Global Workers’ Academy: Ending discrimination and boosting measures that establish Equality, Equity and Fairness at Work

The Academy is a comprehensive multi-disciplinary training package designed by the Workers’ Activities Programme of the International Training Centre of the ILO to address different aspects and intersectional forms of ending discrimination and establishment of equality, equity and fairness at work. Key topics of diversity and inclusion were integrated into the Academy. The Academy was built upon the International Labour Organisation Conference (ILC)’s conclusions and continuous work on ‘Inequalities and the World of Work’. In four complementary modules, the Academy focused on measures that reinforce trade union actions and strategies that make the workplace and employment relations fairer including the realisation of decent work. Each week introduced a different module through webinars, self-guided and tutor-led learning. More particular attention was placed on three tracks, namely; disability inclusion; equal remuneration for work of equal value (pay equity); and, sexual orientation and gender identity. A significant part of the Academy focused on the exchanges of good practices among unions across the globe, as well as with experts from the ILO specialists including from the Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch (GEDI) and ACTRAV, ITCILO Trainers, and worker-based support organisations, who illustrated the inter-sectoral approaches towards boosting measures for equality, equity, diversity and inclusion at workplaces in the context of the ILO Decent Work Agenda. OBJECTIVES Upon successful completion of the course, participants are able to: o Understand the drivers and new forms of discrimination, inequalities and exclusions in the context of decent work, COVID-19 period and building forward better; o Understand challenges related to discrimination, equality and equity, inclusion and diversity in the world of work and the realities in the various continents; o Articulate why workers organisations must upscale efforts to make ending discrimination, inequalities, and exclusion at work a priority; o Learn initiatives and innovations on negotiating equality, anti-discrimination, negotiating for equality in collective bargaining agreements, disability inclusion and diversity in the workplace; o Use ILS, ILO tools and other instruments critical to engage, advocate and demand the end of discrimination and inequalities, promoting inclusion and diversity at work through tripartite and bipartite structures; o Share and learn successful global, regional, national and sectoral trade union initiatives and strategies in promoting fairness, equality, equity, diversity and inclusion at work in order to replicate them in their national contexts; o Develop priority trade union actions and strategies on ending discrimination, inequalities, and inequities, especially the workers in vulnerable situations including women, youths and, workers with disabilities; and, o Develop a global network of trade union representatives knowledgeable on the themes. CONTENT The Academy covered four learning modules: Module 1: Realities and Challenges - Drivers of discrimination, inequalities and exclusions in the world of work Module 2: International Labour Standards (ILS) and other ILO instruments on ending discrimination, inequality, inequities, and promoting inclusion, in the world of work Module 3. Trade union initiatives and responses: Social Dialogue, Lessons and insights Module 4: Way Forward- Trade Union Strategies and Development of Action Plans The Academy combined asynchronous and synchronous learning sessions in a complementary way. In addition, the Academy is comprised of five (5) live (teach-in) webinars of 2 hours duration each, a series of self-guided eLearning modules and assignments on the e-campus facilitated by online tutors. The Academy was delivered via the eCampus, the education platform of the International Training Centre of the ILO. The online platform was used to distribute course information, communication and collaboration, accessing self-guided eLearning modules and other training materials, tutor-based learning, research and reading assignments, peer-to-peer exchanges of good practices and experiences, feedback and multimedia content. ACHIEVEMENT The certificate of participation is awarded upon completion of a significant part of the academy requirements: i) participation in the webinars; ii) completion of self-guided eLearning modules; iii) interaction with co-learners and the online tutor; iv) visualization of multimedia content; v) submission of written assignments and weekly posts to the Academy forum. The estimated time for the completion of the Academy was approximately 40 hours.