The ‘sustainable’ Industrial Democracy and the role of Trade Unions in the Just Transition

Abstract

Over the past two centuries, trade unions have played an essential role in countering the power of employers, representing workers' interests and responding to emerging social issues. Trade union action has taken different forms in Western countries. As a result, labour laws in these countries have adopted various ways of regulating social power. Despite the differences, it can be argued that labour law's main problem has been reconciling the protection of workers' rights with economic freedoms, using law or bargaining to achieve this. This paradigm is now being challenged by implementing the principle of environmental protection and sustainable economic growth at different levels of the regulatory framework. Although many fundamental aspects are involved, the role of labour and employment law in ensuring this just transition is unclear. It also needs to be clarified what instruments the labour movement can use to reconcile the objective of securing employment with that of achieving a green revolution. This paper aims to identify the relationship between environmental protection and labour law, adopting a multilevel system perspective and looking at the experiences of other countries. Finally, the paper will consider the role of industrial democracy in developing just transition policies.