Athens, March 6th 2014

On the occasion of the International Working Women's Day, the Secretariat of the WFTU salutes the working women and expresses its solidarity to their everyday struggles for the improvement of their living and working conditions.

The class-oriented trade union movement internationally, the affiliates and friends of the WFTU have been engaged in national efforts to strengthen the working women's movement. More women's committees have been established within the structures of the trade unions in the spirit of the resolutions of the 16th World Trade Union Congress.

According to the Action Plan approved at the 2014 Presidential Council Session in Rome, Italy on February 14-15th, the WFTU has set forth for the 1st World Congress for Working Women to take place by the end of 2014.

We should join these efforts in a World Congress, discuss the difficulties faced, debate on the developments in the workers movement, form a joint platform of demands and coordinate our struggle for the strengthening of the working women's movement internationally, to lay the ground for further breakthroughs in their rights and conquests.

For the class-oriented trade union movement, for the WFTU, the struggle against the dual exploitation of the working women and the anti-labor reforms that add further burden to them and for the satisfaction of the contemporary needs of the working women have always been a priority.

WFTU will intensify its struggle:

For full employment, well-paid jobs with quality and full respect for labor rights.

For the fostering of equitable access to education, the development of upgrading and professional training.

To develop trade union training programs on gender equality in the workplace.

To inform working women about the laws and international conventions related to gender, to explain to them about their legal rights and to help them ensure their fulfillment, including legal advice in case of them presenting demands against violations of the worker's rights and for the supervision of the ILO Conventions.

To promote the trade unions' ability of including the working women and the gender issue in the collective bargaining process and the policies of trade union management.

To promote the ratification and application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and those International Conventions related to gender equality. (Conventions 100, 111, 156, 183 and others).

To support the adoption of the International Conventions for the protection of household workers and to promote its ratification. To promote domestic legislations against gender discrimination and to develop actions geared towards confronting inequalities. To promote measures that might help all workers (women and men) balance labor and family responsibilities and promote a more equitable share of tasks.

To demand that their governments make efforts to offer more quality services in day-care centers and care for the elderly.

To develop campaigns of consciousness, defense and promotion of the advantages of gender equality in the world of labor within the framework of May Day activities, the International Women's Day, as in other important events and Conferences.

To develop campaigns for equal work-equal pay at the workplaces and in society.

To develop efforts geared towards identifying sexual harassment, gender violence and to seek legislation on these issues in each country.

THE SECRETARIAT

Photo:  textile worker Myanmar December 2013         Ben Sears/PA