From 14 to 17 February 2024 took place in Timisoara / Romania a seminar about “The Just Transition Fund: How the trade unions can protect the rights of the workers whose workplaces are subject to reconversion”, organized by IFES (Institutul de Formare Economică şi Socială), in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union.
The climate changes and this we see every day. The meteo extreme phenomena are registered more and more often and bring economic losses, suffering and even death. Changes in our society and in our lifestyle will be difficult for some (individuals, communities, countries). And for these situations the European Union provides an assistance mechanism for member countries: „The Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) is a key tool to ensure that the transition towards a climate-neutral economy happens in a fair way, leaving no one behind. It provides targeted support to help mobilise around €55 billion over the period 2021-2027 in the most affected regions, to alleviate the socio-economic impact of the transition.“
It is the duty of the social partners, of the trade unions especially, to play an active role in the implementation of this support mechanism provided by the European Union. Even if in the preliminary consultation stage, the social dialogue was missing or was formal, the implementation of the transition measures can ensure that any person and any community affected by these measures will be supported correctly and efficiently.
The implementation of the project was made in Timisoara, but one of the seminar days was dedicated to visit Resita, one of the oldest metallurgical sites in Romania (since last part of the 18th century).
The seminar was attended by 35 representatives of workers’ organisations from Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Serbia, Republic of Moldavia and Romania.
The topics considered during the seminar were:
The Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) as an EU key tool for the transition towards a climate-neutral economy. The Plans for the Just Transition (Anamaria Andreea Naggar and Stefan Niculescu from the Romanian Ministry for Investments and European Projects)
The transition towards a climate-neutral economy
Consequences of climate change (Simona Ernu from the Romanian Academic Society)
Climate in tension: The influence of climate change on contemporary conflicts (Maurizio Petrocchi from the University of Macerata)
How the school can contribute to the preparation of a climate-neutral society (Madalina Chiosa from the Resita City Hall)
The climate changes. How looks the future. What is still possible to do (Adrian Dohotaru from the SOS Association)
The transition in the energy and mining sector (Constantin Lazaroiu from the Cartel-Alfa Trade Union in CE Oltenia)
Reports from the participant countries (Mihai Grecu – PPA Moldova, Antonio Carita Franco – Sinergia Portugal, Emil Antonov form CL Podkrepa Bulgaria, Rainer Rissmaier from NBH Germany)
The concrete transformations towards climate-neutral economy and society in Resita
The second day of the seminar was planned to be on the move. The participants of the seminar had the opportunity to know directly the plans and achievements in the field of transition towards a climate-neutral economy and society in Resita, one of the industrial cities in Romania, with an old tradition in the metallurgical industry. We did 3 stops:
- at the Caras-Severin Regional Council where we meet the heads of the region (Mr. Romeo Dunca) and Resita city (Mr. Ioan Popa), we heard about the transformations already done in the region and what plans they have for the near future;
- at the UCM Resita, Mr. Cosmin Ursonoiu (CEO) taught us about the history of the metallurgical and machinery building industry in Resita and after that he led us in a visit in the factory revealing the plans in the regard of modernisation, reducing energy consumption and preserving the jobs;
- at the secondary school "Mihai Peia" Resita we found the ways by which the schools are figuring the future education of the pupils for a sustainable society.
The role of the trade unions and of the social dialogue in the Green Deal transition
Just Transition Fund and the involvement of the social partners (Alin Munteanu from Gorj branch of the CNS Cartel Alfa)
A special lecture was given by Piergiorgio Sciacqua, co-president of EZA and president of the MCL Council, Italy. He presented a very impressive lecture named Dignity and human solidarity, subsidiarity, sustainability. The ethical-social principles that govern the educational activity of the members of the European Centre for Workers' Problems (EZA)
In the final discussion of the seminar, under the moderation of Bogdan Iuliu Hossu, Vice president of EZA and President of CNS Cartel Alfa/Romania, were introduced ideas for the future action of the trade union in the Green Deal transition:
- a more qualified and intense involvement into all the stages of the transformations (plans, implementation, monitoring),
- stronger cooperation among the trade unions, among the EZA members aiming a better representation of the workers’ interests.
This kind of seminars should be organized regularly in the framework of EZA’s social dialogue program. The participants claimed for a close cooperation and for sharing of good or bad examples from different countries.