01 May 2025
A May Day Message from Climate and Environmental Civil Society Organisations
A Just Transition That Protects Both Workers and the Climate Is Possible
May 1, 2025 – ISTANBUL – As civil society organisations working in the field of climate and environment, to prevent thousands of mine and power plant workers in Türkiye from facing unemployment today and in the near future, we call for a just transition that protects both workers and the climate.
The struggle against the climate crisis is reshaping fossil fuel-based industries, particularly coal, and creating new areas of employment. However, when this transformation is unprepared and unplanned, it condemns workers to precariousness.
Unfortunately, over the past year, coal mine and power plant workers have faced serious violations of their rights as a result of this lack of planning. First, 187 workers were laid off from the Muğla Yatağan coal-fired power plant. Then, during the privatisation process of the Ankara Çayırhan coal-fired power plant and mine, 500 workers protested against the threat of unemployment, including by locking themselves inside the mine.
These incidents painfully demonstrate the kinds of labour rights violations that can occur in the coal sector when the transition is left to market forces without just transition plans in place. Yet, our research, grounded in scientific data, shows that coal-fired electricity generation is economically unsustainable and its phase-out is inevitable.
We are at a crossroads: we will either continue funneling public resources to fossil fuel companies to artificially prolong the life of power plants that harm the environment, public health, and the climate, or we will create climate-friendly jobs that ensure secure income for workers, promote gender equality, and uphold human dignity.
We urgently need a just transition plan that leaves no one behind.
On May Day, the International Day of Workers’ Solidarity, we stand in unity with labour struggles and demand a democratic, fair, and equitable energy transition that centers workers’ rights and paves the way to a fossil-free future.
Signatory organisations:
Climate Action Network Europe, Buğday Association for Supporting Ecological Living, Beyond Fossil Fuels, Greenpeace Türkiye, Young Thought Institute, Center for Spatial Justice, Green Thought Association, The Law, Nature and Society Foundation (HUDOTO), 350 Association for Climate, Sustainable Economy and Finance Research Association, WWF-Türkiye.
ENDS