Women workers across the world represent more than half of the world’s service workers as well as the majority of precarious and informal workers, making them a highly vulnerable group in times of crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this from the beginning with millions of women workers facing numerous challenges, from lack of appropriate health and safety measures at work, to lack of paid family leave and paid sick leave, to an overload of family responsibilities and an increase in exposure to domestic violence.
As essential workers, they face the pandemic on a daily basis ensuring that societies continue to function, putting their lives and those of their families at risk.
They are on the frontlines protecting us, now it is time to protect them and unions can help.
Joining a trade union during this particular moment can help women workers minimize the effects of the pandemic. Unions can work with employers to provide equipment and protection to workers on the frontlines; they negotiate agreements to include sick leave and family leave; they negotiate wage raises for frontline workers and negotiate unemployment benefits for those hit the hardest. They can be a lifeline for workers working in isolation and a source of information on how to protect ourselves during this crisis.
And when this is over, unions will continue to work to protect workers, to push for better employment conditions and living wages and, most importantly, for the creation of more equal and just societies, where all workers are at the heart of the economy.
There is no cure for COVID-19, but for women workers, unions can be the best medicine to protect them and their rights.
LET’S PROTECT WOMEN WORKERS AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE TODAY, AS ALWAYS, THEY ARE STILL THERE: ON THE FRONTLINES #STILLONTHEFRONTLINES
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