Environment and Work: Links and Threats

Dynamic shifts in labour and working conditions are intricately linked to land, resources, and environmental conditions; and vice versa: ecological shifts disrupt economies, their models of production, consumption, organization of work, and more broadly the types of growth that support them. Ecological problems are thus also very often socio-economic problems. These linkages, and the ensuing threats to livelihood, community, and ecosystems, are perhaps most vividly observed in regions characterized by natural resource-based economies, but also in the other regions where those resources are processed and consumed. Workers thus face several threats, first posed by harsh and risky working conditions that are only exacerbated by climate change; second, by the tendency for the political regimes of some regions to dismiss the concerns of labour, and social welfare more generally; third, by the dynamic and uncertain nature of ‘boom and bust’ natural resource-based economies; and fourth, by political efforts to support the ‘greening’ of services, products, processes and labels, leading to skills evolution and jobs replacement or reorganisation in multiple industry sectors. Thus, the issues of environment, production, and livelihoods are intertwined. In this session, we will invite papers that explore a variety of studies focused on the links between work and environment in a variety of, labour conditions, sectors, and political contexts.