Abstract
The globalisation of work division and global Climate Change are closely linked through the process of economically driven globalisation. In principle, trade unions are best equipped to challenge the destructive results of these globalising processes: they organise workers across national divides and within national borders, being simultaneously local and global. However, a closer look at labour policies in countries of the global North and the global South reveals that historical power relations reproduce themselves in the relationships between unions of the global North and the global South. These power relations influence the ways in which unions in the North and South perceive climate change and climate change measures. The authors show that there are nevertheless ways in which unions of the North and the South are learning from each other and from environmental movements exploring alternative models of development.