women in transport

Get ME home safely: ETF and transport unions across Europe advocate for safe commuting as a political, employer, and local community obligation.

Last week, at ETF's 6th Congress, a new ETF Women's Steering Committee was elected.

ILO Violence and Harassment Convention 190 – the first international treaty to address violence and harassment - comes into force. ETF continues to call on countries to ratify, but unions are already taking action and can use ETF's Workplace Guidance to put the topic on the agenda.

Today, the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), representing employees, and the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), representing railway sector employers, resumed negotiations at EU-level for a binding agreement aimed at promoting women's employment in the sector.

"In the transport sector, violence and harassment are still often seen as part of the job. And that is unacceptable". On International Women's Day, the ETF joins the international trade union movement to call on governments to ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention no. 190, which will come into force in June this year.

In view of their 2021 Summit, the International Transport Forum (ITF) launched their Annual Gender in Transport Consultation to bring together all perspectives needed to advance gender equality in the transport sector. As an ITF stakeholder, ETF sent in a written contribution focussing how to make the transport sector attractive for women to work in and on the impacts of COVID-19 on women transport workers.

To mark today’s Human Rights Day, the last day of the UN’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the ETF has released a series of videos to guide trade unions through the use of our newly published Workplace Guidance to address violence and harassment against women at work.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the ETF is taking a stand. Not only are we continuing to call on governments to ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206; we are also releasing our Workplace Guidance to address violence and harassment against women at work.

Part of providing a safe and adequate work environment for women transport workers is having and providing access to decent sanitary facilities. However, when we interviewed around 3,000 women in transport, it emerged that access to toilets is a serious issue affecting their health and safety at work.