COP21: Dispatch #1

From Murphy Prof. Sean Sweeney, 12/5/15:

I am here at COP 21 in Paris, where the first week of the two-week UN climate change conference has just concluded. Unions are fighting for a reference in the final agreement to “a just transition of the workforce” and are getting support from Argentina, Canada and one or two others.  The US negotiators are not blocking this, but neither are they willing to support it openly. Meanwhile, the JSMI is represented through Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, which has organized a number of workshops on the issue of asserting democratic control over the energy system in order to meet climate targets. Here’s an article in YES! that reports on one of these sessions.