African Trade Unions Bring Labour Demands on Just Transition to Berlin

As global debates on climate action accelerate, African trade unions are insisting on one clear message: there is no just transition without workers.

From 26–30 January 2026, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Trade Union Competence Centre for Sub-Saharan Africa (TUCC) convened an African trade union delegation to Berlin under the theme “Labour Demands in Just Transition Debates in Africa and Europe.” The programme was deliberately designed not as a study visit, but as a political intervention creating space for African unions to directly engage German policymakers, parliamentarians, trade unions, and policy institutes.

Across the week, participants challenged technocratic and finance-driven approaches to just transition that prioritise investment volumes and emissions targets while side-lining workers’ realities. African trade unions emphasised that just transition must be judged by its impact on jobs, livelihoods, rights, and dignity, particularly in contexts marked by widespread informality, limited fiscal space, and weak social protection systems.

Engagements with German trade unions, federal ministries, and Members of Parliament highlighted both openness and tension. While commitments to climate ambition and decent work were reaffirmed, African unions raised concerns about loan-based climate finance, weakening supply chain due diligence, and the marginalisation of labour ministries in climate governance.

A central fault line was climate finance. Trade unions argued that debt-driven models undermine public investment and deepen inequality, calling instead for grant-based finance, debt relief, and strong labour and social conditionalities.

The Berlin incoming reaffirmed that African trade unions are not passive observers of global transition pathways. They are organised, political actors—ready to shape a labour-centred, democratic, and socially just transition, in Africa and beyond.