Class & Climate: Workers' Safety in the Climate Crisis

How are unions protecting workers’ health and safety as temperatures rise, fires and floods increase, and environmental regulations are gutted?

On May Day 2026, the Green Economy Network's Em Thompson brought together union health and safety experts for a public conversation on workers’ safety in the climate crisis. How is the labour union movement protecting workers from rising temperatures, increasing disasters, and weakening environmental regulations? Panelists include:

• Alex Callahan, National Director of Health, Safety and Environment with the Canadian Labour Congress.
• Anne Tennier, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety 
• Roger Duffy, Health & Safety Representative Canadian Union of Public Employees

Class & Climate is a podcast series from Perspectives Journal and the Green Economy Network that maps how climate action can deliver jobs and long-term affordability for workers — while debunking myths that these goals are a zero-sum trade-off with a clean environment.

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