Jun 26, 2024
Five years after its adoption by the International Labor Organization (ILO)—a specialized agency of the United Nations—the first global binding treaty to address gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the world of work is yielding tangible results, addressing the fear of harassment and violence many workers face every day at work because of their gender.
The Violence and Harassment Convention, C190, calls on governments, employers and unions to work together to confront the root causes of GBVH, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, gender stereotypes and unequal gender-based power relationships.
Women trade unionists and feminist activists campaigned for more than a decade to make the adoption of C190 possible, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Solidarity Center and other labor allies. Since C190’s adoption by governments, employers and worker representatives one year ago, unions have conducted extensive education and awareness training among members, a process that has mobilized members to confront GBVH at their workplaces through collective bargaining.
A June 20 virtual celebration, co-sponsored by the Solidarity Center, brought together 361 worker and women’s rights activists from around the world to report progress, discuss their plans to ensure C190 ratification and implementation, and envision the changes necessary to end GBVH in the world of work. The convention has been ratified by 44 countries.
THE POWER OF C190
C190 has been an “extremely valuable tool that legitimized the global problem of GBVH,” said Anannya Bhattacharjee, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) international coordinator, including the Dindigul Agreement, said at the event. Signed with three global brands, the agreement is the first of its kind to address GBVH in the workplace in Asia and came about following the widely publicized rape and murder of a 20-year old woman garment worker by her supervisor following months of harassment.
One of the most important successes of a decade-long fight for adoption, ratification and implementation of C190 is its contribution to women’s leadership, said Fulya Pinar Ozcan, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Women’s Committee member and Women’s Committee at Öz İplik-İş-Turkiye president. ITUC represents 200 million workers in 168 countries.
“I want you to imagine waking up every morning in fear of going to work, knowing that you might face harassment or violence just because of your gender,” she said. “And now imagine a world where this fear doesn’t exist, where every woman feels safe, respected and valued.”
In this context, C190 is both a path to freedom from fear and a transformative opportunity to empower women to rise as leaders during the development of the C190 campaign, said Ozcan.
“C190 is more than a legal instrument. It is a beacon of hope,” she said.
Because its constitution grants constitutional status to all UN conventions, Mexico’s government could begin implementing C190 immediately, said Marta Ferreyra, Institute for Women in Mexico (INMUJERES) National Policy of Equality and Rights of Women director general.
And Christy Hoffman, UNI global union general secretary, said that unions are now integrating C190 text in agreements, among them UNI’s global agreement with French telephone company Orange, and many more national and local collective bargaining agreements point toward C190 descriptions of violence and harassment and remedies.
MORE WORK TO BE DONE
Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, U.S. ambassador-at-large for the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, told the audience that, “Violence and sexual harassment anywhere is a gross human rights violation and it must stop.”
Reporting back from this month’s ILO International Labor Conference event promoting decent work for care workers, International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) General Secretary Adriana Paz Ramirez outlined increased GBVH risks for domestic workers who are providing child and elder care in private homes. Risks are especially high for migrant women who are legally tied to a single employer, such as in Gulf countries under the kafala system.
Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery said addressing intersectionality in the uneven effects of GBVH in the world of work is key. He said, as addressed in his 2022 report on contemporary forms of slavery, it is clear that Indigenous, minority and migrant workers are “particularly at risk of abuse.”
Lopa Banerjee, UN Women Civil Society division director, said that governments’ implementation of all normative frameworks that support gender equality, including C190, are key, as is adequate resourcing of women’s feminist and labor justice movements and institutions.
“This is a moment to really strengthen the feminist movement–including the gender justice and labor justice movements,” she said.
A power shift sufficient to end GBVH in the world of work is predicated on recognition that the economy is political, said Ghada Abdel Tawab, Ford Foundation Future of Work(ers) International senior program officer. “Organizing and cross-movement building across labor and gender have been key in shifting power back to the worker,” she said, adding that “the state, the market and labor are intertwined.”
Fatime Christiane Ndiaye, ILO senior gender specialist and Decent Work Team-Dakar member; and Laura Nyirinkindi, Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls member and National Federation of Women Lawyers Africa regional vice president.
Event co-sponsors included AFWA, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS), Feminist Alliance for Rights (FAR), Global Labor Justice (GLJ), Human Rights Watch, IDWF, ITUC, Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), Solidarity Center and UNI Global Union.
The celebration was moderated by human rights journalist for The Guardian Annie Kelly and Feminist Alliance for Rights (FAR) Transnational Lead Krishanti Dharmaraj, both of whom pointed to UN Women’s Beijing +30 (2025) gathering as a key opportunity for moving forward the expansion of women’s rights, including through the eradication of GBVH in the world of work.
Learn more about Solidarity Center and GBVH in the world of work here.
Jun 7, 2024
Workers employed by the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila are demanding a clear explanation for the surprise termination at the end of this month of more than 1,000 employees. Almost half of those losing their livelihoods are full-time, permanent employees, said the Center of the United and Progressive Workers (SENTRO) during a June 3 press conference and solidarity rally with global union International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF).
Representing two Sofitel union chapters, SENTRO with IUF is calling for transparency from Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc., which owns the hotel, regarding the hotel’s abrupt June 30 closure announcement, allegedly for structural renovations, an explanation for surprise termination and management’s plans for the hotel.
Sofitel this year is reporting its best business performance in almost half a century.
“We gave our whole life to Sofitel, then they will suddenly terminate us. A lot of us are deep in problems right now,” said Philippine Plaza Supervisory Chapter President Arnold Bautista on behalf of the Sofitel workers whom he represents during the press conference.
Bautista recounted how management consistently informed staff of upcoming renovations only to abruptly announce a complete closure on May 7 and distribute surprise termination notices to employees the following day.
“If hotel operations can proceed while the renovations are ongoing, then a closure is not necessary. If the safety concerns are serious enough to warrant a closure, then why is Sofitel still accepting guests and deploying workers in the hotel? Has it been knowingly putting both guests and workers at risk?” asked IUF and SENTRO in an online statement.
Sofitel’s workers are urging transparency regarding the owners’ plans. “We’re willing to wait if Sofitel will be renovated and reopened. What the union and the workers want is that we won’t be terminated. If they have other plans, [they should] include the employees who have contributed to their business,” said Philippine Plaza Chapter President Nestor Cabada during the press conference on behalf of the Sofitel workers whom he represents.
“As long as one of us is still standing, we will fight,” he added.
The Philippines is ranked as one of the 10 worst countries for working people. Unions there face attempts to bust their organization, arrests and violence. Four union activists were killed for their work in 2023 and, last year, seven delegates representing the Philippines labor movement were awarded AFL-CIO George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in recognition of the Philippines labor movement’s resilience, persistence and courage.
Watch video here.
Jun 4, 2024
Through expanded regional and global partnerships, the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) is growing its campaign for increased budgetary allocation to health care in the region, said OTUWA Executive Secretary John Odah from Abuja, in a solidarity message to the opening session of the 24th Plenary of the West African Health Sector Unions Network (WAHSUN).
Now in its fourth year, OTUWA’s “Health Care Is a Human Right” advocacy campaign is allying with global union federation Public Services International (PSI), civil society organizations across the region and WAHSUN to better advocate for equal and fair health care access for all who live within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Nearly 83 percent of Africa’s workers are trapped in poorly paid and uncertain informal-sector jobs and lack access to state-provided health care or health insurance—an unfair financial burden on the continent’s most vulnerable individuals. And yet West Africa’s governments are not implementing the 15 percent minimum annual budgetary health allocation to which African heads of state agreed in the landmark 2001 Abuja Declaration. No country in the region achieves this percentage currently.
OTUWA’s campaign, launched in 2020 by national labor federations from five countries, has expanded its reach to health sector unions and national labor centers in eight countries—including the Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo—as well as to civil society organizations such as the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with the World Health Organization defines the right to health as “a fundamental part of our human rights and of our understanding of a life in dignity.” The Solidarity Center supports OTUWA in this campaign and on other worker rights initiatives.
“Together we must get public health services out of their chronic state of neglect and underfunding,” Odah told the Solidarity Center, adding that OTUWA’s campaign is adding good governance to its health care demands.
Thus far, the campaign has gathered and released important regional health care worker data and initiated advocacy meetings with national, regional and continent-wide African Union legislators and policymakers, including the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The campaign most recently saw success in Nigeria earlier this year, where the federal government announced a disbursement of almost $70 million to bolster the country’s health infrastructure.
“Only a transparent, democratic system can secure, fairly allocate and responsibly spend increased health care funds,” said Odah.
OTUWA represents national trade union centers in the 15 West African countries comprising ECOWAS. PSI encompasses more than 700 trade unions that represent 30 million workers in 154 countries.
Watch a video about the campaign.
May 31, 2024
Built on research commissioned by the Solidarity Center, the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in May launched a heat stress campaign with other civil society groups and government in Abuja to address the impact of worsening heat on Nigeria’s working people—especially those who earn their living outdoors, such as on construction sites or in agricultural or oil fields.
“The campaign is key to promoting environmental justice, occupational health and safety, and a safe working environment for Nigerian workers and Nigerians in general,” said NLC Senior Assistant General Secretary Eustace James.
A lethal heat wave that overwhelmed hospitals and mortuaries in some parts of West Africa last month is a warning of similar events to come with increasing frequency, predicts international climate scientist network World Weather Attribution (WWA).
The “Stop the Heat Stress” climate justice campaign features data collection through sector-union surveys as well as street rallies and visits to state legislators and administrators to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on worker health and safety.
A key preliminary finding of the unions’ climate impact research is the worrying impact of heat stress on workers’ mental health. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures at work reduces productivity and increases the risk of injury, disease and death, reports the International Labor Organization (ILO), which is recommending employer and government mitigation measures. Indeed, an intense heatwave in April likely killed “hundreds or thousands of people” across West Africa. And the summer of 2023 recorded some of the highest temperatures on record for the entire planet, having significant consequences for human life, including in the world of work, warned the ILO.
To ensure that climate-related legislation and policies prioritize worker health and safety and their economic survival, the union campaign is partnering with Nigeria’s Environment and Labor Ministries, governmental bodies involved in environmental efforts, including Nigeria’s National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), and environmental civil society organizations.
The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), one of the country’s two labor federations, continues to call for the immediate inclusion of workers and their unions in the governing structures of the NCCC—in part to protect those working in the agricultural sector, where almost half of all job losses are expected to occur. New climate policies—whether designed to mitigate or respond to worsening impacts—will inevitably impact working people. To ensure that these policies protect and build resilience for workers and their communities, unions must be meaningfully included in their development.
“The grim reality that 81.4 percent of Nigerian workers lack insurance against potential job losses brings to the fore our demand for social protection to protect vulnerable workers,” said the NLC’s Uche Ekwe, representing NLC General Secretary Emma Ugboaja.
The NLC and TUC are umbrella unions that together represent millions of workers in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria’s poverty rate was estimated to have reached almost 40 percent in 2023, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, the world’s second-largest poor population after India.
“[There must be] intensity in ensuring safety and climate justice for all,” said James.
Apr 19, 2024
A regional health care rights campaign led by the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) saw some success in Nigeria this month, where the federal government announced a disbursement of almost $70 million to bolster the country’s health infrastructure.
The funds will be delivered through the country’s Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which delivers essential but often out-of-reach health care service to Nigeria’s citizens—more than 90 percent of whom work uncertain, poorly paid informal jobs.
“We celebrate with our Nigerian partners and will continue to support unions that are demanding more investment by governments in the health of their citizens,” says Solidarity Center Africa Regional Program Director Christopher Johnson.
In Nigeria, where out-of-pocket health care payments were reportedly among the highest in the world in 2023, the campaign is supported by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) and labor federations Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).
In the region, OTUWA’s “Health Care Is a Human Right” campaign is supported by OTUWA’s affiliates together with many of their health-sector unions. A 2020 survey of 700 health workers living in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo provides a window into the region’s health-sector shortcomings and presents a raft of recommendations for ensuring the protection of health worker rights and effective, accessible health care for all.
OTUWA’s “Health Care Is a Human Right” campaign, launched in Abuja in March 2020, unites OTUWA affiliates in a fight for equal and fair health care access for all who live within the ECOWAS region. The campaign includes collection of health data and advocacy with national and continent-wide African Union legislators and policymakers.
The region’s signatory governments are required by ECOWAS Fundamental Principles to promote and protect human rights in accordance with the African Union (AU) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights—including provision of social protections such as health care.
Like many other African countries, Nigeria’s government is struggling to provide essential services to its citizens in the context of mounting national debt and illicit financial flows. Curbing multinational tax dodging, government corruption and other criminal activity is essential, say unions, because doing so could cut by almost half the $200 billion annual financing gap for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The 2023 SDG report noted that 381 million people, or almost 5 percent of the world’s population, were pushed into extreme poverty in 2019 by out-of-pocket health expenditures.
OTUWA represents trade union national centers in the 15 West African countries comprising the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
