Women Workers

At its meeting in Geneva on May 15-16, the IUF Executive Committee unanimously accepted the International Domestic Workers' Federation's (IDWF) request to become a special group within the IUF.

School food service workers joined a second strike by precarious school workers on November 29 in a long-running fight for wage equality with regular workers and an end to discrimination in working conditions.

At a ceremony on September 8, during the AFl-CIO Convention in Los Angeles, the International Domestic Workers’ Network, IDWN, received the 2013 Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award. AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, paid a vibrant tribute to the IDWN for its inspiring and innovating efforts to get domestic workers organized and their rights recognized worldwide.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union [AMWU] has recently concluded a collective agreement with the transnational food company Heinz that includes a domestic violence clause.

It is based on the guidelines of the national center ACTU’s Work – Life Policy adopted in 2012, and provides for additional paid leave for absences related to family or domestic violence, flexible work arrangements, confidentiality, workplace safety strategies to ensure protection of employees, referral to appropriate domestic violence support services, adequate training of contact persons.

After years of fighting for better treatment and equal rights, the Jamaica Household Workers’ Association (JHWA) was formally registered as a trade union on March 15.

On April 16, Bolivia was the sixth country to ratify C189 following the ratifications of Uruguay (June 12, 2012), Philippines (September 05, 2012), Mauritius (September 13, 2012) Nicaragua (January 10, 2013), and Italy (January 22, 2013).

More than 15,000 women workers employed as home-based beedi (cigarette) workers in Ahmedabad in the north western state of Gujarat have won a 15% wage increase through collective bargaining. The women beedi workers are members of the IUF-affiliated Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA).

This International Women's Day, we are taking a stand against the denigration of women that has been tolerated by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for far too long. We call on the world's largest promoter of professional cage fighting events to put an end to the misogyny and sexism that pervades the "sport."

On June 16, 2011, Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers was adopted by the International Labour Conference. Within a year of this historic event, Uruguay became the first country to ratify C189 on June 14, 2012, followed by the Philippines on September 5, and Mauritius on September 13.

The IUF-affiliated Korean Women's Trade Union (KWTU) has joined with two other Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) affiliates to create the National Council of Irregular Workers at Schools.