C190: UNIONS IN ACTIONTO END VIOLENCE AND
HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION

3PROGRESS WITH THE RATIFICATION OF C1904SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENTS AND EMPLOYERSFOR THE RATIFICATION OF C190

4CHANGES IN LEGAL FRAMEWORKS ALIGNED WITHC190 AND R206

4TRADE UNIONS IN ACTION

5LOBBYING, DISCUSSIONS AND ENGAGEMENTWITH GOVERNMENTS

6LOBBYING, DISCUSSIONS AND ENGAGEMENT WITH EMPLOYERS

7AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGNS WITH WORKERSAND THE GENERAL PUBLIC

7BUILDING ALLIANCES7A FOCUS ON VULNERABLE WORKERS

7NEGOTIATION OF WORKPLACE POLICIES AND/OR
CBAS ALIGNED WITH C190 AND R206

8GLOBAL UNIONS FEDERATIONS (GUFS)

9OTHER BARGAINING AND CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENTS

10C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

INTRODUCTION
Since the adoption of C190 and R206
in 2019, trade unions have mobilised
in extraordinary ways to build national
campaigns and an unprecedented
international movement, led by women,
has organised to ratify and implement
these ground-breaking standards.

This report draws on an ITUC survey carriedout in September 2023, with responses from104 union confederations from 66 countries.
This includes 26 from Africa (of which 10 werefrom the Middle East North Africa), 14 fromthe Americas, 15 from Asia Pacific and 11 fromEurope.

The ITUC reinforced its commitment tothis campaign at the 4th World Women’s
Conference and the 5th ITUC World
Congress, recognising the importanceof affiliates’ long-term engagement inworking towards a world of work that is
free from violence and harassment anda New Social Contract based on gendertransformative and inclusive policies.

It builds upon the results of the first such survey
carried out in 2022 and reveals the progress
made by campaigning unions working towards
safer, more inclusive workplaces that are freeof violence and harassment.

92%

of unions worked to secure theratification and implementationof C190/R206

85%

of unions engaged in social dialogue
to align C190/R206 with national lawsand policies in their country3

C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

PROGRESS WITH THE
RATIFICATION OF C190
The ILO reports that 36 countries have ratified C190. Trade unions in this survey expect another20 ratifications in 2024.
SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENTS ANDEMPLOYERS FOR THE RATIFICATIONOF C190
In 2023, unions prioritised action tochange governments’ and employers’
attitudes and awareness and therebybuild support to ratify and implement C190.
The responses to this survey demonstrate thatgovernments are more likely than employers tosupport ratification. Opposition from employers
has caused ratification to be blocked in severalcountries.

Survey response: support or opposition
from governments and employers to theratification of C190.

64%

40%

33%

of countries,governments
supported ratificationof countries, mostemployers supportedratificationof countries, onlya few employers
supported ratification

CHANGES IN LEGAL FRAMEWORKS
ALIGNED WITH C190 AND R206
In some countries there have beensignificant legal changes introduced
to further alignment with C190 andR206, with the biggest changes having
occurred in labour law.

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C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

Changes to law to ratify andimplement C190 and R206

47%

34%

24%

22%

Labour law

Equality/Non-discrimination law

OSH laws

Domesticviolence law

16%

13%

16%

Criminal law

Informaleconomy law

ALLIn Indonesia, union campaigning led tothe inclusion of sexual harassment in thenew criminal law. The Central Generalde Trabajadores de Guatemala (CGTG)
successfully lobbied for an amendment to thecriminal law on harassment. In Bulgaria, thelaw was amended following a long campaign
by teachers’ unions against third-party violenceand harassment (TPVH). In Zimbabwe, which
has not yet ratified C190, a new law passed inAugust 2023 after a sustained union campaign
to include parts of C190 in domestic law.
Amendment 5 of the Labour Amendment Act
11/ 2023 added new penalties and used thewording from Article 3 of C190, relating toviolence and harassment in the world of work.

5C190:190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

PROGRESS WITH THE
RATIFICATION OF C190
The campaign activities carried out by unions in the last year have been diverse andmultifaceted.

Union campaign activities directed atgovernments to secure the ratificationand implementation of C190

66%

64%

63%

38%

Lobbying/discussionswith government

Partnerships/
alliances

Awareness/training ofunion members

Negotiation ofworkplace policies/CBAs

26%

26%

27%

Research, data collection,
workers’ stories

Engagement withemployers

All listed
activities

LOBBYING, DISCUSSIONS AND ENGAGEMENTWITH GOVERNMENTS
Many unions have continued campaigning toensure that C190 is reflected in laws and otherregulations, even if their governments have
not yet ratified the Convention. For example,
in both South Africa, where C190 is ratified
and Indonesia, where it is not, union work has
led to codes of good practice aligned with theConvention regarding the processing sexual
harassment cases.

In countries that have not yet ratified C190,
campaigners have continued to lobby
governments.
•The Pakistan Workers’ Federation (PWF)
campaign has led to a transformational
movement that is addressing women’swider participation and inclusion.
This included a national, high-levelawareness-raising engagement with thegovernment and the labour department,
which resulted in the inclusion of6

C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

measures in labour inspection surveys
to prevent gender-based violence andharassment (GBVH).
••

In India, the Self-Employed Women's
Association (SEWA) successfully usedsocial dialogue in its campaign withthe government for ratification of
C190 and R206 and this led to better
implementation of the existing law.
In Turkey, tripartite consultation
has been important in lobbying
governments and employers.
The Türkiye Hak Isçi SendikalariKonfederasyonu (HAK-İŞ) organised aseries of national tripartite meetings
with the ILO to raise awareness about
C190.

•BUILDING ALLIANCES
There have been positive outcomes fromnational and sectoral alliances between tradeunions and civil society organisations (CSOs)
and feminist movements in several countries,
adding strength to national ratification
campaigns.
•LOBBYING, DISCUSSIONS AND ENGAGEMENTWITH EMPLOYERS•

In Indonesia, employers argued thatthe country’s comprehensive legal
framework rendered C190 unnecessary.
Instead, non-binding guidance foremployers on sexual harassment wasadopted in 2022, which unions wereconsulted on.

AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGNS WITH
WORKERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC••In the Philippines, Sentro ng
mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong
Manggagawa (SENTRO) drew up acommunications campaign plan for theratification of C190.
The Confederación Autónoma Sindical
Clasista (CASC) in the Dominican
Republic highlighted high rates ofdomestic violence and its effect on
the working environment in its media
campaign.

In India, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha(HMS) confederation has been raisingawareness with workers at the grassroots in its lobbying of the government
to ratify C190.

In the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region, the first meeting of aregional coalition of trade unions andfeminist organisations calling for theratification of ILO C190 was held inIstanbul, June 2022.

A FOCUS ON VULNERABLE WORKERS
Domestic workers’ organisations continued
to play a vitally important role in internationaland national ratification campaigns and theirinvolvement meant significant numbers ofwomen were engaged in cross-sectoral union
activism around C190 for the first time.
•The Brazilian National Federationof Domestic Workers (Fenatrad) waspart of the national campaign for theratification of C190.

•In Honduras, domestic workers’organisations worked for the ratificationof both C190 and C189, the ILO
Domestic Workers Convention.

•In India, community health workers
included measures to address violenceand harassment from third parties intheir bargaining claims, taking into7

C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

account risks arising from lone working,bad working conditions and poor
employment security.
•In Pakistan, the PWF’s informal worker
collective, representing domesticworkers, home-based workers andwaste pickers, campaigned to end
GBVH and advocated for safer working
conditions through improved reporting
mechanisms. The campaign led to theemergence of gender champions who
have come up through the ranks ofthe PWF, helping to enhance solidarityand build support networks amonggroups of vulnerable women, suchas agricultural labourers. The PWF’s
work led to the Punjab Secretary ofLabor establishing a gender reforms
committee for informal workers.

•The Amalgamated Union of Kenya
Metalworkers (AUKMW) gave specificfocus to C190 in its campaign to end
GBVH faced by workers in the informal
economy. Informal workers wereorganised to address the difficulties
faced by women, who experiencehigh levels of exploitation, genderbased violence, employment insecurity
and poverty reinforced by patriarchal
practices.

NEGOTIATION OF WORKPLACE POLICIESAND/OR CBAS ALIGNED WITH C190 AND
R206

38%

of trade unions havenegotiated workplacepolices or CBAsaligned with C190

Unions have been active across different
sectors in negotiating agreements covering all
forms of violence and harassment.
•In Argentina, many unions included
clauses on C190 and R206 in theirworkplace agreements, including thoserelated to support and paid leavefor victims of domestic violence. An
agreement on gender violence anddomestic violence signed by the Central
de los Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA-A)
affiliate, La Bancaria trade union,
with the sector’s business chambers,
established a joint Commission for
Assistance to Victims of Gender
Violence, five days (extendable) paid
leave, work relocation and emergency
loans.

•In Indonesia, C190 was used incollective bargaining in the garment
and textiles sector, the chemicals sectorand in mining. A binding memorandumof understanding (MOU), signed in
the chemical sector in 2023, led tothe inclusion of measures on violenceand harassment for the first time. TheSPN Confederation, an affiliate inIndonesia of IndustriALL, reported that
10 agreements had been signed withcompanies covering provisions on C190
and R206 on the prohibition of violenceand harassment, sanctions, prevention
and complaints handling. Trade unions
also proposed a model policy on zerotolerance of sexual harassment thathas been signed by 49 companies.
Eight employers have also signed
agreements to establish ‘safe houses’
in the workplace where women canreceive support.

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C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

•In Ireland, trade unions negotiatedworkplace policies to provide support
for survivors of domestic violence,
following the Irish Congress of Trade
Unions (ICTU) campaign and awarenessraising among unions. In the banking
sector, the financial services unionnegotiated progressive workplacepolicies with the Bank of Ireland andDanske Bank. Similar policies wereagreed between the Communications
Workers Union with the telecoms
company Eir and in the postal sector
with An Post. The policies all go furtherthan the ‘five days paid’ guaranteedin legislation, providing 10 days paid
leave that is extendable, along withother workplace supports and security
measures for survivors.

•In Jordan, the General Federationof Jordanian Trade Unions’ (GFJTU)
campaign on “Mainstreaming Gender
Sensitive Provisions into CBAs” ledto agreements covering GBVH. They
included agreements signed by theGeneral Trade Union of the Food
Industry, the General Trade Union ofElectricity and the General Trade Unionof the Garment and Textile Industry.
In an agreement signed by the Unionof Workers in Water, Agriculture andFood Industries articles from C190 wereadopted.

•In Lesotho, trade unions won binding
agreements to end GBVH withgarment suppliers with the support ofbrands such as Levi Strauss, Kontoor
Brands and Children’s Place, as well
as women’s rights organisations andthe US Solidarity Center. Under theagreements, the supplier, Nien Hsing,is committed to implement an anti-

GBVH programme, establishing anindependent complaints mechanismand effective support for workers. Nien
Hsing’s commitments are enforceable
through agreements with the garmentbrands.
•In India, the Dindigul Agreement wasimplemented after a serious case ofsexual harassment, resulting in therape and murder of a 20-year-old
Dalit garment worker. The bindingagreement, to end GBVH at Eastman
factories in Dindigul, was signed in
2022 with global brands H&M Group,
Gap Inc. and PVH Corp., the Tamil Nadu
Textile and Common Labour Union(TTCU), the Asia Floor Wage Allianceand Global Labor Justice-International
Labor Rights Forum.
The agreement uses the definitionsof C190 to establish a worker-centredcomplaints mechanism, training forover 2,000 workers, managers andshop-floor monitors to help them
support workers and identify GBVH.
Between April and December 2022,
workers raised 185 grievances, with 98
per cent of the complaints resolved.
Social dialogue between the union andmanagement has been strengthened
overall, and there has been a significant
reduction in GBVH, as well as an
improved retention of workers andworker wellbeing.

•In Pakistan, the PWF negotiatedagreements with manufacturing
companies covering the creation ofrespectful workplace environments,
protection from sexual harassment
and violence, and access to safe
sanitation facilities. Employee safety

9C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

was prioritised in the agreements, withtraining given on how to recognise
and respond to harassment andguidance on implementing proceduresfor complaints. At the factory level,
the PWF supported the negotiation ofharassment committees with adequate
trade union representation in three
enterprises with more planned.
••

In Palestine, agreements were signedwith 36 public and private employers,
with clauses aligned to C190 on theprevention of violence and harassment
and complaints handling.
In Turkey, the HAK-İŞ confederation
developed a model CBA that is being
integrated into affiliates’ agreements
in different sectors. It adapts the textof C190 to the realities of collective
bargaining, covering all forms ofviolence and harassment, including
GBVH, third-party violence andharassment, and support and paid
leave for victims of domestic violence.
It provides for the establishment ofjoint, union-employer commissions toprevent, monitor and address violenceand harassment.

GFAs have also made the link between GBVH
and human rights due diligence (HRDD).
•Services sector union UNI Global
Union and the International Transport
Workers’ Federation (ITF) produced
toolkits on HRDD, adding that sexual
harassment is a risk that needs to beaddressed in company due diligenceframeworks, along with reference to ILO
C190.

•IndustriALL’s project on HRDD in thebattery supply chain included capacity
building for unions on the prevention ofGBVH as part of gender-responsive due
diligence, aligned to C190.

•The International Trade Union forFood, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant,
Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers(IUF), IndustriALL and Unilever initiateda new programme in 2023 as part ofthe ongoing implementation of theJoint Agreement on Sexual Harassment(2016). The focus was on how sexual
harassment could be prevented throughoccupational safety and was inspiredby the provisions in C190 for a genderresponsive approach to addressing
GBVH in risk assessments. A joint
sexual harassment risk assessment tool
will be tested across pilot sites in 2024.

•Under the IndustriALL-H&M GFA(2015), national monitoring committees
in H&M supplier countries, made up ofnational unions and H&M country staff,
participated in training in 2022 to build
capacity and understanding of C190.
This led to the establishment of a joint
global working group, which drew up
GBVH guidelines that set out required

GLOBAL UNION FEDERATIONS (GUFS)
Global Framework Agreements (GFAs),
between GUFs and multinational companies,
are a further crucial tool to ensure that C190
and R206 are applied across global supply
chains, particularly in countries that have not yet
ratified C190. More than 30 GFAs have clauses
on GBVH, many with direct reference to C190 orC111 on non-discrimination, which defines sexualharassment as a form of sex discrimination.

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C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

and recommended practices forsuppliers based on C.90, outlining bestpractice on the detection, prevention,and the handling of GBVH cases.
OTHER BARGAINING AND CAMPAIGN
DEVELOPMENTS
Recent developments include union-led
initiatives to respond to the increasing levelsof third-party violence and harassment since
Covid-19, the rise in cyber harassment due toincreased digitalisation, protections for remoteand platform workers, and better workplaceresponses to rising levels of domestic violence.
•In Europe, the update of European
multisectoral guidelines on third-party
violence, drawn up by European social
partners in 2010, were a response torising levels of GBVH against frontline,
client and customer-facing services.
The new guidelines give a stronger
focus on GBVH, domestic violenceand digitalisation. In 2023, a website
was developed and a report publishedcontaining more than 30 examples
of social partner agreements andinitiatives.
One of the recent issues negotiatedunder occupational safety and health(OSH) programmes is access to safe
sanitation facilities. Risks of violenceand harassment are regularly faced
by women workers because ofunsafe toilets. The ITF Sanitation
Charter (2019) was implemented byunions in many countries to address
access to safe sanitation for transport
workers as an OSH issue. The ITF also
addressed this issue for workers in thegig economy to ensure that they had

access to adequate and appropriate
provision of personal protection
equipment and sanitation facilities, aswell as specific protections against
violence and harassment.
•In India, agreements concluded in
the manufacturing sector successfully
negotiated separate toilet facilities for
women as a measure to prevent GBVH.

•In the hotel sector, the US union UNITE
HERE negotiated safety and sanitation
measures for workers following theirreturn to work after Covid-19, as part of
the union’s long-standing campaign toend sexual harassment.

•Travel to and from work is a significant
issue for workers in the hospitality
industry, who often must travel
home late at night. In the UK, Unite’scampaign “Get me home safely”
sets out a framework for agreementsaligned with C190 to address safety
for women and ensure safe travel
home. The campaign was adopted
by the European Transport Workers
Federation (ETF) to ensure thatemployers provided safe transport for
shift workers and extended their legal
duty of care to include safe transport
home policies for workers.

•The Arab Trade Union Confederation(ATUC) launched a mobile app “TOOQ”
that gives protection from any kindof violence in the world of work,
including travelling to and from work.
An SOS alert enables a victim to seek
emergency help, a forum enables theexchange of ideas and experiences,a helpline links users to specialised
services in their geographical area,

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C190: UNIONS IN ACTION TO END VIOLENCEAND HARASSMENT AT WORK, 2023

and a database of publications on such
topics as violence, women, humanrights and labour is accessible. The
ATUC is planning to roll the app out
across the region.
•Unions are also adopting internal
policies to prevent and address GBVH
that occurs within their structures orin connection with union work. The
Confederación de Trabajadores de laRepública de Panamá (CTRP) in Panama
adopted a resolution on the preventionof harassment in its own and affiliates’organisations and includes a complaints
mechanism that covers union training
and education. Prevention initiatives will
focus on all forms of GBVH, including
sexist jokes and comments, withthe view to create a culture of zerotolerance for sexual harassment.

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The ITUC, November 2023

ITUC
International Trade Union Confederation
info@ituc-csi.org
www.ituc-csi.org
Phone: +32 (0)2 224 0211
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique, 201000 Brussels, Belgium

Publisher responsible in law:
Luc Triangle, General Secretary