ETF Action Plan on Gender Equality

Transcription

1 Galerie Agora, Rue du Marché aux Herbes 105, Bte 11 B-1000 Brussels Telephone Fax etf@etf-europe.org European Transport Workers Federation Fédération Européenne des Travailleurs des Transports Europäische Transportarbeiter-Föderation Federación Europea de los Trabajadores del Transporte ETF Women s Committee ETF Action Plan on Gender Equality CONTEXT The ETF Gender Action plan of included two distinctive dimensions: - action by the ETF affiliated members; - action by the ETF Women s Committee. The ETF affiliates were requested to put more effort into recruiting women and promoting gender equality in their structures (by creating gender structures and by electing more women in trade union leadership positions). The Women s Committee s role was one of creating tools to assist affiliates to achieve these goals. To this end, the Women s Committee - with the endorsement of the Women s Conference in Ponta Delgada (2009) - committed to develop a training package for trade union rank and file members in the transport industry to achieve this. The women s committee was also tasked to produce an ETF policy to address workplace violence. The training package was developed as part of the ETF TRANSUNION project, and required a vast amount of work, time and resources by the ETF Secretariat and Women s Committee members. As a result, and mindful of the importance of the task, the Women s Committee decided to carry the initiative on workplace violence forward to the next inter- Congress period of The ETF Gender mid-term Conference organised in Sofia in October 2011 provided the Women s Committee members and the ETF Secretariat with the opportunity to exchange views with women representatives from ETF affiliates on suggested priorities for the future 4-year action plan. On the basis of the suggestions made by the participants of the conference the current action plan will include two priorities: 1) Workplace Violence and 2) Women s Occupational Health and Safety. 1

2 The current action plan will continue to maintain its demand on affiliates to recruit, better represent and better promote women in transport trade unions. The Women s Committee will continue to disseminate the gender training package as a continuing activity over the next 4 years. The gender training package will be consolidated with additional modules to assists in this aim. We will continue to raise awareness of the work of the women s committee, to stimulate a more accurate and more complete understanding/information of our activities. The Economic Crisis dimension In 2013, transport continues to be a male dominated industry that fails to accommodate the needs of the growing number of women who work within it. The severe economic and financial crisis has seen an erosion of workplace terms and conditions, with increasing pressure being put on the quality of employment, on working conditions, job opportunities, health and safety and equality policies. As the recession has deepened workplace inequalities have grown, especially with an increase in precarious work. Increases have been noted in temporary contracts, fixed term contracts, part-time and zero-hours contracts, as well as agency work women often taking a large percentage of this employment. Demands for more flexibility in the workplace, should not mean more vulnerability. Governments have introduced measures which have had a critical impact on the quality of life for women workers in general, reductions in child allowances, maternity leave and maternity pay, cuts in allowances for single parents (over 90% of single parent families are represented by single women with children), housing allowance and social benefits (paid to the lowest earners). The Women s Committee will include an analysis of the impact of the economic crisis and the attacks on collective labour rights when continuing with the work programme. 2

3 MAIN ETF PRIORITIES on gender equality For the period , the ETF Women s Committee work programme will: 1) Address workplace violence by: - an ETF collection of good practice; - via guidance and an ETF policy based on initiatives taken by ETF affiliates. 2) Address women s health and safety at work by: - identifying the key problems women experience; - consolidation of the training package with Women s Health and safety modules. 3) Mobilise ETF affiliated unions to recruit and promote women in trade unions by: - country visits (especially in response to requests from affiliates); - meetings with women at their workplaces; - meetings with trade union leadership boards and women representatives. The ETF will also attempt to conduct an in-depth analysis of the impact of the recession/economic crisis on women transport workers in Europe, this will be an overarching objective of the ETF Women s Committee for the future term of office. The ETF will look to work closely in partnership with the sections, with the ITF, with external organisations and researchers. PRIORITY 1 / Addressing Workplace Violence 1.1 CONTEXT The 2005 ETF analysis on The gender dimension in the transport industry in Europe stressed the fact that transport has the second worst-record in Europe in terms of occurrence and gravity of violence against workers. Often workplace violence is one of the contributory factors that lead to women leaving the industry. Whilst recruitment figures increase, women are still represented in very small numbers in some transport jobs. A male-dominated work environment, and working under extreme pressure, often favours a climate of harassment and violence. Many transport workers, both men and women experience abuse from external areas, passengers, clients, customers so-called third party violence. The ETF has at the moment no clear evidence on how third party violence is dealt with by sectors and companies. The economic crisis and increasing economic pressures have led to a surge in violence especially against women, both as transport workers and transport users. Evidence shows 3

4 that there is no single cause, but is contributed to by several factors including a reduction in security staff in public transport facilities, an increase in more demanding and often unsocial hours working, increases in lone-working and job insecurity. The economic crisis, job-losses, and the depreciation of living and working conditions has led to more violent behaviour and women remain easy targets in this context. Addressing workplace violence and harassment continues more than ever to be a priority. The ETF has a responsibility to give support to its affiliated unions in raising awareness of the issue, revealing its scale and importance, as well as in working to tackle the phenomenon OBJECTIVE The ETF undertakes as a key objective for the inter-congress period to provide a European coordinated approach to reduce the occurrence of harassment and violence against transport workers ACTION by the ETF Compile ETF guidelines to address/prevent workplace violence. In detail, the ETF will: - run a survey amongst its affiliates to collect information about existing policies at sector, union and company levels that address/prevent workplace violence; - following this, the ETF will develop a minimum set of recommendations for company policy against violence; - produce Guidelines for affiliates on how to launch and achieve company based policies where they are represented; - involve European Works Councils in this initiative, to work with national workers representative bodies to achieve these policies in transnational organisations; - the above action will be achieved with a project on workplace violence. PRIORITY 2 / Women s Health and Safety at work 2.1. CONTEXT In transport, there are several reasons why women workers are subject to more precarious health and safety conditions. Often female workers are in jobs which are recognised as less hazardous which makes their health and safety problems less visible or not as important. The visibility of work-related health and safety problems is affected by the fact that women are concentrated in atypical work (part-time, temporary work, etc.), which is often the least covered by health and safety policies. This type of employment often limits access to health-related benefits such as sick leave and income-guaranteed maternity leave/pay. Often areas of high female labour concentration are not unionised 4

5 limiting the opportunity for gender-specific workplace policies or protective measures in these areas. Work-related stress affects both men and women workers both inside and outside of the workplace. However, additional important stress factors for women transport workers, whether mobile personnel or not, are: - difficulties in meeting family-related responsibilities with work (work-life balance); - caring responsibilities/child care; - working in a male dominated environment (isolation); - job insecurity; - precarious work; - workplace pressures to deliver more for less. The impact of the recession on occupational health and safety for women transport workers will be taken into account when dealing with this priority OBJECTIVE The ETF will focus for the inter-congress period on health and safety, particularly raising awareness amongst trade unions about the aspects that affect women ACTION by the ETF The ETF Women s Committee will achieve this goal by consolidating the training package with a module on health and safety. PRIORITY 3 / Continue to mobilise ETF affiliated unions to recruit and promote women in trade unions Organising women transport workers remains a challenge for the trade unions as the female participation in the industry continues to grow. We believe that more women would be encouraged to affiliate to trade unions, if gender interests and needs were integrated into trade union policies, activities and structures, thus building solidarity and strengthening trade union capacity. The first two modules of the ETF gender training package Empowerment and Women in Collective Bargaining aim in particular to help unions to mainstream gender into union life. This priority of the ETF gender action plan requires contributions from both the ETF affiliates and from the ETF itself. 5

6 3.2. OBJECTIVES The ETF affiliates will increase women s participation in trade unions. The ETF Women s Committee will give concrete support to its affiliates in reaching the above goal by providing training resources and by direct contact with trade union leadership structures. We will campaign for fairness and equality for Women transport workers both from EU and non-eu countries working in our industries ACTION by the ETF To achieve the set objective, the ETF affiliated unions shall take the following actions: - include the gender dimension in their union strategies; - set up structures to monitor recruitment and better involvement of women in trade union life (i.e. women s committees); - achieve a balanced representation of women in trade union leading bodies; - achieve a balanced representation in collective bargaining teams; - provide gender equality training at the workplace, (for union representatives and rank and file members); - collect data on, and monitor, gender membership trends, as well as women s presence in trade union statutory bodies (executive boards, congress). To achieve the set objective, the ETF Women s Committee shall: - disseminate (as largely as possible) the ETF gender training package; - participate in country visits to gain direct contact with trade union leadership structures, to help promote gender equality structures and activities (at the level of the ETF affiliates); - monitor progress of ETF affiliated unions with regards to improving women s participation in union life via the annual membership questionnaires and notify the ETF Executive Committee on the developments. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS In implementing its action plan, the ETF Women s Committee will work in cooperation with all ETF Sections via its section representatives and with the ITF. The Women s Committee will continue to involve women trade union activists in its activities. The ETF Women s Committee will evaluate progress vis-à-vis the set objectives, and may consider additional measures where necessary. 6