The changing nature of work and growing inequalities: Challenges for trade unions

13th to 16 February 2018 Fopadesc Center, Lome - TOGO
Keywords : Activities Togo

The 8th edition of the ITUC-Africa Trade Union Forum took place from the 13th to 16 February 2018 at the Fopadesc Center in Lomé under the theme "The changing nature of work and growing inequalities: Challenges for trade unions".

Activities
2018
March 5

About 100 participants mainly from ITUC-Africa affiliates, including members of the General Council, the ITUC-Africa Women and Youth Committee, representatives of sub-regional trade union organizations, researchers and trade union educators, Representatives of the Global Union Federations (GUF), Continental and International Civil Society Organizations, Academia, and ILO representatives took part in this workshop.

Through a combination of plenary sessions, panel discussions and thematic working groups, the participants , during four days tried to provide answers and strategize questions about the future of work; Education and skills for a new economy; The effects of new technologies on structures and forms of work .

Various strategies were proposed at the end of the thematic group sessions.

Regarding the thematic group sessions on the changing nature of work and the future of the work we want, the conclusions were as follows:

  • As Trade unions, we need to embrace the changing nature of work and advocate for favorable policies in the interest of workers
  • We need to work together to advocate for Policy coherence and technological transfer (how are development plans incorporating science and technology etc)
  • Emphasize on unpaid work as valuable work and the informal economy.
  • Enhanced Infrastructure (physical and social)
  • Reform our education systems
  • Encourage technical and vocational training and adapt our curriculums to new trends
  • Global and Regional Agreements

The recommandations of the thematic group sessions on inequalities and their impact on the future work are grouped in these 6 points:

  • Enhance African trade union capacity to understand and articulate the broad faces of inequality
  • Enhance information exchange, advocacy and awareness of inequality issues among unions in Africa
  • Mobilise resources and build trust, coalitions and alliances on inequality issues among Trade Unions and with like-minded organisations in Africa
  • Strengthen institutional /collective bargaining mechanisms to fight inequality at the workplace
  • Deepen policy dialogue and its efficiency at the national level on inequality issues
  • Strengthen Trade Union unity and solidarity in articulating inequality issues

Documents & Media Related

Documents

Download Files

Audios

Play Audio Files

Photos

Click to zoom and browse

ITUC AFRICA

TRADE UNION ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY TOOL (TUOC-tool)

This guidance note presents the COS framework; it reviews the concrete steps that can be used (...)

TU DEVELOPMENT EFFECTIVENESS PROFILE TOOL

TUDEP is a learning tool meant to support trade unions worldwide in the application of the (...)

PAMPHLET ON THE SDGs

The pamphlet aims to introduce trade unionists to the 2030 Agenda and its overlap with the (...)