UNI Commerce Redoubles Commitment to Passing ILO Convention Against Gender-Based Violence

During the UNI Commerce Global Steering Group meeting, taking place in Barcelona, participants from all over the world joined in a minute of silence for a local woman, murdered by her partner.  The killing was brought to the group’s attention by UNI affliliate CCOO, and it highlights the need to unite against gender-based violence at home and in the workplace.

UNI Global Union has joined efforts with other global union federations to campaign for the ratification of an ILO Convention to eliminate gender-based violence. ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 260 are international instruments designed to protect workers from all forms of violence that that have an impact in the world of work, including domestic and gender-based violence. Domestic violence, for example, affects the attendance and the ability to perform. It can also lead to job loss as well as the ability to get work. For countries, this translates in economic loss. In the case of the United States, it is estimated that business lose between 3 billion and 5 billion USD annually in lost time, productivity, and health care costs paid for by the employer.

Alke Boessiger, UNI Deputy Secretary stated that “it is unbelievable and unacceptable that women today are still regularly victims of domestic violence. We call on the Spanish government to demonstrate their commitment to eradicating gender-based violence by swiftly ratifying ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 260, a new and strong international instrument which unites governments, employers and workers in this fight.”

The need for this convention in Spain is clear. Since 2003, Spain has experienced more than 1033 femicides and in 2019, more than 80.000 denunciations of domestic violence and gender based violence had been presented to the authorities.

“Every time a sexist murder is committed, we have taken to the streets to condemn it, to demand public policies and to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victim,” said Aurora Richarte, Women and Equal Opportunity Secretary of the Federation of Services of the CCOO of Catalonia.

Learn more about you can lobby governments to ratify this Convention and how we can work together to end all forms of violence:

https://uniglobalunion.org/news/uni-launches-campaign-ratify-ilo-c190-against-workplace-violence