Jobs not snobs: how workers are the true climate heroes
“It may be the warriors that get the glory, but it’s the engineers that build society. Don’t forget that.” - B’Elanna Torres, Star Trek Voyager
I had an interesting childhood.
People are often surprised to learn that I am from a working-class background. My parents migrated to the UK in the 1970s with the hopes of building a better life for the family they wanted to have. At the time Birmingham — known then as ‘the city of a thousand trades’ — was going through an industrial boom, with factories making everything from cars through pots and pans to electrical goods.
I remember clearly the smell of the freshly unwrapped frying pan, my mum lifting it carefully from its nest of paper in a large box for all to admire in our small kitchen. It was exciting because my parents had arrived in Britain with few possessions, because they had worked hard to be able to own such an item, and because this was a pan that my mother had helped to make with her own hands. And because by doing so she was able to help feed her family. She was understandably proud.
As a long-term environmentalist this appreciation for ‘consumerism’ has posed an obvious dilemma. I have advocated for living with less, and making objects as sustainably as possible, but equally I recognise that people need pots and pans and that the more eco-friendly items often cost more but are not always better for the environment. I know that we need to bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but my efforts have now shifted away from expecting ordinary people to shoulder this burden or to make drastic lifestyle changes. Instead, I have become focused on advocating for cheap and abundant energy for everyone, which would solve many of our problems since global emissions are mostly from energy use.
Unfortunately, sustainable lifestyle changes are hardest for working class people. Owning an electric car or solar panels, taking the train abroad rather than a much cheaper flight, and buying quinoa instead of keema (an Indian dish made of ground meat) are predominantly middle-class choices — privileges — that require adequate income and time. I have long argued that it should be cheaper for people to make green choices, for example, with more low-cost options for public transport, but what working class communities need first and foremost is reliable, well-paid jobs.
My grandfather was born and raised in the Punjab in India, and he fought for the British Army in World War Two. For years, he was held as a Prisoner of War in Japan, and my family thought he had died there. Instead, he returned home unexpectedly, one of several thousand survivors, and with horrendous mental health issues, including likely undiagnosed PTSD. With his son, my father, he then left behind his home and family in search of economic stability and a higher quality of life for his family.
Manufacturing jobs were once the lifeblood of the British economy. Birmingham’s industry flourished in the three decades that followed the end of the Second World War: in fact, it thrived even above other cities in Britain at the time, thanks to a combination of immigration, innovation and civic pride.
Growing up, I experienced what reliable jobs offered families like mine, and later I also saw the heart of British industry stripped away as those jobs were increasingly outsourced abroad. As migrants, these jobs gave my parents more than a higher quality of life and a better future for their children: they also gave them a sense of belonging. Community. Identity. Pride.
My older brother, who would play with Lego with me for hours and who never seemed to tire of explaining the inner workings of, for example, a fridge to a curious 10-year-old, did not go to university when he turned 18. My parents were adamant that their children work instead (a trend I bucked when I hit 18, but that is another story). My brother took an apprenticeship to become an engineer, and worked his way up the ladder. Years later he contributed to the design and building of some of Birmingham’s bigger landmarks, including the large university hospital and the redesign of the town centre. Can a child of immigrants contribute more significantly to their home than by building elements of the country with their own hands?
The recession began in 1980, with 20,000 redundancies a week announced — all in manufacturing — during a single month. As those opportunities disappeared, unrest grew. In 1968, the Wolverhampton MP Enoch Powell delivered his notorious Rivers of Blood speech, addressing disgruntled Brummies and putting the blame squarely on many of the pot makers and engineers. I had experienced the multicultural bounty of my city: as a child I’d watched Aston Villa football matches (we lived in the inner-city, near the stadium) and looked forward to the large gatherings celebrating Bonfire night, but I’d also anticipated the yearly mela (festival) in the park at Diwali. Hot dogs and candy floss were eaten at one event and samosas and ladoos at the other. These events were not segregated, and there was room for both.
I watched the balance erode. The collapse of Birmingham’s industrial economy was sudden and catastrophic — in 1976 the West Midlands region still had the highest GDP of any in the UK outside the South East, but within five years it was lowest in England. A foundation of Birmingham unravelled.
How much of the current state of affairs in Britain is due to this loss of industry? Economic downturn often leads to social and political unrest. In Britain at present, people are struggling to make ends meet and many parents can’t afford to feed their children even when working full time. Living wages are low. The previous government’s announcement on the post-Covid recovery ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ could have helped tackle the problem by creating well-paid, secure jobs, but it lacked ambition: for example, it promised a mere 10,000 jobs through building nuclear, when simply approving the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk would support 70,000 manufacturing jobs throughout the UK, including 1,000 apprenticeships for young people. Britain needs more.
When I visited Suffolk myself to ask people what they think of the proposed nuclear power station, 9 out of 10 locals I spoke to mentioned jobs, including opportunities for their young people who will, without said jobs, move away. Hence the unions Unite, GMB, and Prospect are backing the construction of Sizewell C.
It’s also why local residents have graffitied anti-Sizewell posters that were erected by anti-nuclear activists around Leiston in Suffolk:
This activism is drawn clearly along class lines. It makes me uncomfortable to see opposition to well-paid job opportunities from celebrated individuals like actor Bill Nighy, who owns a second home in Suffolk, and ex-broadcaster Bill Turnbull who also campaigns against Sizewell C. It is telling that Turnbull does not mention jobs in his commentary against the nuclear power plant.
This sort of activism comes from a privileged position from those with the means, time and public platform to share their views, such as celebrities. Many ordinary workers lack the time and ability to do the same, yet they are making just as significant a contribution to society. Heads down, working with their hands, they are getting on with the job.
The idea implied in climate activism that working-class people don’t care about the planet, while those with electric cars and solar panels do, is unfair and incorrect. Many of the workers who choose to take jobs at nuclear plants do so because they care about the planet and their children’s futures, just as my parents and grandparents cared about mine. It just doesn’t make headlines when they do it.
Workers in the nuclear industry also experience stigma, from mild mockery engendered by The Simpsons caricature to the outright enmity of the anti-nuclear movement in Germany. But they are doing immense good in the world, and they do so without the glory. Yes, they want jobs, but they want good jobs too, and jobs that make our world a better place.
The collapse of the proposed Wylfa nuclear power plant was a blow to workers in Anglesey and North Wales. MPs and council members across the region aired their disappointment, with the Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Energy and Rural Affairs Janet Finch-Saunders stating: “This is a real blow for North Wales and for the talented and skilled workforce that would have been developed and employed in all phases of the plant’s construction and operation, had it gone ahead.” Reports have also found that the UK’s poorest will be hardest hit by climate change. My trip to Wylfa to speak to workers there confirmed this.
For me, new nuclear plants provide a tidy outcome: I want to see a return of community to Britain’s streets, for hardworking people to enjoy candy floss and samosas without increasingly fighting among themselves. I also want to advocate for sustainable work options, to tackle air pollution and climate change, and for people to have good employment opportunities. Building nuclear ticks all of these boxes nicely.
Politicians and celebrities can debate climate policies until the cows come home, but the reality is that working-class labourers will deliver what Britain needs to tackle air pollution, climate change, and address slow growth. Yes, those in power need to sign the documents, but the hands that built these cities are the ones that will save the world.
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This article first appeared in Medium in 2020.
It’s unfortunate that some don’t see the multiple benefits presented by the construction of new nuclear power plants. The power needs posed by expanding and migrating populations coupled with those essential to sustain the rise of artificial intelligence are fulfilled by the resulting energy surplus from the plant, and the facility’s construction, operation and maintenance jobs offer tangible benefits to workers and their families.
An excellent article with many strong points that need to be made. It has occurred to me that in British society there has always been a tendency to look disparagingly upon the workers and to sneer at "the boffins" - the engineers who made technology work and improved it. The Southport riots have perhaps shown the willingness of the legacy media and the upperclasses to believe in their truisms about how uncivilised the working class is.
This comes increasingly at a time when there is a growing awareness that a university "education" in large numbers of disciplines does not actually equip a student to do much of anything useful. For example, of what use to society or the economy is the study of so-called political science? Whatever it is, science has nothing to do with it.
And you are entirely correct about innovation. If it's to be useful to people, to make their lives easier or more prosperous, it should reduce the cost of doing something. Instead "green" solutions seem to impose greatly increasing costs which strike disproportionately hard those who can least afford it.
The notion of jobs and energy can be deceptive. Building a nuclear plant indeed creates thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly. But the real jobs benefits are the many times greater amount of jobs that are created in the larger national economy by producing low cost, highly reliable energy supply.
The whole point here is about efficiency. After all, if our intention was simply to create energy system jobs, simply point everone at a woodlot and hand them an axe. At least it's a job, but I didn't say it was a particularly good or useful job.