emerge from technological growth in which infinity can be reached, and poverty and exclusion resolved. It was also discussed in depth that economy and capitalism are different things: capitalism aims at increasing capital, and the economy should aim at increasing everyone's best interest — THE COMMON GOOD.
In the fifth session, moderated by Firmina Moreira from LOC/MTC, Maite Valdivieso from HOAC from Spain, and Juan Ambrósio from R3C from Portugal, both Theologians, were asked to reflect and offer a deeper understanding on “ecological values and commitments of the labour world to ensure the harmonious future of life on the Planet, and the urgent challenges of humanity.” From the two speakers' very in-depth sharing, we highlight from Maite's presentation that we have good news to convey: God's project is a project of Humanization and Communion. She also mentioned the importance of promoting a new Trade Union culture, as Unions still have an essential role to play. Juan Ambrósio, based on the encyclical Laudato Si, left us with some critical challenges launched by Pope Francis. Thinking about the common good, we urgently need that politics and economics — by dialoguing with each other — place themselves decisively at the service of life, especially of human life. Work is a necessity, it is part of the meaning of life on this Earth, “The true objective should always be to provide people with decent life through work.” […]” (LS 128), “And let us ask Saint Joseph (the Worker) to help us fight for decent work, so that there is work for everyone, in the sense of decent work, not slave labour.” (Pope Francis, May 1, 2020).
All sessions were followed by a debate with all participants involved, providing an exchange of different points of view, and allowing requests for clarification on any doubts that arose.
At the end of the first day of the seminar, we conducted a group work, where everyone was able to share the knowledge they had acquired on decarbonization, the circular economy, emissions, among other topics; in which everyone was able to intervene, give their opinion, share knowledge, and ask questions that were then shared and discussed in the plenary session.