Received from: BFAWU
Congress notes that Ireland, Scotland and Wales have effectively banned fracking. England remains an exception. The Labour Party has said it will ban fracking.
Congress acknowledges that decarbonisation of heat remains a huge challenge given the UK’s high reliance on gas, and that imports have increased. However, pursuit of fracking is not the answer to this challenge.
Evidence of a changing climate is clearer than ever in both the UK and globally. Pursuing fracking will lock in fossil fuel infrastructure for decades to come, and detracts from pursuing real alternatives to wholly decarbonise our economy.
Fracking also poses health risks to workers and communities, and the long-term viability of our water resources on which other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing depend. The Environment Agency reports that current levels of abstraction leave “little room for increases in demand”.
Congress recognises and supports the rights of affiliates to protect their members’ interests in the sectors they represent. However, the threat of climate change to all workers requires that we work in solidarity to repurpose and create new jobs that will wholly decarbonise the economy by 2050.
Congress calls on the General Council to work with unions to consult affiliates on energy and decarbonisation policy, and to develop strategies to support workers in the transition to a zero-carbon economy and industrial strategy.
Congress further calls on the General Council to lobby the government to immediately ban fracking, and provide public investment in the skills and jobs needed to achieve the above aim.
Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union
AMENDMENT
- In the second sentence of paragraph 3, replace “will” with “could”, and at the end of the sentence, after “decarbonise our economy”, add “without programmes to decarbonise gas.”
- In the last paragraph, after “lobby the government to”, delete the remaining text and replace with: “independently evaluate the risks fracking might cause local communities versus the benefits of developing indigenous supply; support a moratorium whilst evaluation is concluded and commit government to a clean gas strategy, decarbonising gas fully using hydrogen/bio gas, ensuring affordable warmth is available to all.”
UNISON