Rising together for LGBTI+ workers

The UNI World Congress set the stage for additional meetings and encounters between affiliates from 109 countries around the world to discuss issues and share best practices in their unions and across the world.

Within this context, members and allies of the UNI LGBTI+ Network participating at the UNI World Congress met to share ongoing initiatives in their own trade unions which are aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion, as well as protecting the rights of LGBTI+ workers.

“Through meetings of our UNI LGBTI+ network such as this one, we have been able to shed light on different issues that affect our LGBTI+ workers such as the different forms of discrimination present in the world of work. It has also given us the opportunity to create spaces to learn, educate and advocate on the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity and how we, as trade unions, can best protect all our workers” said Veronica Fernandez Mendez, Head of UNI Equal Opportunities.

Since 2018, UNI Global Union has worked through its UNI Equal Opportunities department to highlight the importance of more inclusive workplaces and trade unions through campaigns and activities such as the creation of the UNI LGBTI+ network, the UNI LGBTI+ Survey, the UNI Guide to  LGBTI+; as well as focusing on the need to implement policies within unions and in collective bargaining that protect LGBTI+ workers from all forms of discrimination, violence, and harassment.