DEALING with the climate emergency must be brought to the core of all union work, delegates told the conference today.

Unison also pledged to campaign against laws that restrict the right to peaceful protest over climate and other issues.

NEC speaker Stephen Smellie warned that the climate emergency “poses a threat to public services and life.”

He said: “We must acknowledge those Unison members working in councils responding to climate change under attack from Reform and we will stand by them.

“We oppose further drilling for fossil fuels. The only safe thing about fossil fuels is to leave them in the ground.”

He said that the union must “fight for a publicly owned energy sector.”

Savannah Ferguson, a South Lanarkshire home care worker, told of the challenges faced trying to deliver services as the climate emergency worsens.

She said: “We need a just transition not just for energy workers but for all public services workers.”

Ian Allinson, from Greater Manchester Transport, highlighted the “enormous wealth tied up in fossil capital,” which was why there was an increasing clampdown on protest and “extraordinary” prison sentences handed down to protesters.

“Our ability to protest is vital,” he insisted.

Retired member Roger Bannister praised the “Lancashire nannas who have campaigned against fracking who risked arrest.

“They succeeded in driving the frackers away.”

Lee Davies from Liverpool insisted that even though there has been excellent recruitment of new green reps in the union, “all reps should still work together on climate change.

“Pension divestment campaign is one example of where all the branch activists can come together.”

Energy Group chairwoman Lyndsey McNaught reminded delegates that climate change is “not a distant threat. It’s here. It’s now.

“We must turn commitment into action and we must work together.”

She said that to achieve this, members in the energy group “are essential for delivering our policy.”

University of Sussex delegate Ruben Brett insisted that there was much that could be learned from China in the work they have carried out on climate change.

China, for example, “is responsible for 50 per cent of the world’s solar power production.”

He said: “We need to co-operate with China on climate change instead of demonising it.”