Renewal of Just Transition Commission welcomed but action needed now to deliver

Trade unions and civil society groups have welcomed John Swinney’s announcement that the Scottish Government intends to renew the Just Transition Commission after May, but warn that its many existing recommendations must be acted on first.

The Just Transition Commission is an independent advisory board established in 2019 to support and scrutinise the government’s plans. However, unions representing workers point out that the Scottish Government has so far failed to act properly on most of the recommendations of the Commission.

Workers recently made redundant from carbon-intensive industries have been disappointed by the lack of support with skills training or advice about transitioning to green jobs.

Workers in the offshore oil and gas sector are being hit with job losses every month, with recent news of north sea contractor Petrofac filing for administration and putting more than 2000 jobs in Scotland at risk being just one example. Unite the Union and RMT say that their members are not getting support from either their employers or the government and feel that the promise of a justtransition is not materialising.

The Just Transition Partnership is an alliance between Friends of the Earth Scotland, the Scottish Trade Union Congress, climate organisations and individual trade unions. A spokesperson from the partnership, Catrina Randall said:

“This timely Summit is an opportunity to point out that while the Scottish Government has been boasting about being a world leader, it has failed to act accordingly. The transition we’re seeing so far is neither fast nor fair.

“The Scottish Government should read the Commission’s reports carefully and prepare real plans to create new jobs in renewable energy, upskill the workforce, organise the investment and enable people and communities to benefit – and then deliver those plans. John Swinney said nothing about the failure to create supply chains jobs – the elephant in the room.

“It’s time to attach strict conditions to all Scottish Government funding. The agreement negotiated by Unite at Grangemouth shows the way but this approach needs to apply across the board.

“Furthermore, we believe that in order for the Commission to properly hold the government and its agencies to account in the next Parliament, its remit should be strengthened in law.”