Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay, who are running a joint campaign to become the first leadership team of the Green Party of England and Wales, today announced that they would be backing calls for workplace environmental representatives at the party’s Autumn Conference.

Adrian, who is standing to become Deputy Leader, said: “I will be supporting the Trade Union Reps motion at Green Party Conference this weekend.

“This is an important proposal which should help enable the environmental and the workplace safety agendas to come together in a way that will be important for the lives and well-being of many thousands of workers for years to come.

“In Norwich, Green Party Councillors have worked with a number of different trades unions on different issues over the past couple of years, including supporting the recent strike by council employees.

“Most crucially, we are currently engaged in close discussions with the unions over the possibility of bringing a number of Council services back ‘in-house’ – that is to say, in reversing the privatisation of Council services carried out by a previous Labour administration at City Hall.”

Caroline Lucas, who is standing to become party Leader, added: “In the European Parliament, it is Green MEPs who are by far the most progressive force in championing the issue of workers’ rights.

“Later this month, I shall be presenting a Written Declaration (similar to an Early Day Motion) in the Parliament, calling on the Commission to promote the expansion of workplace environmental representatives, and to ensure that they have the same legal status and protection as health and safety representatives.

“If elected as Leader, I would place a strong emphasis on forging deeper links between the Green Party and the trades union movement. We need to challenge the myth that there is any contradiction between the Green agenda, and jobs – to the contrary, Green policies will enhance sustainable job
creation. We must also ensure that employment issues and the negotiation of social and economic transition are at the heart of any effective approach to climate change.

“It is time to break the link between ‘New Labour’ and the trades union movement; it is time to recognise that the Green Party is the Party standing up for workers’ rights, and against profiteering and anti-social behaviour by large corporations.”