In Colombia, unions face harassment and violence against LGBTQI+ workers
Mar 7, 2024
In a multicolored scenario, which reflected the recognition of diversity and the issues that were addressed, was successfully held in the city of Bogota - Colombia, on February 28 and 29, 2024, the workshop to launch the training tools "Let's act against violence and harassment against LGBTQI+ workers and other groups in vulnerable situations" promoted by Public Services International in the framework of the LGBTI Workers Project of the Group of Global Union Federations (GUFs). With information from Juan Diego Gómez Vasquez, facilitator.
The event was attended by 59 leaders representing unions that are part of six international workers' organizations: the Building and Construction Workers' International, BWI; Education International, EI; the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ; the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC; the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF; and PSI itself, which was also responsible for coordinating the development of the materials that were presented.
"The international trade union federations and the ITUC have a common agenda to strengthen the processes of recognition and strengthening of the rights of LGBTI workers," said Susana Barria, PSI's secretary for the Andean countries, who coordinated the workshop, which also included the participation of the Colombian Ministry of Labor, which presented the approach included in the labor reform promoted by the government of President Gustavo Petro to address violence and harassment in the world of work.
Attendees recognized and internalized the Facilitator's Guide and Participant's Activity Book, tools that are the result of an extensive and dedicated effort by global unions to equip workers with instruments and tools to address workplace and union harassment and violence against LGBTQI+ and other vulnerable worker populations.
The two tools, which contain three modules; Awareness Raising, Taking Action in the Workplace and Union Action, reinforce the contents of Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) that establish a new framework to prevent, address and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work. In addition, the training tools offer a participatory and active methodology to address harassment and violence with a differential approach to the LGBTQI+ population and other vulnerable groups, both in the world of work and in trade union organizations.
Through participatory exercises, which even gave an account of norms and laws adopted by some governments in the region (case Argentina) to address violence and harassment and good practices in trade union organizations in Colombia and a detailed study of the contents, activities, methods and resources of the two tools presented, the participants reached the following conclusions:
The Facilitator's Guide and the Activity Book for Participants are powerful tools to address, from training and capacity building, violence and harassment against LGBTQI+ workers and other vulnerable groups;
The content, methodology and resources found in the two instruments, properly used, will allow trade union organizations to include in their agendas and programs training related to ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206, with a differential focus on violence and harassment against LGBTQI+ workers and other vulnerable groups;
Among the results, it is highlighted that the workshop was a space:
Of honest exchange with the representative of the Ministry of Labor of Colombia who was participating in the event in which it was possible to express what are the expectations of the workers.
Of exchange and the construction of a space of much respect in which more in-depth work could be done to identify the challenges that LGBTQIA+ workers have, both within the union and in the workplace.
Where it was possible to look at the materials presented, and evaluate them and we have decided on different feedback in terms of concepts to be able to improve it and ensure that we will have a document that can be used widely to have many replications of the workshop.
The fourth result was that the relevance of ILO Convention 190 for the rights of LGBTQIA workers was established with an in-depth study of the document and the importance of knowing this convention and fighting for its ratification.
Finally, after a valuable closing of the event, carried out virtually from Costa Rica, by the coordinator of the PSI Regional Committee for the Rights of LGBTQI+ Workers, Deiby Porras, the attendees expressed their support for the steps that have been taken in Colombia for the ratification of ILO Convention 190.
"The LGTBIQ+ population, a population to which I belong, is one of the populations that has been the most vulnerable. In the workshop we were able to realize how to face harassment and violence against us, the LGTBIQ+ workers. The workshop left fundamental tools to be made available to the rest of the component that is part of our population. It is also very important because it serves as a tool to be included and ratified in ILO Convention 190," concluded Néstor Pérez Muñoz, Union of Workers of Municipal Enterprises of Cali, Colombia, and Andean representative for the PSI LGBTQI+ Committee.
