Just Transtion and Labour Movements: Theory and Practices from a European Action-Research Project

This paper reflects on the principle of "just ecological transition" as a means by which, by incorporating the social sphere into decarbonization strategies, the "work versus environment" conflict that has characterized the advent of the climate question can be overcome. The decarbonization of the capitalist system and the need to govern in a fair and "just" way the major technological, political and cultural transformations that derive from it is becoming a key focus of contemporary social struggles.

The work presents the main findings of a European project REJEnerAXION (Energy for a just and green recovery deal: the role of the IR in the energy sector for a resilient Europe), which analyzes the role of industrial relations and social dialogue in supporting a just energy transition in eight countries from Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. The methodoloy is based on desk analsyis and 24 case studies with a comparative approach. The study aims to understand how union action is being reconfigured in response to the socio-technical transformations generated by the ecologics crisis to assume a pro-active, rather than reactive, role in favor of an environmentally and socially responsible transformation of the development model. In this regard, a work-oriented narrative of the ecological transition is proposed, rather than a market-based or ecological modernization-oriented one, with the aim of giving voice to those who are affected by the distributive effects of the transition (workers, communities, territories) and who are the concrete agents of eco-social change.