Climate Justice Union members - there are about 400 of us now - are involved in nearly every part of the climate movement in Western Australia.

Members of CJU have spent many years and endless hours building relationships, skills, and resources for the local climate movement.

We work hard at making sure climate is a core issue right across civil society; bringing in, training and collaborating with all sorts of people. Young people, Aboriginal Elders and community leaders, farmers, health workers, religious community members, people with disabilities, trade unionists, environmentalists and so many more. 

Members are involved in everything from grassroots campaigning, to decision making positions in business or government, to trade unions, not-for-profit organisations, political parties, schools, universities and so much more.

Which means we are well positioned to pull off big coalition building work.

• When the Health Department didn’t mention climate in forward planning documents for the “Sustainable Health Review”; CJU members were there, pressuring and supporting Government to conduct and release the Climate & Health WA Inquiry. In fact CJU members continue to play a key role in the climate and health space, including organising and facilitating the WA State Government backed Climate and Health Community of Practice.
  
  
• When young climate organisers and school strikers needed the kind of support, training, mentorship, and resources necessary to organise mass mobilisations; CJU members were there. We knew where to get what they needed. We had the contacts, the relationships, the prior experience, the know-how and the willingness to help.
  
  
• When Beyond Zero Emissions were starting a project aimed at accelerating the transition to 100% renewables in Western Australia; we were their best contact. We knew who to approach and were able to build the relationships necessary to make sure "Collie at the Crossroads" was a project which made a difference. More on that below.

Let's hear from some members and supporters first hand!

Kassel - Founding member of CJU, former coordinator of 350 Perth and our most consistent yearly donor: he gives $10000 per year!!

A Just Transition for Collie

Climate Justice Union has officially been working with partners in Collie since our launch in 2019; although it’s worth acknowledging that some CJU members have been involved in the community for much longer.

There are two pieces of work in Collie that we wish to highlight for you.

But before we do that, it's important to acknowledge the many years of work to get to this point, the vast majority of which was before our involvement; and credit for which belongs’ to the excellent people of Collie, the coal workers themselves and their Trade Unions.

Collie at the Crossroads (2019)

“This transition is a bit like a bus. We’re all headed to the same destination…  So we need to make sure everybody gets onboard and nobody is left behind.”

Those were the words of a Collie coal worker which hung thick in the air at the Collie Coal Workers Club. We there for the launch of the “Collie at the Crossroads” report with Beyond Zero Emissions and a host of local partners. 

Aboriginal elders and community members, coal workers and Union representatives, community non-profit representatives, councillors, state government representatives and climate justice activists had gathered together, to hear about one vision for a fair, just and sustainable future for workers and community members in the town of Collie.

It was a powerful moment, and a clear turning point in the transition toward achieving 100% renewables here in Western Australia.

And we're still working in Collie today.

Recently, we've been collaborating with our Collie community partners and a research team from Edith Cowan University, to bring together community members to share and understand the needs, concerns and hopes for the transition.

Connecting The Dots - Disability and Climate Change

The intention of this project is to develop an advocacy agenda that prioritises Disability Rights in climate action, and supports people and organisations to incorporate these priorities in to their existing work.

^ Image credit: Sarah Davies

"I found our Connecting the Dots meetings to be so nourishing in that there was a level of inclusivity already established because of CJUs’ understanding of inclusivity in general, the mechanisms of colonialism, of how power functions, the way structural ableism (and the other isms) work.

I’ve done some more work with CJU over the last few months, and that understanding really does permeate every part of CJU’s organisational and interpersonal practice - which was a deliberate effort on their part." - Sarah, Connecting The Dots Steering Committee Member and proud member of CJU. 

Climate and health

Health workers have a really powerful voice to prosecute the need for fair and just climate action in Western Australia.  

CJU members are working to ensure the climate and health movement is connected and engaging across silos in their shared advocacy work.  

^ Image credit: Sarah Davies