Transfer redundant or furloughed staff into climate change roles

To facilitate transfer of staff currently furloughed or made unemployed into new or existing roles that support measures to reduce the impact of climate change and its consequences. Local examples of such work include home insulation, work on flood-defence schemes, and tree planting, while large scale projects include the proposed wind-farms on the Western Isles, Shetland (Viking) and the approval for and construction of electricity interconnectors to those islands. In terms of wind-farm construction, the current mothballed site at Bi-Fab, Leven, presents a ready made location and skilled work-force.
Agreements between current employers and the new employer over the agreed length of contract and whether the currently furloughed staff member could return to their current role would be required. However, given that the hospitality industry is unfortunately unlikely to re-open for many months, there is scope to offer at least six month - one year contracts, providing some certainty for both parties This is less of an issue for those made unemployed.

Provided staff could be trained in a safe manner, there is a pressing need or these kinds of roles to be undertaken and for these projects to go ahead - and indeed stipulated in law by both the UK and Scottish Governments in Climate Change legislation. This measure would ease the pressure on the taxpayer and be of benefit to the individuals involved, provided it were not overly difficult for them to transition, in terms of skills or geographical location. There would also be benefits to society more generally, in terms of reduced utility bills, improved air quality, and reduced flooding, which will make society more resilient in future, and help recoup some of the damage done as result of the pandemic, and help reduced Government spend in future.

Approvals for certain major projects would require UK Government agreement. Others require only Scottish Government or local authority approvals.

Why the contribution is important

Though tragic, the pandemic itself will be temporary, though if appropriate decisions are not taken, its effects could be long lasting. Climate change and its related aspects such as poor air quality and risk of increased flooding, are an even greater tragedy and will be permanent unless there is a sustained response.

There is a risk that some roles that are currently furloughed or where a person has been made unemployed may not return. Labour market evidence suggests that those who lose a job and do not quickly find another post can enter a period of long term unemployment, with negative impacts for them and the state.

In summary, short term actions could be taken, to bring longer term benefits. This idea is merely one such illustration of that.

by JoeinPartick on May 08, 2020 at 11:14AM

Current Rating

Average rating: 3.9
Based on: 11 votes

Comments

  • Posted by firehorse May 08, 2020 at 13:08

    great suggestion, you could include highly skilled engineers from the aviation sector for one, I would also suggest that rather than large scale projects in remote locations being restarted, that dispersed micro projects would increase opportunities for local work forces, thus more evenly spreading the economic recovery. What I mean as micro projects are wind & solar generation by household or small clusters of smaller turbines, maybe the size of lamp posts running down the sides of roads or railways. Support is also need to be improved the amount of upcycling of household goods and waste, I only see the creative sector making the most of this, maybe no vat on these products would encourage more sales. The idea of returning macro economics is bound to be more expensive and less sustainable than micro economics, the dispersal of profit would then almost be reversed, thus creating a more prosperous future for the majority rather than the minority.

  • Posted by JoeinPartick May 08, 2020 at 16:22

    The Scottish and UK Government is already advised by the Committee on Climate Change on this issue - so much of the work is already done on identifying which roles are needed most to help tackle Climate Change. Local activities (heat pumps and insulation) are some of the existing ideas. It may therefore be possible to build on this existing consensus, and given that some funding streams had already been identified, not all costs involved would be additional.
Log in or register to add comments and rate ideas