May Day as annually observed globally is more than just a rededication to the struggles for workers’ rights, but about the centrality of the global work force’s need to secure the future of work.
The theme for this year being “Industrialization, Trade, and Decent Work for Social Justice” highlights the importance of using industrialization and trade as tools for generating decent employment, promoting economic growth, and ensuring equity and dignity for workers.
As we seek and find solutions to greatest threat of our times- climate change, we do so with the full appreciation that there is an energy transition and green revolution currently underway and already altering the labour market with the associated workforce disruption in high-emission industries, with mining and electricity generation bearing the first brunt.
Workers Day occurs amidst a fragile and volatile geo-political environment, characterised by efforts to undermine multilateralism, global governance, and international solidarity.
At the same time, the advent of the fourth Industrial Revolution and the global push for decarbonisation present both challenges and opportunities for our economy and workers whom without a just transition framework risk being displaced.
With power plant closures in the horizon and the global commitment to move to a low carbon economy, many workers, and communities within the coal value chain are being left without appropriate planning and sufficient protection.
In coal mining and energy generation regions like Mpumalanga the shift away from fossil fuels brings to workers’ and communities’ additional vulnerabilities.
These workers are now faced with reality of marginalisation as decarbonisation of these massive employment present immediate job losses and threaten livelihoods, primarily because of their marginalisation in the discourse on the form, character, and pace of the just transition.
An opportunity for rethink a workplace of the future and to re-start our economy.
Our country stands at crossroads in its quest inclusive and transformative economic development.
While endowed with vast natural and human resources, we continue to grapple with social strife, high unemployment, informal labour markets, precarious working conditions, and widening income inequality.
In 2024, Statistics South Africa reported that eight million South Africans are unemployed, many living below the poverty line and those employed in precarious, low paying jobs.
Industrialisation can serve as a powerful engine for job creation and poverty eradication, provided it is inclusive, environmentally responsible, and grounded in strong labour protections.
South Africa’s green growth opportunity lies in the energy sector and across various economic value chains, including low-carbon energy, green transport, critical minerals, climate-smart agriculture, and circular economy sectors. – empowering and equipping people for new opportunities of the future.
However, many of our plans remain trapped in extractive economic models that fail to generate sufficient value-added employment and therefore requires a deliberate shift toward diversified and resilient economies to ensure long-term prosperity and equitable distribution of wealth, shared growth, and development.
Workers are not mere stakeholders, they should rightfully be co-designers a, co-implementers, and core beneficiaries of this transition.
Their lived experience and collective insights must shape the skills development plans, project design and funding priorities, implementation, and accountability frameworks.
A meaningful transition must optimise its critical assets – the workforce.
At the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), we believe that a just transition cannot succeed without workers at its core, not just as sheer participants in in the production mill, but as its backbone, with their voices and views shaping every aspect of this transition.
Key constraints hindering a worker centric transition, requiring immediate and early action include data access for informed decision making and planning, weak skills delivery systems, and the lack of binding social protection measures and instruments – But to do that, there must be a more robust financing flows beyond frameworks.
As such funding should be dedicated to skills development, worker support, social protection, and the creation of decent employment opportunities. Additionally, such financial flows are used to leverage for worker-led and social ownership enterprises and initiatives aimed at achieving “the just” outcomes of the transition.
To ensure that South Africa’s just transition is truly inclusive and equitable, we must mainstream key measures that prioritise the needs of workers and peoples by investing in education, skills development, social protection, and decent jobs. Training must be targeted, relevant and matched to real employment opportunities and this includes vocational education and skilling, reskilling, and upskilling.
To live to the May Day clarion call, as workers we believe that climate action and the decarbonisation of our economy should not only address environmental goals but also embeds decent work and workers’ rights, grounded on a solid a Code of Good Practice for Just Transition, agreed to by all social partners and with the adequate standing in law and in policy and appropriately resourced to deliver a workers rights orientated and bias just transition.
Boitumelo Molete, is Presidential Climate Commissioner and COSATU Social Development Policy Coordinator.
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