In Germany, labor unions are strong supporters of renewables, which is not the case everywhere. A recent paper by a German labor union leader explains the history, which is a good example of the struggle between midsize firms and large corporations, says Craig Morris. Recently, I wrote about Strukturwandel (structural change), the German campaign to transition away from conventional heavy-industry sectors to new technologies. I later came across this wonderful PDF in German, and I wanted to share its content with the non-German-speaking world. The author, Meinhard Geiken, is a leader in IG Metall, Germany’s major labor union for heavy industry. He explains that the union now “promotes democratic structures in future industries” but that labor unions were once fierce opponents of renewables. Last year, labor unions co-organized the “human chain” of 120,000 people that connected the Brunsbüttel nuclear reactor to the Krümmel reactor in a protest. But as Geiken explains, the labor unions promoted the “peaceful use of nuclear energy” in the 1970s as a way of creating jobs. After all, these unions represented … Continue reading Labor unions – pro-nuke or pro-renewables?