LGBTI Workers

LGBTI Workers & Allies

Whereas, in 2017, the 27th IUF Congress voted to focus our LGBTI equality work around four key resolutions:

• “add its voice, collective power and resources to the movement for full LGBTI equality”
• “educate[…]members on the importance of LGBTI equality in our collective struggle for justice in the workplace”
• “provide opportunities for LGBTI workers and their allies to meet”
• “speak out against injustice against LGBTI workers”

Whereas, over the course of the last Congress period, we have made progress in certain parts of the world and in certain pockets of the trade union movement, still LGBTI workers still face exclusion, fierce discriminatory backlashes, and intensifying violence including the murder of trans woman, JBS meat worker, trade union member, young Black worker, and African migrant to North America, Zachee Imanitwitaho;

Whereas, we also recognize that LGBTI workers face complex dynamics of discrimination which are not solely about their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, the IUF commits to fighting discrimination through the lens of intersectionality, the concept that social identities such as gender, age, sexual orientation, class, race, ethnicity, disability and citizenship status are open and porous and can overlap and reinforce each other;

Whereas, following several years of multiple full committee and small group discussions, the LGBTI Workers & Allies Committee adopted a work program based on four key pillars: company work, training/education, politics/lobbying and coalition- building.

THEREFORE, BY THE IUF 28^th CONGRESS, BE IT

Resolved: that the IUF shall continue to add its voice, collective power and resources, both human and financial, to the fight for full LGBTI equality for all workers and their families; and be it further;

Resolved: that the IUF will encourage regular participation from each of its six regions in the LGBTI Workers and Allies’ Committee with every effort made to ensure representation from members of the LGBTI community;

Resolved: that the IUF will negotiate, within its international agreements with transnational companies, language that specifically protects and ensures equality for LGBTI workers, and be it further;

Resolved: that the IUF will develop and implement training on an annual basis, and be it further;

Resolved: that the IUF will work with its regions and affiliates to push legislation that protects LGBTI workers from discrimination and violence in the world of work, and fight back against legislation that negatively impacts LGBTI workers and their families, and be it further;

Resolved: that the IUF, together with its regions, will actively build relationships with LGBTI organizations around the world to broaden the scope of our understanding of these issues, to develop a more complex picture of the local challenges to  rights and equality and to educate the broader LGBTI community about workers’ rights, and be it;

Resolved: finally that as trade unionists, we understand that LGBTI Rights are Human Rights and that An Injury to One is an Injury to All, and as such, the IUF LGBTI Workers & Allies’ Committee will work actively with the IUF Women’s Committee and Young Workers’ Committee to develop an intersectional approach to fighting for rights and equality for all workers, no matter their gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, class, race, ethnicity, disability, or citizenship status.