Jobs and the Just Transition – back to the 80s?

One in five UK jobs will reportedly be impacted by the move to a greener, cleaner economy with thousands of livelihoods and communities tied to ‘old’ industries at stake. What can the 1980s miner’s strike teach us as we move through a ‘just transition’ and ensure communities dependent on fossil fuels don't face the same challenges?

Is the close working between government, business, investment, and a local approach creating high-quality jobs and employment for a green economy in Scotland?  

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Chair: Claire Baker MSP, Convener, Economy, and Fair Work Committee

Panellists:

Professor Tavis Potts is a personal chair in sustainable development and environmental governance at the University of Aberdeen. Professor Potts interests include; understanding just transitions and the social dimensions of climate and energy, marine resource governance and planning, participatory and community-based approaches to managing natural capital, and the political economy of environmental policy and decision-making.

Dr Ewan Gibbs is senior lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow. He is a historian of industry and work with a focus on transformations in energy systems. Dr Gibbs has published research on the end of coal mining in Scotland, North Sea oil and gas, renewables and nuclear. His first book, Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland was published by the University of London Press in 2021. In 2024, Dr Gibbs and Riyoko Shibe published the Grangemouth Oil Refinery: Workers' Perspectives report for the Just Transition Commission.

Nicky Wilson worked in the Coal Industry from 1967 to 2002. He became a delegate in the Scottish Tradesmen Area of the NUM in 1975, joined the Scottish executive in 1980, and was president by 1987. In 1989, he was elected general secretary of the NUM Scotland Area and remains in this position. In 2003, he joined the NUM National Executive Committee and became national president in 2010. He has been a trustee on the Industry Wide Mineworkers Pension Scheme since 2003, represented NUM Scotland on the STUC Energy Committee, and served on the executive of the Scottish Labour Party. Since 1999, he has been a trustee of the Coalfield Regeneration Trust and was elected vice chair in 2015. He chairs the Property Company (since 2016) and the Scottish Mining Welfare Trust, which provides community grants and operates the Scottish Miners Convalescent Home. He also served as a trustee/director on the Scottish Mining Restoration Trust.