The international Roundtable on Trade Union Values in Industrial Communities in Transition brought together around 40 trade unionists from Austria, Australia, Belgium, France, Finland, Italy, Poland, Norway, Türkiye, the UK and USA, as well as IndustriALL Global Union, to exchange experiences on how unions must adapt in the current volatile context.

Stiofán Ó Nualláin, Co-director of Trademark Belfast, gave a keynote address and IndustriAll Europe’s recent “Action Plan: Protecting our Democracy against Far-Right Ideas and Values!” provided the basis for an exchange about the current political context and the challenge of navigating massive industrial change while avoiding deindustrialisation.

The central importance of a real Just Transition was emphasised with investment, industrial policy and full worker participation. Different participants presented their national or regional initiatives and the state of play.

Notably, a delegation from Silesia’s new Just Transition Observatory including coal mining unionists, employers and local government officials set out the concrete efforts in the region to deliver a Just Transition in reality for the existing 70,000 miners and tens of thousands of allied workers.

On 12 July, the international delegation joined the Durham Miner’s Association in the Gala procession. The theme of the 2025 Gala was “We are still here” – a poignant message to politicians and statement on the the resilience and solidarity of the former mining communities that are maintaining the union banners for more than a generation since the closure of the last Durham coal mine.