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1 December, 2009
Peter and Gordon at Astrium agree that technology can't solve climate change on its own. "The technology exists to do all these wonderful things, but having the technology and using it are different things," says Peter. "At the moment, the majority of technology we need to monitor climate change and fix it is already there, but we need someone to direct it."
They both believe that the key is international cooperation on climate change. "We need an international organization," Gordon says. "But it takes political will and money!"
Peter and Gordon are both committed to their work as shop stewards and fully aware of the need to tackle climate change. But neither of them see an explicit link between their union membership and their commitment to prevent climate change. Nor do they believe that other workers see any such link. Climate change is an increasingly important part of Astrium's work for the European Space Agency, but workers tend to focus on their own job rather than looking at the bigger picture.
Nevertheless, Astrium could be the place where a clear link between union membership and climate change awareness is finally forged. The relationship between union and management represents a step away from old-style British union relations. Rather than having a combative relationship, both sides work together to lobby the government for greater investment in the aerospace industry. "It's very much a partnership between company and union," says Peter. "The idea is that we communicate the same message." This cooperative way of working underpins Astrium's success at the cutting edge of the aerospace industry. Perhaps it also demonstrates a better way to handle industrial relations in the 21st century.
"You've got to cooperate," says Peter, who believes that working together is essential for addressing climate change on a political level, as well as for developing the technologies to monitor and tackle it. Many traditional union qualities are exactly what's needed to fight climate change: solidarity, an international outlook, a proactive approach and a focus on social justice. The joint focus on cooperation and technological excellence seen at Astrium is a model for fighting the world's biggest threat. At the moment, we don't have an effective international strategy for climate change. There's no global agreement on who should be doing what. But one thing we do know: the satellites will continue to do the job they were built for, spinning around the Earth and giving us the information we need to act.
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