Fórsa added its voice to calls for a safer and more inclusive workplace on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on 17th May. The union recommitted its efforts to building a better workplace for all, and called for the urgent ratification of International Labour Organisaion (ILO) convention C190 on violence and harassment in the world of work to protect LGBTI workers.

The convention was adopted in 2019 after years of hard work by global trade union federations. But it has only been ratified by 14 countries so far.

The convention establishes the right to work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment. It’s the first international law to do so.

C190 is complemented by Recommendation 206 (R206), which gives more detailed guidance on how the Convention should be implemented at the national level.

In a recent study, the British campaigning organisation Stonewall reported that one-in-five LGBT+ workers in the UK had been the target of negative conduct or treatment from co-workers and that one in eight transgender workers had been physically attacked by colleagues or customers. Another study by the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School found that 46% of LGBT workers experienced unfair treatment at work and 34% had left a job because of poor treatment by their boss.

In a statement, the global union federation Public Services International (PSI), said the Covid crisis had exacerbated homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. The UN’s independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity further concluded “that Covid-19 had a disproportionate impact on LGBT persons and, with few exceptions, the response to the pandemic reproduces and exacerbates the patterns of social exclusion and violence.”

On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its classification of diseases and related health problems, a milestone in the long struggle for LGBT+ rights. Since then, the day has been marked as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.