At the request of TWU International President James C. Little, TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint took part in the 20 member U.S. trade union delegation to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention held in Bali in mid-December. The following report was sent from Bali by Sean Sweeney, Director of the  Cornell Global Labor Institute.

TWU Local 100 president Roger Toussaint became the first ever US trade union leader to address the main meeting of the UN's climate change negotiations. (Click here to read)
       
Toussaint, speaking for the the International Trade Union Confederation which represents 365 labor federations in 150 countries, spoke in the debate on adaptation to climate change. The NY transit union leader told the body, "As trade unions, we recognize that the best way to create the conditions for adaptation is to address poverty by creating a decent living standard for people, which includes fair wages and benefits."
       
Countries in the global South are feeling the effects of climate change in ways that are both immediate and deadly, as seen in the recent cyclone in Bangladesh that killed 10,000 people. The trade unions in Bali have called on rich countries to honor their commitments to poor countries made under the Kyoto protocol. The developed world is responsible for the much of the global warming that's occurring, but it's the poor countries who are paying the biggest price. Toussaint urged national governments to fully fund  the Nairobi work program adopted at the 2006  negotiations in Kenya. "The program is crucial because the poor are the most vulnerable. They lack the resources to respond to climate change," said Toussaint.
       
The Nairobi work program commits resources for adaptation infrastructure such as flood defenses. However, the resources have been slow to materialize. According to the UN's Development Program, just $26 million has been spent on adaptation in the poor countries, compared to billions of dollars spent on adaptation measures in countries like Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S.
       
The 9-day climate change meeting took place in Bali, Indonesia. The objective of the talks was to lay down a roadmap for a global response the climate change.