The CSIRO Staff Association – representing hundreds of the world’s leading scientists on climate change and the environment – has announced support for the Australian School Strike 4 Climate on 15 March 2019.
School Strike 4 Climate Australia – a student led activist network from cities and towns across the country – have declared a national strike on Friday 15 March to “tell our politicians to take our futures seriously and treat climate change for what it is – a crisis.”
“Climate change is the biggest threat to the survival of our planet and to the sustainability of future generations,” CSIRO Staff Association Secretary Sam Popovski said.
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Friday’s demonstrations – to be matched internationally by rallies in nearly forty countries – builds on a similar event last November that drew criticism of the students by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and senior conservative politicians.
“The Staff Association expresses our solidarity with students around the country taking a stand for real action on climate change on Friday,” Mr Popovski said.
“CSIRO staff know more than anyone the impact of attacks on climate science.
“In 2016, more than a hundred climate researchers were set to be axed under the Coalition Government, until the Staff Association and community groups fought back to save more than half of the jobs and establish a new Climate Science Centre in CSIRO.”
As part of the Community and Public Sector Union, the decision of CSIRO Section to support the students follows the lead of union members and delegates in the Bureau of Meteorology.
Other major Australian unions supporting the student strike including Victorian Trades Hall Council, the National Tertiary Education Union and the National Union of Workers.
“Climate change is the biggest threat to the survival of our planet and to the sustainability of future generations,” Mr Popovski said.
“The strikes should be a strong signal to all politicians and decision makers that future generations will not accept the current inaction on addressing the existential threat of climate change,” he said.
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