Starting in September 2017, Jenny’s project developed as a partnership with the TUC Yorkshire and Humber region, where the Low Carbon Task Force has been working with Local Enterprise Partnerships, employers and trade unions to build awareness and capacity for change, including training for workplace green representatives, and developing collaborative approaches to low-carbon technology change.
Jenny has taken a participatory action research approach, working with trade union activists in the Low Carbon Task Force, to explore key questions including:
- How are local trade unions contributing to a Just Transition for workers and communities in energy-intensive industries?
- What barriers are they facing in the move towards a sustainable economy, and what can help to overcome those?
- What can they learn from experience in other European industrial regions and sister trade unions?
Jenny is supervised by Beth Perry and Stephen Connelly.
A summary of the core research appears with some indicative observations in the Realising Just Cities UK report (September 2019) -- see pages 30-31.
Watch Jenny and fellow Realising Just Cities PhD candidate Ryan Bellinson apply their learning to co-produce a workshop on reacting to the climate emergency at the 4th international Realising Just Cities conference: