Unionists and researchers – from Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and the UK – met in in Bogotá, Colombia to look at the changes taking place in public transport sector, and the challenges and opportunities these present for women public transport workers and their unions.
The workshop was held as part of the three-year joint ITF and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) project. The project, which is also part of the ITF’s ‘Our Public Transport’ campaign, aims to deliver concrete recommendations to support trade union action on equal access to decent work for women working in public transport.
In particular, the workshop looked at:
- New developments in public transport and how technology, automation and digitalisation are impacting on women working in public transport.
- How technological change can be used as an opportunity to improve employment conditions for transport workers globally.
- The rapidly changing nature of transport jobs and impact of ride sharing platforms such as Uber on women in public transport.
- Overcoming the dominant global culture of gender inequality and the under-representation of women in the transport industry.
This three-year project – starting with the research component in 2018 – is a key starting point for ITF Women’s work on this area.
The next step is to analyse and understand impact that technology, automation and digitalisation pose for the future of work for women in public transport – to strengthen the collective voice and win better conditions for women transport workers around the world.
A report on research findings and recommendations will be launched at the ITF Congress in October 2018.
