Second ITUC World Congress concludes by electing its first female General Secretary
On Friday 25 June, Sharan Burrow was elected General Secretary of the ITUC. On the fifth and final day of its second World Congress in Vancouver (Canada) Sharan Burrow was elected to succeed Guy Ryder, the first General Secretary of the ITUC, the world’s largest international trade union organisation, founded in Vienna in 2006. Sharan Burrow will leave her post of President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), that she has held since 2000, to become the first woman at the helm of the ITUC.
Unions of the world unite for Peace, Security and Democracy
ITUC World Congress delegates today adopted a resolution that reconfirms the ITUC’s commitment to achieving a peaceful, democratic, secure and stable world, where people from all countries coexist in mutual respect and tolerance, free from the threat of armed conflict, terrorism or other forms of violence or occupation.
ITUC Congress calls for gender equality and the respect of trade union rights
Gender Equality
The global crisis has deepened inequality and undermined women’s rights, says the resolution on Gender Equality adopted by the ITUC Congress. In the same resolution, the Congress sets out a programme of action to achieve gender equality in the workplace and society.
Argentina and the crisis: the need to make decent work a priority
Defending the right to decent work was a priority for the government during the 2001 crisis in Argentina said the country’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, speaking to delegates at the second World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Vancouver. President Kirchner also called for the regulation of the financial markets.
International trade unions to adopt historic resolution on climate change
Unions from all over the world are to adopt today an ambitious resolution on climate change. In the framework of the 2nd ITUC Congress, unions have debated their role in the fight against climate change, the means to create green and decent jobs and ensure a just transition towards a low carbon economy and the need for achieving a fair, ambitious and binding deal on climate under UN auspicies.