Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Unionists Demand Eco-Jobs

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BUENOS AIRES, May 11 2009 (IPS) - Labor unionists in Latin America and the Caribbean are calling for greater participation in sustainable development through the promotion of jobs in environmentally friendly technologies. Convened by the Confederación Sindical de las Americas and the United Nations Environment Program, some 70 union leaders met with government officials at the 2nd Regional Conference on Work and the Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean, here in Buenos Aires.

The unions stated their “willingness to participate in activities to create appropriate process for environmentally friendly production,” Guillermo Varela, general coordinator of Argentina's Sustainable Development and Labor Program, told Tierramérica.

They also maintained that if climate-changing gas emissions are to be reduced, it is essential to ensure that it isn't the workers who pay the price of that transformation, he added.