New labour laws a historic breakthrough for migrant workers in Qatar

New laws announced and adopted by the Government of Qatar represent a historic leap in the protection of migrant workers’ rights in the Gulf State. These new laws together with the removal of the exit permit system earlier this year effectively eliminates the kafala system of modern slavery. The latest labour reforms which include the […]


September 4, 2020

Key workers can only protect us if we protect them

Global trade union leaders Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), write about the importance of protecting supply chain workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the coronavirus pandemic has deepened, we have seen images on news reports across the […]


March 30, 2020

COVID-19 Urgent Economic Stimulus and Workplace Measures Required

The ITF and global union federations have today urged governments and employers to urgently act to protect workers, and the global economy and society that depends upon them. The Council of Global Unions (CGU) today adopted a statement calling for urgent economic stimulus and for dialogue between unions, employers and governments to work collectively to […]


March 12, 2020

ITUC, BWI and ITF welcome end of exit permits for 1.5 million migrant workers in Qatar (ituc-csi.org)

The ITUC, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have welcomed the announcement by Qatar on 4 September of new legislation which means migrant workers covered by the Labour Code will not have to seek their employer’s permission to leave the country. Law No. 13 of 2018 amends […]


September 6, 2018

Fiji crisis: ITF & ITUC alert the ILO

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have today written to the director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) calling on him to urgently intervene in the unfolding situation in Fiji. The general secretary of the Fiji Trades Union Council, Felix Anthony, was interrogated by police on consecutive days – […]


January 27, 2018

ITF applauds ‘historic breakthrough’ on Qatar kafala

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has backed what it describes as “a historic breakthrough” on eliminating Qatar’s kafala system, which has allowed the exploitation of migrant workers in the Gulf state. Following years of international campaigning against kafala – a form of indentured labour that in practice has equated to often slavelike treatment of […]


October 30, 2017

Breakthrough to end kafala after new commitments from Qatar on workers’ rights (ituc-csi.org)

The International Trade Union Confederation welcomes the breakthrough from the Government of Qatar to end the kafala system of modern slavery, and plans further meetings with Qatar’s Labour Minister on implementing labour rights for two million migrant workers in the Gulf State. “The new guidance from Qatar signals the start of real reforms in Qatar […]


October 26, 2017

A new resource for unions to fight TiSA

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a new report entitled, “All about TiSA: Everything you didn’t know about the Trade in Services Agreement”. Several Global Union Federations, including the ITF, provided a critical analysis of TiSA in relation to their own industries. The part on air transport was prepared by our Section. The report […]


November 15, 2016