Unions gear up for International Women’s Day

The ITF Women’s Committee is calling on affiliates to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2013.

To support affiliates’ activities, the ITF has re-produced previous campaign posters and produced new stickers for this year. The materials carry the slogan ‘Strong Unions Need Women’. They reflect the ITF’s Organising Globally campaign, which focuses on unions growing through organising, especially those campaigns that target women.

For the past 12 years, ITF and its affiliates have participated in International Women’s Day by organising practical activities to campaign for and secure women transport workers’ rights and to increase their visibility and participation in the union movement.

ITF women’s coordinator Alison McGarry said:

“International Women’s Day is a great platform for activity focused on women transport workers and the potential they have for making an even greater contribution to the union movement. We desperately need more women to work their way up in their unions and take on more leadership roles to make our unions stronger. The fact that in the UK we now have the first female leader of the TUC should inspire us all.”

The ITF women’s committee has introduced a leadership development programme for women activists, which is being rolled out to ITF-affiliated unions across the ITF regions. Leading Change was developed with Harvard Labor and Worklife Programme and will support women trade unionists to identify the skills they have to become stronger and more effective leaders. An ITF film, Women leaders make the difference, featuring footage and interviews from the course has been created. Watch it now.

To order International Women’s Day campaign materials, unions can use the online order form. The ITF also asks affiliates to let it know what activities they have planned, so that they can be highlighted on the campaign site. Affiliates can also see what ITF unions did in 2012.