Past, Present, and Future of Green Jobs: Policies, Strategies, and Alternatives
Hybrid conference – December 6-7 2024
Université du Québec en Outaouais (Gatineau (Quebec) – for in-person)
Call for Papers
The ecological transition poses significant challenges for the future of work. On the one hand, the energy transition affects carbon-intensive industries (e.g. fossil fuels, combustion engine cars, steel) which are subject to plant closures, restructurings, and layoffs. While manufacturing jobs associated with these sectors have been, historically, better paid and more unionized relative to average working conditions prevailing across the economy, retraining programs are far from guaranteeing job security, decent pay, and union rights. On the other hand, the ecological “modernization” of the economy is resulting in the emergence of “green” sectors, from renewables to electrified modes of transportation. However, the jobs associated with these sectors are often characterized by wages and unionization rates below those observed in the fossil industries. In between, existing jobs might need to be adapted to a changing climate of heatwaves, natural disasters, new diseases, and evolving nature protection standards.
These issues are now affected by the recent adoption of “green” industrial policies by governments in North America, Europe, and East Asia. While aimed at accelerating the decarbonization of our economies, these policies are also promising good green jobs. Given past historical trends, it is uncertain whether these policies will pave the way for the creation of decent green jobs or rather perpetuate tendencies toward the segmentation of the labour market characterized by the expansion of precarious and low-paid work.
Given the limits of existing policies, social conflicts are contesting existing green labour relations at the firm and sectoral levels and the broader labour and welfare state regimes, the results of which could well determine if the ecological transition is just or not. Different visions of the “just transition” have been and are being proposed, from those promoted by governments, to the business sector, and different labour unions. Here, the notion of “green job” is itself up for debate, whether it is limited to manufacturing and construction sectors or extended to services and care work which is often devalorized by the private sector and dominant policies. These visions can diverge quite vastly with some existing within the parameters of “green” capitalism, whereas some consider that the emancipation of work and nature will depend on a much more profound contestation of prevailing modes of production and consumption.
To enlighten the historical dynamics affecting these issues, both in the distant past and more recently, this conference invites theoretical contributions as well as case and comparative studies addressing one of the following themes:
- The effect of economic and environmental policies on green jobs;
- The evolution of working conditions in a specific “green” sector;
- Transition plans affecting the fossil fuel and hard-to-abate industries;
- Different conceptions of just transitions;
- “Green” extractivism and the challenges of a just transition in the Global South;
- The business models prevailing in “green” sectors;
- The different union strategies vis-à-vis the ecological transition;
- Reimagining the nature of work in an environmental
Format
This conference will be held in a hybrid format (in-person and online) on December 6-7 2024, with its in-person portion held at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) in Gatineau (Quebec).
Deadline for proposals
Individual abstracts (between 250-500 words max) need to be sent by September 22nd 2024 at [email protected]. The conference is also open to proposals of fully formed panels (of 1000-2000 words max).
Organizing committee and sponsors
This conference is co-organized and financed by the Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (CRISES) and the Trade Unions and Labour Environmentalism Study Network (TULE). This event is also financed by a SSHRC Institutional Grant and the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS).
Organizing committee
Christian Pépin (Postdoctoral Fellow at UQO, CRISES and TULE member) Vincent Collins (PhD student at York University, TULE member)
Évelyn Dionne (PhD student at Université Laval, TULE member)
Jonathan Michaud (PhD student at Université de Montréal, TULE member)
