What is collective bargaining?

Collective bargaining is a formal process where one or more workers’ organizations negotiate with an employer, a group of employers or their organizations on their terms and conditions. It is a key tool for trade unions to use to come to legally binding agreements with employers. While collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) are traditionally focused on wages and working conditions, they can also shape how companies respond to structural changes, such as climate change, decarbonisation, and technological shifts.

Why are CBAs important for a just transition?

By integrating just transition provisions into CBAs, unions can ensure that workers are not only protected from negative impacts but also actively involved in shaping transition pathways. In this way, climate justice principles can be embedded directly into workplace policies and company decision-making.

For companies, such agreements can provide greater predictability and stability by clarifying transition plans, reducing labour disputes, and supporting business continuity during periods of change.

CBAs can also be a mechanism to capture legally binding benefits for communities more broadly, by including clauses on things like land use protections, subcontracting, and outsourcing.

What are just transition clauses in CBAs?

Just transition clauses are provisions in CBAs that embed climate and transition-related commitments into workplace agreements. They create a structured basis for social dialogue between workers and employers on how to manage climate risks and economic restructuring.

In practice, these clauses can take different forms. Some focus on governance; for example, a clause that establishes a joint committee to ensure ongoing dialogue and worker participation in transition planning, or a clause that allows worker representatives to participate in broader industry- or community-based just transition initiatives without loss of pay. Others are more operational, including measures to address climate-related risks in the workplace, support reskilling and redeployment, or provide safeguards (such as severance, social protection measures, and grievance mechanisms).

How can trade unions prepare to negotiate a just transition CBA?

Negotiating just transition provisions requires both organisational readiness and strategic alignment.

• A practical guide on collective bargaining can be found here.
• Engaging members early on is essential for identifying priorities, based on an understanding of how workers are already affected by climate impacts—such as heat stress and extreme weather—and how they may be affected by longer-term decarbonisation pathways.
• Trade unions can strengthen their position by engaging non-member workers and community members to identify broader demands and organise more support for the union’s position.

At the same time, understanding company strategies, including business plans and anticipated transitions, allows unions to identify areas of alignment. Maintaining constructive dialogue throughout the process is critical to building trust and securing agreements that both protect workers and support business continuity. Effective agreements also anticipate how their provisions will be implemented from the outset; for example, through joint committees or other monitoring structures.

What can just transition clauses include?

Just transition clauses typically reflect a combination of shared principles and concrete measures. They may define what a just transition means within the company, establish mechanisms for ongoing dialogue, or integrate climate considerations into frameworks for occupational health and safety. Many agreements include commitments on training and skills development, and frameworks for notifying unions of the organisation’s transition plans. These commitments make it easier for workers to adapt to changing job requirements or transition into new roles.

In addition, clauses can formalise climate actions at the company level, such as efforts to reduce emissions, while ensuring that workers are supported through redeployment measures, severance arrangements, or broader social protection measures. Agreements can also include clauses on site rehabilitation and grievance mechanisms to address disputes and ensure accountability.

Beyond the workplace

While CBAs are negotiated at the company level, just transition outcomes depend on broader policy and planning processes. Trade unions therefore play an important role in engaging beyond the workplace, including in regional and national dialogue. Participation in local planning forums—such as regional consultation forums—can help to ensure that workers’ perspectives are reflected in development strategies.

At the national level, unions can advocate for integrating just transition principles into key policy frameworks, including development plans and climate strategies. Particular considerations under these principles include labour impact assessments, reskilling programmes, and social protection measures.

In addition to bringing workers’ perspectives into broader conversations, effective trade unions can also build coalitions and alliances with other groups, particularly other civil society and community groups.

Collaboration and accountability

Coordination across unions is essential, especially when multiple unions operate within the same sector or value chain. Joint negotiating approaches can strengthen bargaining power and foster a shared understanding of priorities. Collaboration across companies or supply chains can further amplify the unions’ influence and connect workplace agreements to broader structural change.

Ensuring that the commitments outlined in CBAs are implemented is equally important. This requires mechanisms for monitoring and accountability, such as joint oversight bodies or transparent tracking of progress on training, redeployment, occupational safety, and dispute resolution. In some cases, there is also scope for linking compliance with just transition commitments to access to public incentives, such as green subsidies or tax benefits.

Jonas Kuehl is a senior policy advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development and a member of the JET-CR Knowledge Hub editorial team. The author would like to acknowledge the contributions of Abby Güner, senior program officer, climate & labor at the Solidarity Center, and the team at Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA Australia, who provided valuable input for this article.