Just Transition

The term "just transition" was coined by Tony Mazzochi of OCAW (now USW) in the early 1990s (Mazzochi was contemporary with Judi Bari, and both probably influenced each other, at least indirectly). He declared, “there is a superfund for dirt, there also ought to be a superfund for workers”;

Judi Bari (along with timber workers allied with—or at least in contact with—her) was proposing demands for timber workers that effectively represented a “just transition” (even though its not clear that she ever used that specific term herself);

The concept initially basically meant that, “workers adversely affected by a transition away from polluting industries—whether by conversion or decommissioning—must be made whole”, however, the definition has become somewhat contested territory in recent years.

More conservative unions and/or their officialdom, particularly those that represent workers in the industries most likely to be targeted by decarbonization and/or greening, especially the Building Trades and/or fossil fuels have tried to water down the definition to mean that workers (and/or the businesses that employ them) “transition” to “false solutions”, i.e. CCS, “clean” coal, Geoengineering, biofuels, cap-and-trade, and/or hydrogen (meaning hydrogen that is identified by any one of the rainbow of “colors” other than green)

By contrast the Climate Justice and Environmental Justice communit(ies) have attempted to expand the definition to incorporate the core of Mazzochi’s vision, but also to include reparations to the front line communities, particularly BIPOC communities who have been adversely affected by the “capital blight” caused by the businesses being targeted. However, the unions, even sometimes the more progressive unions, don’t necessarily agree to this expansion.

The following articles, videos, and documents--organized in reverse chronological order from most recent to oldest--offer further insights into Just Transition if you wish to take a deeper dive and learn more: