International Trade Union Confederation

Building on the engagement over the past years, the outcome document of the 4th ITUC World Women’s Conference (2022) and the 5th ITUC World Congress (2022) identified the care economy as one of the key political priorities to realise our demands for a New Social Contract, accelerating gender equality in the world of work and building a fairer and more inclusive society.

The International Day for Care and Support, 29 of October, is an awareness campaign aimed at giving visibility to the importance of the care economy.

Recognising care as a right (the right to provide and receive care and to self-care) and a public good is crucial to build up inclusive societies founded on social cohesion.

This means that governments need to foster:

• Increased public investments in the care sector.
  Public investments in the care economy - as part of the national governments GDP – creating million of new jobs, granting women economic participation and guaranteeing universal access to quality public health, education and care services.

• Adoption of CARE policies.
  Inclusive labour market policies, family-friendly workplace policies and gender responsive social protection grant a more equitable sharing of care responsibilities and promote flexible working arrangements on a gender-neutral basis.

• Decent work for all care workers.
  Care jobs need to be formal and decent, with safe working conditions, and adequately remunerated, including equal pay for work of equal value. Care workers must be free from gender-based violence and harassment, and from any type of discrimination. Care workers must be free to organize and to bargain collectively.

The ILO Resolution on Decent Work and the Care Economy, agreed by governments, employers and workers in June 2024, reaffirms the necessity for urgent action to ensure decent work in the care economy and promote decent work for all by ensuring their access to care.

Equal Times’ articles on CARE:

• NEW: South Korea desperately needs more care workers – but low-paid migrants are not the answer, say unions
• NEW Workers in Australia’s aged care sector: between historic gains and huge challenges.
• NEW Chile Cuida’ and the challenge of integrated care.
• In a sector built on historic injustice, can President Biden’s executive order finally deliver decent work for care workers in the US?
• Is the UK ready to invest in decent pay for adult social care workers?
• High value, low pay: the care sector in Spain.
• By workers, for workers: in India, cooperatives are addressing care workers’ own caregiving needs.
• In Canada, a historic move towards a nationwide childcare system draws praise, and criticism.
• Can improving child and adolescent care infrastructure boost the economy and promote equality in Argentina?
• Spain extends rights for domestic workers but excludes the undocumented.
• Trade unions in Dominican Republic want work-life balance rights to be recognised.

Hashtags: #InvestInCare #Care2024

Download the social media materials on Trello.

The 2022 ITUC report Putting the Care Economy in Place: Trade Unions in Action Around the world presents six case-studies showing trade union wins at the national level”.

The International Day for Care is supported by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, Education International (EI), International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).