Collective bargaining for gender justice.

Gender justice is not a residual agenda!

Chidi King, Head of the ILO's Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Branch, argued why unions should prioritise gender justice in collective bargaining. In the face of declining union membership globally, unions are challenged to attract new members. To do so, they must demonstrate their ability to represent the interests and rights of all workers, particularly those who experience the most discrimination in the labour market. If collective bargaining agendas do not reflect these realities, it will be even more difficult for unions to remain relevant and appealing to the majority of workers.
 

How is gender justice expressed in collective bargaining? By transforming power relations in the world of work…

Including “Gender Clauses” in agreements is an initial step towards addressing issues that are particularly relevant to working women. However, King stressed the need to develop a more comprehensive approach to promoting gender justice in collective bargaining. Through collective bargaining, structural changes can be introduced into the organization of work and life to overcome inequalities. This can include clauses on shared responsibility for care, those relating to maternity and those addressing the gender pay gap. Logically, as long as women face wage discrimination, families will have fewer incentives for men to take parental leave, opting instead for women to take it as it represents a smaller economic “loss.” At this point, King asked, "Why not examine how work itself is organized so that everyone can balance family responsibilities and have time for leisure and other activities outside of work? If unions ignore gender justice as a central element of their bargaining agenda, then they are missing an opportunity to truly change the way work is organized to achieve a world of work that really works for everyone, women and men, and, of course, for other more marginalized population groups."
 

…and unions

 The participation of women in the trade union movement is key to strengthening gender justice in collective bargaining. It is not just a matter of incorporating women into leadership programs, but of making unions truly inclusive and democratic, transforming the political culture of organizations. Having trained women on negotiating teams are a key reflection of such a transformation, and a prerequisite for successful collective bargaining for gender justice. Rose Omamo, Vice President of the International Trade Union Confederation Africa (ITUC Africa), said that political will is required from leaders to advance the construction of pluralistic negotiating teams. She further demanded that gender-disaggregated data be made available and used in order to construct arguments and negotiating platforms that aim at gender justice. “If gender is invisible in the data, it is impossible for it to be included in the negotiating platforms!”

María Fernanda Alfonso, Gender Secretary of the National Learning Service Union on Fundamental Labor Rights (SINDESENA) in Colombia, pointed to the transgenerational challenge and the urgent need for negotiation agendas that recognize the life trajectories and specific demands of young women in order to support and defend their rights.

“Gender justice is not a secondary option, but a necessity for building a more inclusive and fair social dialogue in our Arab region. The time has come for women to become effective partners in negotiated decision-making, not only to guarantee their rights, but also to ensure a more just and dignified society for all.” Aisha Hamouda,President of the Women's Committee of the Arab Trade Union Confederation (ATUC)
 

Key achievements at the negotiating table

The mobilization and work of organized womenhas brought key issues to the negotiating table, including equal pay and opportunities, tackling violence and harassment in the workplace, acknowledging gender disparities in care, and putting forward proposals to address these issues, such as paid parental leave and establishing care facilities in the workplace.

Aisha Hamouda particularly highlighted the importance of ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment, which has been incorporated into agreements signed in several Arab countries. This has enabled progress in including prevention and protection mechanisms and measures to create safe working environments, as demonstrated in Tunisia. The Arab Trade Union Confederation celebrated the launch of the “Tawq” app as an innovative tool that allows women to file complaints safely, track their cases electronically, and facilitate follow-up by trade union structures.

According to Rose Omamo, placing gender justice at the centre of labour negotiations and building a long-term negotiation strategy have been strategic decisions adopted by the African trade union movement. Through these measures, they successfully incorporated mechanisms to combat harassment and violence into collective agreements, as well as provisions for breastfeeding and shared responsibility.

For María Fernanda Alfonso, it has been truly decisive to organize and mobilize a critical mass that pushes for change. Thanks to social and union pressure, collective bargaining in the public sector in Colombia has achieved significant gains: leave for female workers who are victims of gender-based violence, institutional protocols, tools that promote shared responsibility for care, and the recognition of rights related to menstrual health and hygiene.

Rashim Bedi,coordinator of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India, highlighted that in the informal economy or self-employed workers often need to construct a bargaining area, as there is no clear employer or they have various employers. In such a diverse context, SEWA establishes social dialogue areas that can be bi-, tri- or multipartite. The formation of worker cooperatives and other collective entities has also enabled workers to negotiate directly, resulting in improved incomes, better safety conditions and increased freedom in their work

What has become clear in the discussion is that placing gender justice at the center of labor negotiations is a political decision that can transform the lives of workers and trade unionism itself. It requires will, training, collective strategies, alliances, and a structural view of labor and social relations.