March 12, 2024

LGBTQIA+ Inclusion within the Global Trade Union Movement

Mira Fey

A brand new report examines the state of LGBTQIA+ inclusion within global union federations and the labour movement overall


Executive summary

This report sets out to examine the state of LGBTQIA+ inclusion within global union federations and the labour movement overall. Inclusion is understood as the integration of queer workers within unions in a meaningful and visible way and as the representation of their specific needs and demands as integral parts of collective bargaining agreements and other key union activities. After reading the results, you should have a better idea about why LGBTQIA+ inclusion matters and what strategies might be successful, why the LGBTI working group is a crucial instrument to achieve inclusion across all GUFs, and which internal and external obstacles those engaged in LGBTQIA+ inclusion are confronted with. We tried to give those people in charge of LGBTQIA+ inclusion within GUFs the floor as much as possible in the different chapters.

Presentation of the report

March is an important month for LGBTQIA+ visibility and awareness. Indeed, March 1st is Zero Discrimination Day and March 31st is Transgender Day of Visibility. This is why, on March 27 2024, we held a discussion on the report and, more globally, on the inlcusion of LGBTQIA+ people in Global Union Federations and the overall Trade Union Movement.

Mira Fey (author of the report) discussed her research and findings with James Cavalluzzo (LGBT+ Rights Campaign Project Coordinator at PSI) who also shared his insights. The discussion was moderated by Vsevolod Kritskiy (Project Manager at RLS Geneva). Watch the webinar below.

Webinar held on March 27th 2024
Dr Mira Fey is a researcher focused on policy, sexuality, gender, and inclusion. She currently works as an evaluator within the German Institute of Development Evaluation on German development cooperation strategies on sexual and reproductive health and rights.