‘The true conservationists’
British trade union environmental politics in the late twentieth century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24216389 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ewan Gibbs (0000-0001-7487-7241, University of Glasgow) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 457-481 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contemporary British History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1361-9462 • E-ISSN: 1743-7997 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13619462.2026.2684473 |
| OpenAlex | W7163970322 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This article demonstrates British energy trade unionists engaged intently with environmental debates during the 1970s and 1980s. These findings challenge dominant interpretations of the emergence of ecological politics in the late twentieth century which emphasise middle-class activism along with the indifference or hostility of unions and working-class people towards environmentalism. Trade union environmentalism was marked by class consciousness which saw trade unionists separate their working-class perspective from middle-class environmentalism. It centred on promoting a cleaner greener industrial economy. Union officials and workplace activists in electricity, coal, nuclear and construction linked health and safety demands with nascent ecological concerns. Environmental improvement was conceived in terms of extended health and safety measures which required mobilisations to achieve life-saving changes. Resource conservation and efficiency shaped the case for new energy systems such as renewable technologies and combined heat and power. Arguments for alternative production spilled over into environmental and democratic themes, with Lucas Aerospace workers seeking to build wind turbines instead of jet engines. Ecology came to play an increasingly important role in energy trade union outlooks over the 1970s and 1980s, on terms marked by workplace experience and occupational and class position. These influences moulded an agenda that combined environmental and social justice.
British labour movement · conservationism · Environmental politics · Environmentalism · late 20th century · Trade unions · American Environmental and Regional History · Labor Movements and Unions · Political and Economic history of UK and US
Class, Politics, and the Decline of Deference in England, 1968-2000
Conflicts of power, landscape and amenity in debates over the British Super Grid in the 1950s
The Limits of Power
De-industrialization Not Decline
Understanding the labour–environmental relationship in Britain, 1967–2011
When two movements collide
Towards a transnational industrial-hazard history
Exposed
Women, Wives and the Campaign against Pit Closures in County Durham
Environmental Policy-making at the British Trades Union Congress 1967-2011
Environmentalism, Middle-Class Radicalism and Politics
| Highly cited | No |
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