Equality
Equality, dignity and justice
At the current time millions of people are jobless, unable to get promotion, badly paid and/or subjected to intimidation or harassment on account of their gender, religion, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, political opinions, social origin, age or disability.
The main aim of the ITUC Equality Department is to work to ensure that those millions of people can live and work in conditions characterised by equality, dignity and justice.
Gender issues are a reality throughout the world of work and in society as a whole. The ITUC therefore needs to ensure that gender perspectives are mainstreamed in all its policies, activities and programmes at all levels. Women need, for example, to be organised in the sectors where they form the majority, where they are working with insecure contracts and where the unions are still poorly represented (e.g. in informal work, export processing zones, migrant labour and atypical employment, etc.).
Promoting respect of diversity at work and in society and implementing effective measures to combat racism and xenophobia, in particular at the workplace and in the labour market, are priorities for the ITUC. To that end, campaigns are being run on combating the discrimination and the unfair and often abusive working and living conditions that women workers, migrant workers and the members of their families are facing throughout the world.
Young men and women workers are another vulnerable group, despite the fact that they represent our world’s present and its future. Addressing their concerns and expectations effectively and ensuring their full involvement in trade unions are essential tasks.